Event report: NOL Perth 2025

For the first time in 20 years, Perth hosted a round of the National Orienteering League (NOL). This consisted of four events run over 2 days. Congratulations to all our Nomads who competed on home ground, and all the volunteers involved in putting together these events.

Specific information and results from each of the four events is presented below, and some photos on the bottom. The public also ran at these events, generally after the elites had completed their races.

NOL 2a Malmalling South West - Middle Distance

The Perth NOL 2025 began on Saturday morning at Malmalling South West with 116 competitors and most of the field (83 competitors) competing in the NOL classes. The depth of the field was good as this event was counting for both WOC (World Orienteering Champs) and JWOC (Junior World Orienteering Champs) selection races. It was closely contested particularly in the men's elite races with only seconds separating the top places.

All elite class winning times were in the 30-35min range but the tricky, low visibility terrain did spread the times across the whole field. West Australians took good advantage of the Sport Class, which is now offered as a shorter version of elite courses at NOL events for middle and long distance. This class still scores points for the NOL competition but top points start at 10 instead of 30.

Some notable performances from West Australians were 6th place Kate Braid (W20E), 7th place Liam Dufty (M20E), 13th place Hadrien Devillepoix (M21E). Many WA Nomads took the top places in the sport classes and WA will score many more points than is normal for us in a national league round.

The event took a huge volunteer effort over many months and major helpers for this event were setter Craig Dufty, controller Rachel West, volunteer coordinator Sharon McFarlane, computer operators Rosalie McCauley and Melinda Richards, equipment coordinator Peter Gillon, start coordinator Ken Brownlie and Sport ident/ Radio control overseer, Mark and Quinn Lommers. Thanks to on-the-day helpers, toilet towers Dave Pass and Mike Howe, registration Susan Coleman and Lois West, parking official Rob West, start helpers Sharon McFarlane, Carolyn Read and Christine Howitt, set up helpers Carol Brownlie and Oliver Martin, commentary Blair Trewin, and the control collectors Michael and Patrick Dufty, Matt Seward, Liisa Hirvonen, Rob Beattie, Rachel and Craig.

Results can be found on Eventor, and routes on Livelox.

NOL 2b ECU Joondalup - Sprint

The second event for the NOL Perth round was at ECU Joondalup on Saturday afternoon, which made for a fairly tight turn around for many volunteers who were helping at both events on the day. It is credit to all involved that it all went smoothly.

The competitors were faced with challenging courses with long legs providing route choice across the campus combined with complex navigation in the more intricate residential college and multistorey buildings. Winning times were within the expected 12-15 minutes with notable performances from WA Nomads, Liam Dufty who placed 9th and Kate Braid who placed 5th in M/W20E.

Thanks to setter Paul Dowling, Ceri Pass for controlling and Richard Matthews and Anthea Feaver as IOF event controllers. Special thanks must go to Melinda Richards and Rosalie McCauley for calmly managing an IT hiccup, Sharon McFarlene for recruiting and wrangling volunteers and Peter Gillon for equipment. Finally, a big thank you to Rachel West for the overall organisation of the NOL round.

Other volunteers were Oliver Martin and Helen Post for the arena setup; Oliver Martin, John Toomey, Jaco Bosman and Rob West as traffic wardens; Tom Brownlie and Ekaterina Klyukina as course marshalls; Matt Coleman, Ken Post and Carolyn Read as start assistants; Fraser Brownlie as elite map collector; and Mark and Quinn Lommers as arena pack up. Control collectors were Marlize Bosman, Tash Thackray, Sharon McFarlane, Kate Braid, Joseph Coleman and Rohan Braid.

Results can be found on Eventor, and routes on Livelox.

NOL 2c ECU Mt Lawley - Sprint

The third event for the NOL Perth round was at ECU Mt Lawley on Sunday morning. The courses were fast, with winning times close to 13.5 minutes. Livelox shows that all but one of the designed route options was used, a satisfying result for the course planners. Notable performances from WA Nomads were Liam Dufty who placed 6th in M20E, and Amy Dufty and Kate Braid who placed 5th and 6th, respectively, in W20E.

Thanks to setters Ian Fletcher and Quinn Lommers, and to Helen Bailey for controlling. Again, Melinda Richards and Rosalie McCauley did an outstanding job with the computers, as did Peter Gillon organising all the equipment. Other volunteers were Oliver Martin, Sharon McFarlane and Rachel West for the arena setup; Sharon McFarlane (again!) for elite quarantine; Matt Coleman and Ken Post as start assistants; and Nicole Sibbald as arena pack up. Control collectors were Jaco Bosman, Marlize Bosman, John Toomey, Mike Sibbald, Anthea Feaver, Helen Post and Ekaterina Klyukina. Apologies and thanks to other (unrecorded) members who pitched in at various times.

Results can be found on Eventor, and routes on Livelox.

NOL 2d Murdoch University - Sprint Relays

Fast and exciting is the best way to describe the two-person relay that was the last event on Sunday afternoon at Murdoch University. Winning times were between 8 and 10 minutes per relay leg. Notable performances from WA Nomads were Amy Dufty and Kate Braid who placed 2nd in W20E, Ruby Philips and Zali Dale who placed 4th in W21E, Liam Dufty and Joseph Coleman who placed 4th in M20E, and Lachlan and Rohan Braid who placed 6th in M20E.

Thanks to setter Noel Schoknecht and to Graham Braid for controlling. Volunteers included David Messenger and Christine Brown for the arena setup, Sharon McFarlane for being a course marshall, Matt Coleman as start assistant, and the Nomads for arena pack up and control collection.

Results can be found on Eventor for Elites and for the public races, and routes on Livelox.

A big thank you to all volunteers who assisted in any way - too many to list everyone here, but the huge success of this event is thanks to you all!

Major roles included Rachel West (Overall Organiser), Sharon McFarlane (Volunteer Coordinator), Rosalie McCauley and Melinda Richards (Computer Operators), Susan Coleman (Registration), Peter Gillon (Equipment Coordinator), Ken Brownlie (Start Coordinator), Mark and Quinn Lommers (Sport ident/ Radio control overseer) and Tash Thackray (Photographer).