All courses included a number of short legs in tricky rocky terrain that required accurate navigation as well as long legs across hillsides that required vigilance to avoid clambering between the boulders or fighting the blackberries. Most participants wandered off their line across the hillsides at some stage and placings largely reflected skills at recovering to get back on track.

Alex Davey had a comfortable win on the 6 km Hard course finishing some 17 minutes ahead of John Oliver. Both men navigated satisfactorily to most target features but found some parts of the forest very slow to traverse. Alex’s main mistake was towards the end of his run when he wandered offline to an adjacent parallel spur. John Oliver came second after a mistake mid-course when he misread some boulder features and ran well past the target rock.

Newcastle orienteers Peter and Maria Orr finished first and second on the 4.6 km Hard course well ahead of Waggaroos first runner, Wes Campbell. All three had some difficulties navigating and getting through the rough undercover in the early parts of the course.

Ed McDougall made a rare appearance and showed he still has orienteering talent by being the only competitor to finish the 4.1 km Moderate course. Other participants on this course lost direction attempting a riskier cross-country option rather than a hillier track option.

Kath Oliver had a very narrow 2 second victory on the 2.6 km Easy course just holding out Lachlan Granger. Tom & Will Kerr were not far off the pace finishing in third place just ahead of April Granger.

With two courses on offer being only 1600 m and 1100 m long speed was of the essence. However the zig-zag nature of sprint orienteering courses creates many changes in direction which with the lagoon and garden beds providing natural barriers to direct running meant competitors had to think carefully about the most efficient way to approach each target control site.

The challenge was increased with the control site markers were located in various nooks and crannies or in a way that competitors did not have a direct line of sight. Nonetheless most participants completed their course with minimal difficulty and several were enthused enough to do both courses.

Julie Gooding was fastest around the 1100 m course finishing just over 2 minutes ahead of Rob McDougall. The Farquhar family finished third just ahead of Cameron and Lachlan Granger.

On the 1600 m course Stuart Young took the honours finishing almost 3 minutes ahead of Trent Seaman. John Oliver finished third and Ian McDougall finished fourth.

Event 8 was conducted at Nail Can Hill on the outskirts of Albury. Because of the steep terrain courses were a little shorter than normal. The forest had splashes of colour throughout with the early season wildflower starting to bloom. The numerous bike tracks were a mixed blessing; simultaneously assisting negotiating the hillsides and confusing the navigation. Most courses led participants initially along an open hillside visiting numerous little gullies and then swung straight across a significant ridge line and demanded some serious thinking about route choice. Waggaroos managed the challenges extremely well and did well on all courses capturing a bevy of bonus points.

Waggaroos juniors were at the forefront. Jack Janetski and Cameron McDougall finished second and third respectively on the 3.4 km Hard course, Joannah McDougall finished second on the 2.4 km Moderate Course and Rob McDougall won the 1.6 km Easy course.

Senior orienteers also did well with Alex Davey (W) winning the 4.6 km Hard Course and Stuart Young winning the Moderate Course.  Some of Albury’s orienteers did very well. Matt Flower and Peter Mousley challenged Alex Davey strongly on the 4.6 km Hard course but fell just short, and Ricky Armstrong just held off the Waggaroos juniors on the 3.4 km Hard course. However, most of Albury’s usual high performers were under par on the day.

The excellent all-round contributions by Waggaroos orienteers resulted in Waggaroos winning the day 46:42 and the series 370:313.

Event 5 in the Challenge was conducted at Pomingalarna Reserve in beautiful sunny conditions and the event included a mountain bike orienteering course as well as the usual foot-orienteering courses. The 10 km MTBO course proved popular with a number of local mountain bike enthusiasts participating. The serpentine nature of the extensive trail network in the area meant participants had to choose their route carefully to avoid excessive distance as well as the hills. Short cuts across some of the more open areas between tracks were also a possibility.

Finn Buckley chose his route well and won the MTBO event in a fast 34:56 by a mere 7 seconds from Brad and Seb Addison. Brad Clayden and Peter Guy finished third just over 9 minutes further back. First woman home was Petra Buckley who finished fourth.

Phil Roy finished fifth overall but was first in the Waggaroos-Albury Interclub Challenge and earned valuable points for the Waggaroos. His effort was even more meritorious considering he had completed the 4.6 km Hard Foot-O course first. Andrew Campbell was the first Albury competitor to finish just in front of Julie Sunley (W). When Sean Sunley (W) and Zoe and Anthony Metcalfe (W) finished ahead of Wayne Bajenoff (A), Waggaroos secured a 16:8 points lead.

The 6.0 km hard navigation Foot-O course included a long leg that literally took participants from one side of the reserve to the other and then worked them back with a series of short legs across the hillsides. The open forest allowed fast running which made navigation at speed the essence of the race. Tasmanian visitor Dion McKenzie, who was runner up in the 2017 Orienteering Tasmania Orienteer of the Year, showed the locals how to navigate at speed by whipping around the course in a quick 38:59 and winning by more than 7 minutes. Alex Davey was second and the first Waggaroo to finish. John Oliver (W) came third and in the absence of any Albury participants on this course Waggaroos extended their lead to 33:8.

