Orienteering Australia updates

• The Board received an update from the 10 August Orienteering Australia Stakeholders meeting.
• NOL travel reimbursement arrangements are now in effect.
• OA is reviewing its Volunteer Policy, including a proposed volunteer register and annual reporting on volunteer numbers and training.
• The updated OA Operations Guide will apply for Oceania.
• State levies and fees will increase in line with previous advice.

OACT travel expense support increased

• The Board approved an increase in travel expense support from 18 August 2026.
• Approved travel will now be reimbursed at 60 cents per kilometre, or $1.00 per kilometre when towing a pre-approved trailer.
• The relevant information on the OACT website will be updated.

ACT Government equipment grants

• ACT Sport and Recreation grant applications for non-consumable equipment are opening soon.
• Ideas already raised include mapboards, control stands and surveyor flags.
• Members and clubs will be invited to suggest other equipment that could benefit OACT activities.

Remote Area First Aid

• The funded Remote Area First Aid course is expected to run in November.
• Further information will be provided when arrangements are confirmed.

Ski-O wraps up

• The 2026 Ski-O event has now finished.
• The event returned a profit and the Board thanked Marina and the team for the work involved in making it happen.
• The Board also noted interest in how Ski-O may develop in future.

Learn to O

• Learn to O continues to show positive results, with up to 11 participants continuing to attend.
• Supporting pathways for new participants remains an important part of OACT’s participation work.

Summer Series and Street-O

• Planning is underway for the coming Summer Series, with seven locations to be allocated to clubs.
• The Mapping Committee is working through the remaining venues and mapping requirements.
• Work is also continuing on the proposed Street-O relaunch for summer 2026–27, including event format, management and the possible use of MapRun for mass starts.
• Promoting team entries remains part of the wider participation work.

Mapping

• Mapping work continues across sprint, Metro, ACT League and MTBO events.
• Commodore Lane is being investigated as a possible event area, with mapping and permissions work underway.
• New maps are also being prepared for summer events.
• OACT’s first drone-assisted map was used at Foxlow.

Coach-in-Residence

• Scottish coach Frank Townley is expected to arrive on 2 September.
• Planning continues for his Coach-in-Residence period and the coaching activities and opportunities he will support while in the ACT.

ACT uniform

• Available to order through our website.

Refund policy

• The Board agreed to change the timing in OACT’s refund policy so that cancellations align with the relevant event entry closing date.
• The website will be updated to reflect the change.

Oceania 2026

• Planning for Oceania continues as the carnival approaches.
• Mapping, event operations and other preparations are progressing.

Next meeting: Monday 14 September 2026.

The post Board Shorts – August 2026 appeared first on Orienteering ACT.

We have a deal with Wear it! to get a bulk order of shirts at a discounted price. If we place this order by COB Monday, they should arrive in time for our home ground Oceania carnival. You and your relay teammates can represent the ACT in coordinated style!

To save $5 and have it in time for Oceania, order before 4pm Tuesday 25 August.

Sizing

The shirts come in a womens cut and unisex cut. This is the same shirt supplier as for Oceania 2026 and the 2025 Australian Orienteering Championships in Brisbane. If you have one of those shirts, pick the same size for this! 

Cost

$60 each, $55 for youth sizes.

After this bulk order is placed, the shirts will still be available to buy directly from Wear it! for $65 + shipping. 

The post New OACT Shirts – Order Now For Discount appeared first on Orienteering ACT.

The terrain is classic, fast running, Canberra spur gully with small areas of rock detail and some thicker tea tree vegetation. Longer hard courses cross areas of subtle contour detail and runners will visit complex erosion gullies. Vegetation mapping has been updated by David and Matt Stocks for this event. The previous map of the area can be viewed here.

Courses

Course details are as follows:

Entries

Pre-entry only. Entries close 11:59pm Wednesday 19 August. 
Late entry will be available available for Hard 4, Moderate 2, Easy and Very Easy until 5:00pm Saturday 22 August, +50% late entry fee applies.
Enter here.

The post ACT League #9, Foxlow, Sunday 23 August appeared first on Orienteering ACT.

Australian and New Zealand school students will contest the championships which will be part of the 2026 Oceania Orienteering Championships, being held in Canberra over nine days in September-October. Each Australian state and territory can send a team of up to 20 students, along with two New Zealand teams of 20 students.

Congratulations to the following students on their selection.

Team officials are Sarah Bruce and Michael Radajewski (managers), and David Stocks (coach).

The post ACT Schools Team for ASOC 2026 appeared first on Orienteering ACT.

