ABC Catalyst films orienteering segment
- Last Updated: Friday, 13 October 2017 16:07
Orienteering will feature on ABC television's Catalyst program early next year after filming a segment at Centennial Park on Tuesday.
Presenter Lily Serna, whom you may remember as the maths genius on SBS' Letters and Numbers show, was looking at how we use numbers in everyday life.
Using a simple puzzle such as an orienteering course to replicate perhaps a courier's workday, or anyone's list of errands for that matter, Lily wanted to compare routes and outcomes using several methods or algorithms.
The first would be 'nearest neighbour' - where you go to the closest control, then the closest one to that, etc, until all have been visited.
The second is the optimal route, calculated by mathematician Chris Brown (pictured left with Lily) - a regular SSS buff who a few years ago produced a Sydney Summer Series Solutions blog post showing the shortest, flattest and optimal routes for each score from 0-600 for that week's course.
The third was by 'human brain', meaning the two participants had to to try to work out the route they thought would be the best.
The ABC supplied three staffers with no knowledge of orienteering and paired them with three orienteers - NSW Stinger Lisa Grant, NSW Schools team member Clare Jessup, and ONSW Marketing & Comms man Ian Jessup.
Each pair was followed by a cameraman and sound guy, which meant regular stops to allow them to catch up and do retakes of strategic conversations and general O thoughts as the pairs made their way around the different routes.
We're not going to reveal the outcome or who did which course (we don't believe in spoiler alerts), so you'll have to tune in early in 2018 to see who 'won'.
Suffice to say, it was a lot of fun for all involved. We gained an appreciation of how a 15-minute segment can take seven hours to film (and many more to edit), and the ABC folk learned about basic orienteering in an informative, entertaining manner. It's also the kind of publicity that small sports dream of.
A big thank you to Robert Newman for doing SI, Barbara Hill for GPS tracking, Chris for his maths input, and the three orienteers for their time. Also a big thanks to the ABC for inviting us to participate, and to Centennial Park for allowing us to film there.
October means... summer series time!
- Last Updated: Monday, 09 October 2017 15:27
Daylight saving is here, the formal bush season has finished, which means... it's time for the annual summer series to start around the state.
That's when we turn our attention to navigating our way through some of the most scenic parks, reserves and foreshores that our clubs have mapped. Many newcomers are amazed at the views on offer and the areas they discover through our summer series.
As an example, a map from a previous event is here. The maps usually cover an area of 2km x 1km. The fastest runners will often cover 9-10km in 45 minutes, while the more social may do 2-4km.
It's up to you how competitive or social you are. Here's what's on offer:
* On Wednesday, Newcastle gets underway at East Maitland. See their series flyer for full details. You only get two minutes of planning time, so make full use of it. Newcastle even offer a pram-walking category (see pic)!
* At the same time at Gladesville, Sydneysiders will number around 200 for the second event in the Sydney Summer Series. You get unlimited planning time (see picture, left, for a family hard at work). This serves a wonderful social purpose as much as maximising your score. This summer we are offering a free, short, off-road MINI course for children at most events.
* On Saturday morning the SOS, run by our partner Bold Horizons, opens for Term 4 at Chatswood High School. These are mostly 'Sprint' maps focusing on small, mainly urban areas.
* On Sunday morning the Western SSS in the Hills District starts up at Bella Vista, while the Southern SSS kicks off that afternoon at Tempe.
* Our Goldseekers club at Orange is expanding into Bathurst and has another three Friday evening events in October.
* Coffs Harbour (Wed) and Grafton (Fri) start up in late October
In November summer series start up in the Central Coast, Orange and Wagga.
Beginners will get coaching at the events. We hope to see you there.
NSW riders snare triple hat-trick at Aust MTBO Long champs
- Last Updated: Sunday, 08 October 2017 17:57
Teenager Fergus Mackie underlined his potential with a third straight victory over strong opposition at the Australian MTBO champs, taking out Sunday's open men's Long race by a minute and a half.
The Sydney 16-year-old beat Kiwi Tom Spencer by a minute and a half to claim a clean sweep of the weekend - and bragging rights over older sister Lucy who had the misfortune to lose her SI stick halfway around and thus had to 'dnf'.
Finnish star Antonia Haga, en route to a six-month scholarship with Orienteering Tasmania, took out the open women's by two minutes from New Zealander Georgia Skelton.
On all courses at Wingello State Forest there were many route choices between longer fire roads and shorter, steeper single track.
Newcastle pair Erika Enderby (W12) and Toy Martin (W70) also won the Long to make it a weekend hat-trick.
Other NSW Long winners were Nat Carroll (SHOO) in M12, Mikayla Enderby (NC) in W14 and Tim Hackney (NC) in the Recreational Class.
New Zealand dominated the Long races, winning eight age classes to take out the AUS-NZ Challenge 23-12.
A massive thank you to carnival director Greg Bacon and the army of Newcastle and Big Foot setters, controllers, organisers and helpers. A really smooth four days of riding in top weather, including the warm-up events.
We can also announce a 2018 MTBO calendar update:
* Vic Champs & Australian selection trials will be near Creswick, Victoria, on March 17-18
* Aus Champs will be in Queensland from May 19-20
* The Aus v NZ challenge is in the South Island near Alexandra on April 25-26, followed by a cyclogaine on April 28.
Mackies dominate first day of Aust MTBO champs
- Last Updated: Saturday, 07 October 2017 19:51
Big Foot siblings Lucy and Fergus Mackie have netted doubles on the opening day of the Australian MTBO champs in the NSW Southern Highlands.
Lucy, who stormed to international stardom with a silver medal at the recent junior world titles, won the morning Sprint around Wingello Township by just three seconds from visiting Finnish WOC relay gold medallist Antonia Haga. Fergus (pictured, left) by contrast had almost a minute up his sleeve on Queenslander Joel Young.
It was a great area enhanced by some innovative building of single tracks and cunning course setting, with the finish in the local public school - and the local P&C manning the BBQ.
In the afternoon Middle champs at Wingello Quarries, Fergus finished 30 seconds ahead of Kiwi Conal Boland-Bristow. Lucy had a much easier time and was almost four minutes faster than Marquita Gelderman.
There were also double wins on Saturday to Newcastle riders Erika Enderby in W12, Rhiannon Prentice in W16 and Toy Martin in W70.
Other NSW Sprint winners were Nat Carroll (SHOO) in M12; and the Newcastle trio of Jenny Enderby in W40, Carolyn Matthews in W50 and Rudi Landsiedel in the nonetheless very competitive Recreational class (your debutant scribe can vouch for this!).
New Zealand riders came to the fore in the Middle champs, taking six titles in the older age groups. The only other NSW winner was Sydneysider Liam Wright who is an MTB regular having a go at the orienteering format.
In the AUS-NZ Test match, the Kiwis now lead 13 classes to 10 going into Sunday's Long champs.
