Waggaroos Noos
Summer Series #3, Lake Albert
The Farquhar family judged their time the best finishing with just 7 seconds to spare – thanks to a hard finish sprint by Alexander. Pauline, though needs more work on her sprint finish; she was 5 seconds overtime, but did take the handicap honours for the day! Good to see the Earl family at their 3rd consecutive event! John scored best on the 45-minute course and Deb took the honours on the 30-minute course. Results:
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Small turnout in Glenfield
 Although the warm day (even at 9am) was not conducive to comfortable running, it was the strong wind that made the effort difficult – particularly when trying to run into it, as most had to do on their return to the finish. Remarkably everyone went different ways. From the start John and Debbie headed south and went in different anti-clockwise loops. Andrew and Nathan started west and went clockwise finishing from the east. Julie and Jarrah started east and then went anti-clockwise finishing from the south. Andrew and Nathan were the only ones back late after becoming just a bit geographically misplaced in the unfamiliar streets. Results: Time Points Penalty Score 1 John Oliver 0:44:37 135 0 135 2 Debbie Davey 0:34:46 120 0 120 3 Andrew & Nathan Earl 0:45:40 105 5 100
4 Julie Gooding & Jarrah Mestan 0:43:02 55 0 55 Next event: Sunday 6 December, 9-10am. Lake Albert start/finish adjacent to the Football facilities block in Angel Street. |
Summer Series starts in Tatton
 Welcome to the Saffery family participating for the first time. Jordan Saffery could not have had a better start to an orienteering career winning the 30 minute course in style. Bob Moore had a win on the 45 minute course, and also picked up handicap honours for the day, by skirting along the flatter eastern side of the suburb and picking up some big scores. The Earl family decided to climb to the higher value controls but just failed to catch Bob’s excellent score.Results:
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Wet underfoot at Rawlings
 The 1.7km Easy course was primarily across the soccer fields with a couple of controls in the well-grassed semi-open area to the south of Angel St. As per the classic hare and tortoise fable the slow but sure octogenarian tortoise Wes Campbell beat the fast running sub-junior hares, Logan, Ryder and Jarrah. Ryder decided he was old enough to try a course on his own and he did very well, reading the map whilst splashing through creeks and fighting through long the grass. Jarrah, as a perfect gentleman should, allowed mum, Julie, to keep up until the last control – then he showed her a clean pair of heels. The Moderate courses also started across the soccer fields but then explored more of the bushland reserve to the south east. Asher McNellie recorded fastest time on the 2.8km Moderate course just ahead of Kerri Miller and Oliver Seal. On the 4.0km Moderate course Briohny Seaman had a very comfortable win ahead of her mum Deb Davey, John Oliver and Phil Roy/Loren Edmanson. Our focus now switches to our Sunday Summer Series, starting on 22 November in Tatton. Full details will be posted on the website in the near future but these events are held around suburban Wagga Wagga, primarily on park and street, and use a score format where competitors attempt to get as many controls as possible within 30 or 45 minutes. Results:
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All over the hill at Willan's
 There were some very good scores on both courses. Alex Davey’s 230 on the 60 minute course and Kerri & Matilda’s 140 on the 45 minute course were excellent efforts. James Gray’s 200 and Tadeus Davenport’s 180 on the 60 minute course and Pauline Moore’s 125 and Shani Rajasekera’s 100 on the 45 minute course were also highly commendable efforts. Pauline took handicap honours for the day. Half the field on each course overestimated their ability and incurred point deductions for exceeding their time limit. Best of these worst efforts in respect of points lost were from Wes Campbell and James Gray who conceded 55 points each. On a percentile basis Don MacIntyre did even better losing almost 60% of his points. Results:
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Another good turnout despite the rain at CSU
 Starting at the top of the stairs near the Yindyarmarra Reconciliation site on the SW edge of the map all courses traversed the very grassy hillside for approximately 50% of their length before snaking their way back between the campus buildings. The 1500m Easy course was able to follow a recently mown path but had a tough 100m climb in the first 400m of the course. Well worth the view from the top if you could see between the misty showers but at least it was all downhill from there. The 2300m Moderate course similarly had substantial climb in the first section but did have some options to contour around the hillside rather than go right over the top. The 3400m Hard course circumvented the main hill and although visibility was good, it did require considerable physical effort getting through the long, wet grasses that obscured the small rocks and logs that litter the area. It was a good day for the Halloran family. Greg & Camilla won the Easy course finishing almost 6 minutes ahead of Jarrah Mestan and Julie Gooding while Ellena and Rachelle won the Moderate course finishing 4 minutes ahead of Pauline Moore. Briohny Seaman had a comfortable win on the 3.4km Hard course well ahead of Jack Janetzki. Briohny was clearly getting across the hillside quickly - her time would have placed her first on the Moderate course and second on the Easy course. And having completed her course she trotted off for a casual 10km lap of the University!Results
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Spring-like weather at Burngoogee
 The rocks and orchids must have been too distracting for most. Briohny Seaman ran the longest course and recorded the fastest time overall and hence the best min/km rate. Pauline Moore, on the other hand, recorded the best min/$ entry fee rate; although husband Bob challenged strongly. Alex and Debbie Davey chased Briohny around the 5.6km Hard course and eventually made it a family trifecta. There was another excellent turnout of family groups. Most did the Easy course which was won by the Bowen family - an excellent effort on their first orienteering event. Wes Campbell had a good win on the Moderate course as did the Sunleys on the Short Hard course. Results:
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Numbers on the rise!
