Entries are now open for the 2026 Jim Sawkins Classic, to be held on Saturday 1 August at Isaacs Ridge. This event is part of the 2026 ACT League, 2026 Junior League, and is covered by the 2026 Metro Series season pass (season pass holders must change their entry if they wish to run a hard course – see entries section below).
Entries
Event entries are open here until Wednesday 29 July. Metro Series season pass holders have already been entered into their usual Metro Series course for this event. To change to a different course for this event (eg. to move form a Moderate to a Hard course), login to eventor, visit the event page, and click ‘change class’, select your new course, and confirm changes, no entry fee is payable for season pass holders. Changes must be made by Wednesday 29 July.
Start Times
There will be a mass start at 10:30am for all courses, all runners should assemble in the start area by 10:15am.. Competitors may start any time between 10.00am and 11.30am if they do not want to participate in the mass start.
This event is also an ASOC trial for ACT athletes. Competitors in Junior Boys and Junior Girls will have allocated start times between 10:15am and 10:30am. Senior Boys and Seniors Girls will run in the mass start.
Split Start Times: Split Start times will be given to competitors with young children and for whom one of the parents must be present to look after the children as no other option is available. The first competitor will be permitted to start from 10.00am using a punching start and the second competitor will start as soon as the first competitor is available for child minding.
Courses
Provisional course details are as follows:
| Hard 1 | Hard 2 | Hard 3 | Moderate 1 | Moderate 2 | Easy | Very Easy | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Length | 7.4km | 4.8km | 3.1km | 5.1km | 3.4km | 2.5km | 1.9km |
| Controls | 19 | 13 | 10 | 12 | 10 | 9 | 8 |
The Jim Sawkins Classic
The Jim Sawkins Classic was created in 2008 to commemorate the life of Jim Sawkins, a stalwart of the Red Roos club. Jim began orienteering around 1980 and was a highly successful competitor winning many major titles including the 2005 and 2006 Australian 3-Days, the ACT Orienteer of the Year in 2005 and the 2000-01 Runners Shop Twilight Series. Jim Sawkins died while orienteering on Sunday 4 June 2006 at Goorooyaroo, after being the organiser and course planner at Farrer Ridge on the previous day.
The Jim Sawkins Classic includes a Handicap competition with two Divisions:
- Division 1, on ACT League course Hard 1, an Open competition for all ages and both genders.
- Division 2, on ACT League other Hard courses, a Restricted competition for competitors of both genders, but only for Men aged under 21 and 35 and over and all Women.
Competitors’ times are ‘corrected’ in accordance with the same Age/Gender factors used for ACT League and Runners Shop Twilight Series competitions to determine the winners. Thus competitors need to be sure that their correct age and gender are recorded in the Eventor.
The complete list of previous winners is available here.