206 orienteers from 14 different schools competed in the blazing hot sun on Monday 9 February 2015. Thankfully the shady trees and view of the river in the beautiful Heronbridge College grounds offered some respite from the heat. 
As results show the competition was tight with only three seconds between first and second Senior Boys Jaya Curtis and Rory Ellis both from St Davids. Christiaan van den Heever from Helpmekaar was in third place only 13 seconds behind Rory.
Junior girls Kirsten Chambers from Fourways and Heather Wimberley from Brescia were also only 11 seconds apart.
James Hancock of St Davids narrowly won the Junior Boys with Andries Swart of Helpmekaar 46 seconds behind him.
Senior Girls winner, Christie Courtnage of Trinity, however, had a convincing lead of over 5min ahead of 2nd place Emma van Nierop of Fourways. Surprise Kheswa of Fourways followed 21 seconds behind Emma.
After our first two events the top 3 schools are also neck in neck : St Davids (9103 points), Helpmekaar (8716) and Fourways (8308). This year Charter College Orienteers have shown a very pleasing improvement and are definitely also still in the running for a podium position with 7226 points.
Results will always first be posted on our Facebook page. It is the competitor’s responsibility to check results as mistakes very easily happen with having to reallocate and reuse emit cards due to our large numbers of participants. Please remember to also check emit number and other details on nametags. Once finalised results will be available on the orienteering website under Orienteering Schools League.
This season we will also be posting individual splits. It can be most rewarding and beneficial to see how you compared to the winner for specific legs of the race. When possible, I will also post a copy of top competitors’ route choices.
A reminder to always check you have picked up the correct map at the start and first set/ orientate your map according to your surroundings before rushing off on the course. Different categories have many different controls so it does not help merely following others. It is also important to plan your route as certain route choices will be quicker than others. The distance on a clearly marked path or road may be longer but take less time to cover as decision making could be less technical making it easier to quickly find your way to the correct control.
Congratulations to Klaus Kreft, who has again this year taken on the challenge of entering details into the computer and sorting out our emit system for the season. A new most impressive improvement on the previous years’ result washline is the ‘Live Results’ screen immediately showing everyone how they are doing compared to others on their course.
Thank you to Brian Courtnage of Rand Athletic Club Orienteering who updated the map and planned courses. As always the success of our events depends on Club volunteers. This week thanks go to Brian, Pat, Denise, Klaus, Zoe and Jenny (RACO), Glen and Del (ROC) and Garry (Adventure Racing Club). Additional helpers included National Youth and Junior squad and RACO members Kyle, Kirsten and Christie.
We look forward to seeing you at our next event OSL #3 at Summit College.
Karen
karenchambers@wol.co.za