All students in the ACT, as well as those close by in NSW, are very welcome to attend. Entries will close on 30 August.

See the information flyer for class details.

Enter here

Public courses will also be available for others starting after 10:30am. 

The post ACT Schools Orienteering Championships, 5 September appeared first on Orienteering ACT.

We bring very sincere apologies to everyone who planned their trip for Sunday only or had different plans for Saturday.
This decision is not ideal, but should benefit the majority of participants more than canceling the event entirely.
We really hope you still will be able to make it to the event on Saturday and enjoy the only Ski-O event in Australia in safe and enjoyable weather conditions:)!

Online Entries will be accepted here until Friday 23:59 https://eventor.orienteering.asn.au/Events/Show/23595
We very much looking forward to Welcome you at the beautiful and warm Nordic Shelter on Saturday starting 9am.

Marina and Ski-O Team

The post Ski-O Update – Event Moved to Saturday 8 August appeared first on Orienteering ACT.

The Jim Sawkins Classic is a Handicap competition with two Divisions:

• Division 1, on ACT League course Hard 1, an open competition for all ages and genders.
• Division 2, on all other ACT League Hard courses, a restricted competition for competitors of all genders, but excluding men aged between 21 and 34.

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.

The top three placings in each division are below, and complete results for both divisions are available here.

Jim Sawkins Division 1

Jim Sawkins Division 2

Results from the event are available here.
Livelox GPS tracking is available here.
John Harding’s photos from the event can be viewed here.

Current standings of the 2026 ACT Junior League are available here.
The current standings for the 2026 ACT League are available here.

The post Jim Sawkins Classic 2026 Results appeared first on Orienteering ACT.

Happy midway through 2026. Winter can bring some beautiful cool clear days to get out into the bush or in our urban environs. We are just past the midwinter break and are back into the second half of the Metro Series. The mid-week events that have continued throughout this time, and they continue to provide a great way to see the urban side of Canberra while testing your navigation skills. Meanwhile, the northern hemisphere summer provides great appeal to orienteerers from this neck of the woods. We’ve had EYOC, JWOC, WOC, and O-Ringen over the past month or so. Watching some of the orienteering facebook feeds, Canberra and the Bushflyers are well represented over in Europe (but more about that later). The latest is the University Orienteering Championships (occurring at the moment) and at least one more world cup events yet to come.

We currently have 151 members! Recently, we have had some new members and returning member join us. We hope our new members are enjoying the challenges of navigating around the town (street-O), buildings (sprint), and bush (mid, long) in Canberra and beyond. And if you see them out there please make them welcome.

Emily Farmer, Nick Farmer, Andrew Wilson, Moonbi Taylor, Simon Taylor, Elliot Cooper, Jasper Cooper, Kate Corbett, Thomas Scott, Mark Vardy, Sally Vardy, Jack Wilkinson, Clara Grant, Jen Grant, Max Bywood, Isaac McAuley, Peter Kerman, Ross Wilkinson

This newsletter spends a good chunk of space covering the achievements of our successful performers, either at the elite level or in the respective age categories. But for a good number of us, just participating and making it around the course is all a sufficient challenge. So, feel free to bathe in the success of our club mates and continue to enjoy the orienteering experience for what it is to you.

Finally, thanks to the work of everyone who contributes to making the events happen. Orienteering is not a simple sport to organise. It requires a number of people to create one event, and to put on multiple events requires many more. The Bushflyers have a good contingent of willing helpers, but there is always room for more. I’d encourage everyone to try to get out and help with an event, though feel free to start small and assist some of the more experienced members. I understand that the Oceania events will require a good number of helpers so please see what you can do.

Recent Events

Since the last newsletter, we have run four events, all very fun and well attended.

Twilight Series

The Twilight Series concluded with the Commonwealth Park event. Thanks to Justine Hobson for setting the course, and Valerie Barker for organising. The Bushflyers had a good representation across the handicapped Twilight series. Ryan Stocks, Matty Maundrell, Patrick Maundrell, Naomi Penton and David Stocks all featured in the top ten at the end of the series.

Metro Series

We had two consecutive events in the Metro Series in June, the first at the Pinnacle with Leanne Haupt setting her first course, and then at Stringybark Hill where Toby Lang was the course setter. Both events were conducted under the clear morning skies. Leanne added a fun mini challenge with the log piles on the far side of the Pinnacle.

Toby set some courses that provided a stiff challenges for a number of us. Also, big thanks to Valerie Barker (Pinnacle) and Nina Davis and Ian de Jongh (Stringbark Hill) for organising those events and the string of helpers setting up, tidying up, and collecting the controls.

