Entries are now open for the 2025 Jim Sawkins Classic, to be held on Saturday 31 May on a new extended map of Tin Hut, Googong. This event is part of the 2025 ACT League, 2025 Junior League, and is covered by the 2025 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 28 May. 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 28 May.
Start Times
Please note that this event will have a later than usual start window of 11:30am to 12:30pm, courses close at 2:30pm.
Newly Extended Map
The Tin Hut map has been extended to the east, greatly increasing the total area of the map. The new part of the map features mixed vegetation, scattered rocks, and some classic spur-gully terrain.
Courses
The following courses will be available:
Hard 1 (11.3km, 31), Hard 2 (9.2km, 23), Hard 3 (6.7km, 18), Hard 4 (5.0km, 17), Hard 5 (3.5km, 12), Moderate 1 (4.3km, 12), Moderate 2 (3.0km, 8), Easy (1.8km, 8), Very Easy (1.8km, 9).
| Hard 1 | Hard 2 | Hard 3 | Hard 4 | Hard 5 | Moderate 1 | Moderate 2 | Easy | Very Easy | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Length | 11.3km | 9.2km | 6.7km | 5.0km | 3.5km | 4.3km | 3.0km | 1.8km | 1.8km |
| Controls | 31 | 23 | 18 | 17 | 12 | 12 | 8 | 8 | 9 |
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.