The winter season got off to a flying start on the weekend with our first event of the year: a sprint event at Leeming Senior High School, with OWA AGM held directly after the sprint.

Rohan Braid planned and set the courses for the first time, delivering high quality, challenging terrain that had competitors thinking hard from start to finish.

The Long Course provided the most dramatic racing of the day, with multiple lead changes throughout. Joseph Coleman, Liam Dufty and Lachlan Braid all had moments in the lead, and it was only in the closing stages that the result was decided. Joseph Coleman ultimately had the legs, taking the win by just a handful of seconds in a thrilling contest.

On the Short Course, Anthea Feaver was in commanding form, powering her way to another victory. The Easy Course meanwhile saw Max Li claim the top spot.

With nearly 90 competitors turning out, it was fantastic to see so many new faces alongside the returning regulars. A big thank you to Archie, Fraser, Riley and Joseph for collecting the controls.

Results can be found at Eventor. Compare route choices at Livelox.

2026 OWA Council

At the AGM, a new OWA Council was elected. Council for 2026 are:

President – Graham Braid   
Vice-president – Mark Lommers   
Treasurer – Susan Coleman
Secretary – Ceri Pass
Coaching Convenor – Rachel West
Technical Convenor – Craig Dufty
Mapping Convenor – Sten Claessens                
MTBO Convenor – Ricky Thackray
Communications Convenor – Natasha Thackray
General council members – Liam Dufty, Liisa Hirvonen, Heike Behrbohm

OWA Life Membership – Ian Fletcher

A number of Ian’s contributions to OWA have been in the early years of the Association’s existence in Coaching and Technical Convenor roles, but he has consistently been active in many areas that are not so well documented. Ian has been an outstanding volunteer putting his hand up on so many occasions to take on important roles in the general running of OWA. He could always be counted on the help. A summary of the many roles that Ian has been involved with is presented below.

Coaching:
1984-1988 was Coaching Convenor. During this time he wrote regular pieces on coaching for the monthly Newsletter. He worked with Carol McNeil as OWA’s first coach in residence. He ran “coaching” events which were then part of the OWA calendar.

Tech Roles:
1994-1996 was Technical Convenor. Throughout his orienteering years in WA he has been a setter and controller and is currently an accredited Level 3 Controller. He has set and controlled events most years. He set State Champs in 1989, 1993 and 2009 and controlled them in 1981, 1982 and 1999. In 2005 he mentored two juniors in setting. In 2014 he was one of four on the organising team for the Australian Champs run by OWA. In 2023 he was the overall controller of the School Championships run as part of the Australian Champs.

WA School Championships:
Ian set the courses from 2018-2023 (apart from 2020 when the champs were cancelled). In 2025 he was controller for the event.

Anytime Orienteering:
Ian has been involved in ATO since its inception in 2018 and currently is still active. This can involve mapping – usually updates but sometimes a total map. It always involves course setting and helping install control markers.

Ian Fletcher has excelled in his contributions to OWA and is an extremely worthy recipient of Life Membership.

Photos: (top) On the course; (middle) Ian with Graham after receiving his life membership; (bottom) OWA council 2026, taken by Liisa Hirvonen.