Our most recent event was the fun run around Narrabundah Hill on the course set by Peter Antcliff and organised by Helen Sheridan. It is a location with plenty of blackberry plants to ensure you take home some memories from the course in the form of scratches on your arms and legs.

Upcoming Events

The good news is that we have plenty to look forward to in the rest of the year. The following events are the ones that the Bushflyers are down to run or assist with, so feel free to contact Jo Hobson if you can assist with any of these.

ACT Middle Distance, 8 March, Birkenburn

The ACT Middle Distance championships were held back in March out at Birkenburn, east of Bungendore.

Bushflyers had 33 out of 311 entries

Results included:

1. Nina Davis (W21Sport), David Stocks (M21E), Jenny Hawkins(W80A), Naomi Penton (W16A), and Chris Andersen (M60A).
2. Ben Mansell (M16A) and Ian de Jongh (M21Sport)
3. Katherine Maundrell (W20E), Carol Harding (WOpenB) David Penton (M40A), Chris Stocks(W55A), and Valerie Barker (W75A)

This event formed part of the first Capital O, that hosted two sprint events on the Saturday at Radford and the University of Canberra. Combining the sprints with the longer bush course provided a full weekend, though with the benefit of the Monday public holiday to recover a little bit prior re-entering the real world.

ACT Long Distance, 17 May, Split Rock, Cootamundra

The ACT long championships were held out at Cootamundra in May. I didn’t get out to this event, but the map and courses looked very challenging. Definitely a great setting to give the more experienced orienteerers to test their skills. Thanks to David Stocks for setting the course, Matt Stocks for being the event controller, and Jo Hobson for being the event director and a host of others with the running of the event. We also received some assistance from other Canberra club members in running this event and that was greatly appreciated.

Bushflyers had 26 out of 286 entries

Results included:

1. Justine Hobson (W21E), Ryan Stocks (M21E), Blair Trewin (M55A), Jane Barnett (W65AS), Valerie Barker (W75A)
2. Ian de Jongh (M21AS), Nina Davis, and Ross Stewart (M65A)
3. Toby Lang (M21E)

Summer Swarm and Annual Awards for 2025

In February, we gathered for the Summer Swarm and reflected on the year that had been, enjoying good food and drink. Another swarm will be held towards the end of the year (25 Oct – details below) and we look forward to catching up in a social gathering away from the orienteering courses.

Part of the Summer gathering was dedicated to reflecting on the achievements of our members through various awards and I’ve included these awards below. I’ll add that we didn’t get any nominations for our Fly Swat Award (for the silliest mistake, biggest blunder, heroism under fire, most humorous moment etc.) or Bluebottle awards (Services to Bushflyers), but please start thinking about possible nominations from this year’s efforts.

OA Merit Badges

An aim of the Badge Scheme is to recognise the achievements of a consistent orienteering standard relative to one’s age-group peers.

The events at which badge credits may be earned are:

• Australian Long Distance, Middle Distance and Sprint Orienteering Championships;
• Australian 3-Days;
• State Long, Middle or Sprint Distance Championships as nominated to OA;
• Nominated Orienteering Australia controlled badge events

An orienteer qualifies for an OA merit badge by earning three credits at specific events within a two-year period. The two-year period commences on the date of the event at which the first credit is earned.

While a large number of Bushflyers earn badges each year, Bushflyers buys and presents badges to club members when they are earned for the first time in an ageclass, and in subsequent years if they achieve a higher ranking! (That means that if you win Gold in your first year, you will get a badge; but even if you win Gold for the next four years, you will have to wait for another five years and a new age class to be eligible for another one!)

• Ari Piiroinen M60 Gold
• Ben Mansell M14 Gold
• Chris Andersen M60 Gold
• Coral Dow W70 Bronze
• David Jenkins M65 Bronze
• Greg Terrill M60 Silver
• Helen Sheridan W45 Bronze
• Ian De Jongh M21 Silver
• Justine Hobson W21 Gold
• Katherine Maundrell W20 Bronze
• Katie Liesinger W35 Bronze
• Kelvin Meng M21 Bronze
• Matty Maundrell M16 Gold
• Natalie Miller W21 Gold

I have distributed most of these but I still have a few to hand out.

Ian Booth Award

This is named after Ian Booth, a Bushflyers club stalwart who died suddenly of a heart attack in 2011. Ian enjoyed a red wine very much, so in the early years this award was based on a good quality red wine. In recent years, however, a gift voucher ($120) from the Runners Shop has been awarded in lieu of the wine. The prize is awarded to the most improved Master’s level competitor. It is calculated on relative improvement
based on ACT League results. The winner must have competed in at least 50% of events in the year, and the award cannot be won by the same person on more than one occasion.