 And she did an equally excellent job with the courses. On the Hard courses route choice decisions were paramount - climb the steep hill or contour around, go through the scrub or circumvent it. The Moderate and Easy courses were ideal for our newer orienteers. Much of the forest was open with many wildflowers and orchids just opening up which provided a very enjoyable and pleasant Sunday morning experience, although those wildflowers did prove to be a serious distraction for a few. Competition was pretty close on all courses. Alex Davey recorded the biggest winning margin by far - just over two minutes on the 6.7 km Hard course; Stuart Young finished just 40 seconds ahead of Jack Janetzki on the 4.6 km Hard course; Shane and Robyn McMullen were just 23 seconds behind Bob Moore on the 3.9 km Moderate course; and Matilda Seal just scraped home by a mere 2 seconds from Felix McNellie. Well done all.Results:
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Good turnout at Pommy
7 individuals and 8 groups (32 warm bodies) including 2 new
families participated in lovely sunny conditions in Waggaroos last event at Pomingalarna.
The forest was resplendent and many kangaroos (appropriately socially distanced) lined the hillsides to watch the event. The courses generally enabled participants to work their way around the hillsides following the contour banks or cycle paths but all involved a steep climb at some point. The 2 km Easy course was very popular with the family groups. The Roberts family (Andrew, Julia, Ruby and Michael) trying orienteering for the first time recorded the fastest time finishing just over 2 minutes ahead of Tom Janetzki. The Miller-McNellie family group, also trying orienteering for the first time had a good day. Firstly they just edged out Greg & Camilla Halloran to finish third on the Easy course and then attempted the 3.2 km Moderate navigation course finishing second. Rachelle Ward and Ellena Halloran won he Moderate course and Wes Campbell finished third. Jack Janetzki recorded the best km rate of the day completing the 3.5 km Hard course at a very good 9½ min/km considering the number of steep pinches that needed to be negotiated. John Oliver won the 6.5 km Hard course ahead of Phil Roy. Results:
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Local orienteering returns
 Starting from the eastern end of Mount St the 1.5 km Easy navigation course proved popular with family groups. It followed some of the paths and tracks around the north-western end of the area requiring a steep descent and an equally steep ascent challenging participants to find particular thickets and boulders along the way. Times were quite close. Melanie Bradley and her two young sons Alexander and Nicolas had the fastest time just ahead of Julie Gooding and son Jarrah. The Farquhar family group of Emily, Alexander and Ella finished a competitive third. Visiting from Leeton, first time orienteers Rachelle Ward and her daughter Camilla Halloran were a little off the pace and finished fourth but thoroughly enjoyed the experience. The Hard courses wound around the steep hillside having participants locate specific rock features and the occasional small gully. Although visibility was excellent, the steep ascents, difficult descents and profusion of grassy regrowth following the recent rains made the courses physically demanding and relocation difficult if navigation was not perfect. Missing a control site meant some more hard scrambling across the hillside and significant time loss. Stuart Young scrambled particularly well winning the 3.2 km Hard navigation course comfortably, finishing more than 10 minutes ahead of the rest of the field. His was an excellent run in the deceptively difficult terrain. John Oliver finished second with Phil Roy and Loren Edmandson in third place. Sharni Rajasekera similarly had a comfortable win on the 2.3 km Hard course finishing more than 10 minutes ahead of Pauline Moore who had a few navigational problems on the first half of the course. The other half of Leeton visitors and newcomers,Greg and Ellena Halloran certainly enjoyed their introduction to the sport, winning the 2.0 km Moderate navigation course. Despite making a few mistakes, none were serious enough to allow veteran Bob Moore to sneak past. Results:
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