Australia’s biggest orienteering event, the Easter Orienteering Carnival, is now underway as nearly 800 competitors navigate around Rylstone and Clandulla.
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The first events - the Elite Prologue, the Public Prologue, and a family relay for teams of three people - will take place at the Rylstone Common on Friday.
Saturday is the beginning of the Easter Three Days. Day 1 and 2 are at Clandulla State Forest and neighbouring properties before heading to Cherry Farm on Day 3.
“It’s definitely the right location, it’s fantastic and we’ve had great cooperation from the land owners, without which it wouldn’t have been able to go ahead"
One of the Carnival Co-ordinators, Nick Dent, said that there are seven events across nine days with the majority of competitors taking part in the Easter Three Days.
“There are 760 entries for the Three Days coming from all over Australia, there’s even a busload of participants from Hong Kong and a group from New Caledonia,” he said.
“The Family Relay emphasises that this is a family sport and the courses are designed so that children can participate as well.”
“The age groups go from Under 10 and we’ve got entries in the 85 years plus age class.
“So it’s a family sport and it’s a sport for life.”
There will be a smaller event at the Dungeree State Forest on Wednesday before the State Sprint Championships will take place on Anzac Day at Lithgow High School.
The NSW Long Distance Championships will be on the final day (Saturday, April 26) at the Gardens of Stone National Park near Capertee.
It’s a return for the sport to the Rylstone/Kandos/Clandulla area after it was the venue for the orienteering events of the 2009 World Masters.
“It’s definitely the right location, it’s fantastic and we’ve had great cooperation from the land owners, without which it wouldn’t have been able to go ahead,” Mr Dent added.
Some high tech equipment will be used in the running of the event as well.
Competitors’ results will be displayed on television screens at the event in real time and uploading to the internet as soon as they cross the finish line.
“This is the first time that this has been used in Australia on this scale,” Mr Dent said.
“It’s a New Zealand designed system, designed by a fanatical orienteer, and it’s very common in Europe where orienteering is very big.”
For more information on the Easter Carnival, check out the website http://onsw.asn.au/easter2014