The 2025 winner was David Penton

Previous winners have been:
2024 Silke Speier
2023 Craig Johnson
2022 Jo Hobson
2019 Matt Stocks
2018 Chris Andersen
2017 Anita Scherrer
2016 Valerie Barker
2015 Chris Stocks
2014 Carol Harding
2013 Toni Brown
2012 Robyn d’Ascenzo
2011 Pauli Piiroinen (the inaugural recipient)

OACT Awards

The Bushflyers were well represented in the Orienteering ACT awards. It is great to see our members getting recognitions for their efforts.

Mike Cassells Award for Services to Orienteering – Susanne Harrysson

Susanne was nominated for a number of contributions including the following:

• OACT President from April 2022 to April 2025
• Leadership of Learn-to-Orienteering (L2O) programs
• Managing SC-ORE series of orienteering for the younger school students
• Co-ordinates the Sprint series

Wehner Cup, ACT orienteer of the year – David Stocks

David Stocks won the Wehner Cup for the 2025 ACT orienteer of the year. A commendable 3rd place went to Matthew Stocks.

Australian Schools Orienteering Championships Service Award – Valerie Barker

Valerie was recognised for more than two decades of dedicated service. In that time she has taken on the role of Manager of the Australian Junior World Orienteering Championships team on multiple occasions amongst many other contributions.

Audun Fristad Junior Encouragement awards

And it is nice to see our juniors getting recognised, well done to Ruth Morrison and Arlo Foxlee, with Ruth in the Bushflyers top.

ASOC

After last year’s exciting Australian Schools Orienteering Championship in Brisbane, ASOC in 2026 is part of Oceania Championship in Canberra in late September. The announcement of the ACT team is yet to be made (I understand that there are still qualification events taking place), but I expect that we will have some good representation from the Bushflyers again. Although the event is local, the Bushflyers will provide a contribution to each member to support their participation in this event.

AOC – Tasmania

Back in April, the Australian Orienteering Championships were held in Tasmania. We had 26 Bushflyers competing with some as CBR Cockatoos out of almost 800 competitors. Below are some of the great results, but special mention goes to Justine Hobson and David Stocks who came second in the 21-elite category for the middle distance event. A fantastic effort.

Sprint
1 – Ian de Jongh (M21AS)
2 – Patrick Maundrell (M14A), Helen Sheridan (W Open B)
3 – David Penton (M40A), Ben Mansell (M16A), Tom de Jongh (M65AS)

Middle
1 – Ian de Jongh (M21AS)
2 – Helen Sheridan (W Open B), Tom de Jongh (M65AS), Justine Hobson (W21E), David Stocks (M21E)

Long
1 – Ian de Jongh (M21AS)
2 – Naomi Penton (W16A), Tom de Jongh (M65AS)
3 – Rachel Penton (Open Easy), Matthew Stocks (M55A)

2026 National Representative Teams

International events are wonderful opportunities for our elites to experience orienteering on an international stage. The Bushflyers club is pleased to announce that it is again providing sponsorship to these athletes, to support them with the significant expenses that travel to Europe. The following Bushflyers have been representing Australia in competitions overseas this year or will be shortly.

EYOC 2026, 24-27 June, Nova Gorica, Slovenia

Ben Mansell had his first experience at international competition in Europe. From the reports I’ve seen, it was tough conditions for the team (very hot), but Ben had an excellent sprint race, coming in 25th.(out of 106), just 1.39 mins behind the winner. You can check out the results, courses and more here – eyoc2026.si/competition.

JWOC 2026, 29 June – 7 July, Kariskrona, Sweden

Katherine Maundrell and Matty Maundrell represented Australia (and the Bushflyers) in the Junior World Orienteering Championships. And it was also great to watch them and the other Canberra representatives, Elye, Owen, Hayden and Adriana compete. Although it isn’t always about performances, Elye’s tie for second place (with Cooper Horley) in the sprint was an extremely impressive result. And Katherine and Matty performed very well in the sprint, coming in 17th (out of 150) and 60th (out of 177) respectively. If you are interested in checking out the results and course (for the sprint and other events), here is the website to relive the events – jwoc2026.se

World Cup 2026 Round 2, 28-31 May, Sweden

Katherine Maundrell also represented Australia in the second round of the World Cup.

