Previous news and announcements

The Orienteering Association of Western Australia (OWA) held the Go for 2&5 2024 Primary Schools Orienteering Championships at Garvey Park on Wednesday 7 August 2024. The organising team and participants were happy that the event was almost rain free. Over 120 students from 4 schools participated. Twenty-two volunteers from OAWA helped run the event and City of Belmont permitted us to use Garvey Park.

Almost 100 competitors, including EODs, were greeted by a warm day, a pleasant arena, and carpets of Cape Weed that was very pretty but rather a drag on the feet in some parts of courses. Courses had been well set for length and anticipated running speeds with only a few classes, notably M14A, taking advantage of the good visibility and open running to post winning times substantially below specification.

The sun and the wildflowers were out for the 2nd-to-last bush orienteering event of the 2024 season. The Malmalling map showed its age in some parts with noticeable changes to the vegetation and an older style of mapping for the rock detail which proved challenging for many seasoned orienteers.

This year we have a new access route to Peterdine which has allowed the Long Distance Championships on September 22 to be centred on the SE part of the map that is unfamiliar to most members and probably completely new to people who normally enter shorter courses.

Entries for championship courses are now closed, but entry to non-championship courses will be available on the day.

We were lucky with the weather, as there was no rain at the event. This made it easier for orienteers to navigate around the rocks, large and small, farmland and thick bush, explore the tracks, and generally find their way from start to finish.

Nearly 70 intrepid orienteers turned up to the event - some later than others as it is a long drive to Frazzle. There was even a FIFO orienteer: Russell Buchanon flew his plane to and from Frazzle and made use of the air strip there!

After perusing some old (paper!) map bank reports held in the O-Shed, we (Nick D and Tony S) decided to investigate ‘the other side of the road’ at Mt Billy and we found some nice terrain that had not seen an orienteering event for several years. We discovered an excellent assembly area right next to the road and close to the Helena River but realised that the map needed updating.

A wet and wild weekend greeted the course setters and the small number of intrepid competitors who turned up to Dwellingup for some fabulous courses set by Veronika Kubinova. There were more controls on the courses than we are used to in WA - a bit of European influence. The courses tested endurance, route choice, and fine navigation, and the variety of tracks tested riding skills (and wading through the high water in a creek crossing).

This will be the second-last event of the OWA bush season, so come along and practice your orienteering skills leading up to the OWA Long Distance Championships.

The second double-header weekend this season saw two WA state championship races: a spint on Saturday at Murdoch University, and middle distance on Sunday at Hill Park Dale map in Westdale near Beverley.

Frazzle comprises mostly open farmland with several detailed rock areas and many clearings and rock surfaces. Camping is allowed at the assembly area on the Saturday night (toilet will be available).

This event is in a part of the Mt Billy map that has not been used for several years and has open Wandoo forest with granite outcrops. There are some areas of slower running but all the controls are out of the green!

This Long Distance State Orienteering League event took us back to the scene of last year’s National event, but with very different weather conditions. Instead of very hot and sunny, the forecast was for up to 25mm of rain, but fortunately that rain stayed mainly around Perth and the South-West with just a few showers reaching Avon Valley.

The final MTBO event of the winter is the State Long Distance Championships, with the Arena in Dwellingup, Australia’s Top Tiny Tourism Town 2023. The courses head out to the ‘ghost town’ Marrinup, the former Prisoner of War camp and the old golf course, now the Murray and Districts Carriage Driving Club grounds. There is a mixture of gravel tracks, mostly easy MTB single track, and just a few less obvious tracks, in relatively flat terrain, especially for the shorter courses.

Our next NavDash event will be the WA State Sprint Championships! Check the Course Specifications for more information about Sprint Championships, and which course to enter for your age class. Pre-entry for the Championships is required via Eventor before Sunday, August 4^th. Alternatively, if you don't wish to compete in the Championships, you can enter on the day and race at your own pace.

We had 21 entrants for the WA Middle distance championships at Langford Park, including 7 entries in the M21A and 3 in the W21A.