The 2024 SA Schools Orienteering Relay Championships was one of our most successful yet, attracting 81 teams, with 162 students from 13 schools to the event at Lochiel Park on 30th August.
Thanks to the enthusiasm of teachers and students, the following schools fielded teams: Adelaide Botanic High School, St John's Grammar School, Cornerstone College, Coromandel Valley PS, Crafers PS, Hawthorndene PS, Heathfield HS, Marryatville HS, Mitcham Girls HS, Stirling East PS, Urrbrae Agricultural HS, Warooka PS and Woodside PS.
'Learn to Orienteer' first for Southern Yorke Peninsula
Orienteering SA is pleased to announce that Orienteering Australia's new Learn to Orienteer program will be rolled out for the first time in SA in the Southern Yorke Peninsula. Families, individuals and groups are all welcome.
The inaugural program will be offered free of charge, including all practice sessions, takeaway materials such as an easy guide to orienteering, maps and exercises to help participants continue their navigational adventure.
Each Learn to Orienteer session takes place on a Sunday, starting August 4 at Yorketown Area School, from 10am to 12 noon.
Following on a highly successful Juniors Camp at Shiloh Park, Orienteering SA is pleased to announce the Schools team for 2024. Team members will be competing in the Australian Schools Orienteering Championship in Armidale in October:
Gemma Burley Lucinda Fogarty Jess Jarvis Sienna White Marcus Cazzolato Austin Clem Mitch Morcom Duncan Still Eleanor Hobbs Adeline Richmond Achilles Barnett Angus Fairgrieve Euan Farquharson Thomas Hobbs Ben Marschall Cade Richmond
Good luck, team SA - we look forward to seeing you in Armidale! - Patsy Burley (Schools Team Manager), Kate Marschall (Assistant Manager) and Jack Marschall (Coach)
Port Lincoln - Three Fantastic Days of Orienteering
Three fantastic days of orienteering on three completely different terrain types were provided by Lincoln Orienteers in the Port Lincoln area over the June Long weekend. A warm up event at Louth Bay covered varies terrain of the foreshore, township and dune areas on the golf courses.
The SA Long Championships at Broccoli Hill provided orienteering on a unique technical terrain with challenging courses planned by Dave Winters (in photo above perhaps warning John Soden about what to expect at Broccoli Hill), with controller Robert Smith. Scrubby vegetation in the lower lying areas has become more extensive than when the area was first mapped, meaning maintaining map contact on the hard courses was essential (Course 1 is shown below). Broccoli Hill is named for the numerous small copses of eucalypts that are dotted across the terrain - when the sun is low in the sky these copses look just like the broccoli display in your friendly neighbourhood supermarket or fruit and veg shop. This sight is particularly noticeable from the summit of a massive limestone outcrop in the south-east of the map that has been named Broccoli Hill. Then to recover from your run, the Lincoln club provided some excellent catering.
The third event was on a granite terrain map, Gurra Yarda, just north of Port Lincoln. Open hillsides with small to large granite outcrop made for faster running (at least on the downhills), with the open running interspersed with some native plantation areas.
SA Schools Orienteering Championships Wadmore Park
The SA Schools Championships were held at Wadmore Park, Athelstone, on Monday 27th May. It was a great day, including weather wise, with challenging courses set on the complex Wadmore Park map. The many path crossings were enough to disorient the most experienced orienteers but the students were still smiling as they ran up the finish chute, proud of their achievements. Students from 23 schools attended, from as far away as Yorke Peninsula. Find the results here - plus downloads of the points that make up the schools trophy place getters.
The Brian Wales Trophy was won by Heathfield High School with 45 points.
2nd place: Glenunga High School (26 points)
3rd Place (Equal on 17 points): Mitcham Girls HS, Urrbrae HS
The Williams Trophy was won by Stirling East PS with 35 points
2nd Place: Crafer PS (27)
3rd Place: Woodside PS (25)
Great work by everyone involved - thank you to the Yalanga Orienteers club for organising the event: Ethan Penck the course planner, Aylwin Lim the event controller, Nigel Dobson, Leila Henderson and Rob Tucker the main organisers, and all the other volunteers who helped on the day - we look forward to seeing you all at the Relay Champs later in the year.