World University O Championships 2026, 28 July – 1 August, Portugal

As mentioned up front of this newsletter, Justine Hobson, Toby Lang, David Stocks are competing in Portugal right now. Again, it seems to be very hot.

World Cup 2026 Round 3, 5-9 August, Czechia

And finally, Justine Hobson and David Stocks will be representing Australia in the third World Cup event.

Oceania Orienteering Championships

You have probably seen that the Oceania Orienteering Championships are on in Canberra from 27 September to 4 October this year. This will be a great chance to compete in a large event in our local region. For more information, the Oceania 2026 website has plenty of information and including Bulletin 1. Along with having the expectation of a good compliment of members participating, the Bushflyers are supporting the running of events at Stromlo and ANU South. Thanks to those that have put their hands up to help out with these events.

Blair Trewin – IOF Vice President

Bushflyer member, Blair Trewin, has been appointed as Vice President of the International Orienteering Federation for 2026-2030. He is a previous president of Orienteering Australia, and though now resides in Melbourne he is a frequent visitor to Canberra and enters several events under the Bushflyer banner. Congratulations Blair and thank you for taking on another role representing Australia on the world stage.

Autumn Bushflyer Swarm – Save the Date – 25 October 2026

Please mark Sunday 25th October in your diary for our second local Swarm of 2025. I’m happy to host the event at my place in Weetangera (25 McLachlan Cres). It will be from 5pm, with everyone bringing a plate to share (salad or dessert). I’ll provide some meat and bread and drinks to keep the group happy.

For those not familiar with the Swarm concept, they are social events for the Bushflyer club. They can either be held locally, at a residence of one of our members or after an event, or at an interstate event that has a few Bushflyers attending, often in a pub. They are another opportunity to get to know a few of your fellow members. We try to have two local events, with this one in October and one at the beginning of the year.

I’ll send out another notice about this event but feel free to RSVP to me (cmj109@gmail.com) if you know you can make it.

Bushflyer Clothing

I now house the range of Bushflyers’ clothing (O-tops and jackets mostly) for sale. As noted in previous newsletters, the range of sizes is becoming a little limited, but we will still be able to meet the needs of some of our members. Please check with me if you would like wear our Club colours, especially if you are competing in major interstate events.

Keep safe; keep well; and keep moving!

Craig Johnson (Club Convenor)
cmj109@gmail.com
0408 492 808

For Bushflyers Orienteering – where no-one gets left on the bench!

The post The Buzz – Bushflyers News July 2026 appeared first on Orienteering ACT.

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:

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.

The post Entries Open for Jim Sawkins Classic, Saturday 1 August appeared first on Orienteering ACT.

Board Update

• The Board welcomed Natalie Miller to fill one of the vacant Board positions left after the AGM.
• There is still one Board vacancy available for future appointment.

OA participation funding opportunities

• The Board discussed new participation funding available through OA from the Australian Sports Commission.
• Nina is following up with OA to clarify what OACT may be able to access and what restrictions apply.
• One idea discussed was linking future funding to OA’s Participation Plan and OACT’s Strategic Plan.

MTBO participation ideas

• There is strong interest in developing MTBO participation options with a focus on women and girls, including camp or training-based activities.
• Permanent MTBO courses around Australia were also discussed, likely using MapRun.

Government applications and compliance

• The Board approved submission of the EO’s ACT Government State Sporting Organisations application and thanked Phil for his work on it.
• The Board also noted increasing compliance requirements for major events, including future work on terrorism risk management and traffic management planning.

Remote Area First Aid course

• A Remote Area First Aid course will be coordinated later in the year once John Shelton Agar returns from leave.

Capital O 2027

• Planning for Capital O 2027 is progressing well, with the main Saturday and Sunday events to be based in Cooma.
• There is also discussion about whether to include a Monday morning event, noting that the Canberra Day public holiday does not apply in every state.

Mapping update

• A broad mapping update was provided for coming sprint, metro and ACT League events.
• Work is underway or being explored on a number of areas, including local sprint maps, Palmerville, Northern Narrabundah Hill, Fisher Ponds, Evatt Creek, Majura Pines, Holder Wetland, Cotter Picnic Area, Molonglo Pines, Queanbeyan Escarpment, Whitecliffs, Poppet Hill, Kowen Forest, Googong North and Elm Grove.

Oceania 2026

• Planning for Oceania is continuing steadily.
• Entries opened on 1 June.

Next Meetings

• The next Board meeting will be held on Monday 17 August.
• The Board also noted future meeting dates of Monday 14 September, Monday 19 October and Monday 23 November.

The post Board Shorts – June 2026 appeared first on Orienteering ACT.