Albury retrieved some ground on the 4.6 km hard navigation course with Wayne Bajenoff and Ronice Goebels doing well and giving Albury a 14:8 points advantage on this course.

However strong performances from Waggaroos Stuart Young and Deb Davey on the 4.0 km moderate navigation course and Kath Oliver on the 2.7 km easy course gave Waggaroos a solid 56:24 points win on the day and after 5 events have extended their lead to 258:173.

Event 6 in the Interclub Orienteering Challenge will be conducted on 22 July at Tabletop near Gerogery.

Next local event will commence at 10 am on Sunday July 15 on Willan's Hill starting from the picnic area outside the Museum of the Riverina in Lord Baden Powell Dr.

Full results:

Courses looped around the three hills challenging participants to find small boulder features in among larger granite outcrops. The large number controls to be found on each course created many opportunities to lose time through small errors. As a consequence all four courses on offer were won by comfortable margins by those who made very few errors.

ACT's Ian Prosser had a brilliant error-free run on the 4.6 km Hard navigation course showing his competitors a very clean pair of heels and winning by almost 15 minutes. Waggaroos Deb Davey won the 3.5 km Hard navigation course by a respectable 6 minutes and Albury’s Nick Freire and Kate Freire won the 2.2 km Moderate course and 1.8 km Easy course respectively by a comfortable 10 minutes each.

Alex Davey gave Waggaroos a good start finishing second behind Ian Prosser and being the first club member to finish on the 4.6 km Hard course. However, Albury’s Rob Simmons and Tony Perrot managed to finish just ahead of John Oliver (W) to give the home team a 27:12 point advantage.

On the 3.5 Hard course Deb Davey (W) maintained her excellent form to lead everyone home and score some valuable points for Waggaroos. Albury again scored well when Rick Armstrong, Liz Wood and John Ferguson all manage to finish before Waggaroos Dale Clegg and Sean Sunley. This increased Albury’s lead to 44:24.

Albury increased their lead further when Nick Crick and Cathy McNabb finished ahead of Waggaroos Pauline and Bob Moore on the 2.2 km Moderate course and Kate Freire (A) beat Kath Oliver (W) on the Easy course. Overall Albury won the day comfortably 62:34.

Event 5 will be held on Sunday July 1 at Pomingalarna Reserve starting at 10 am from the end of Bagley Dr near City Golf Club. In addition to the usual four foot orienteering courses a 10 km Mountain Bike Orienteering course will be conducted. Mountain bike orienteering is similar to foot orienteering in that participants must locate particular features using their map and compass. The principle difference is that the mountain bike must only use the tracks and trails and cannot go across country like foot orienteers.

Results

Conducted at Connorton just south of Wagga the forest varied in visibility and runnability within relatively short distances making it difficult to a reasonable running rhythm and disrupting navigability. Participants had to think hard about how to avoid the steeper climbs and the more difficult rocky areas. On occasions the profusion of rock did mean slow going to ensure navigation accuracy.

Albury was well underrepresented having just 6 of the 29 participants on the day. All competed in either the 3.9 km or 5.8 km Hard navigation courses. These courses were composed of legs that either made participants think about route choice options or which major features they needed to as navigation aids. Large boulders and bare rock sheets proved very useful.

Waggaroos dominated the 3.9 km course with 6 completing the course before the first Albury orienteer finished. Briohny Seaman had a brilliant day slipping around the course in a quick 33 minutes. Deb Davey made only a few small errors but was still more than 8 minutes behind. John Oliver also had a good run from a navigation perspective and was a further 4 minutes behind.

Although Alex Davey (W) won the 5.8 km Hard navigation course convincingly Albury did manage to pick up some valuable points. Matt Flower (A) just managed to edge out Tadeusz Davenport (W) for second spot and Rob Simmons and Wayne Bajenoff finished 4^th and 5^th to pick up some valuable bonus points.

Wagga juniors Jack Janetski and Cameron McDougall both made a number of errors on controls but still managed to finish before Albury’s High Cameron and Bill Krautz. Josh Roy (A) was the most resilient orienteer on the day. He missed the second control badly and reputedly explored most of the map before managing to complete the course in just over 2½ hours.

The 2.3 km Easy course, although easy in navigation, proved to be a physical challenge for some. It required the following of a number of watercourses and paths to find various boulders and creek junctions. The litter along the watercourses made it a challenge to move quickly. Waggaroos 11 year old Tom Janetski scrambled best and finished well ahead of Ryder Seaman and Kath Oliver. 

The Moderate navigation course proved to be equally challenging physically. It effectively crisscrossed between two long rocky gullies that had patches of cypress pine regrowth along the spur in between. Waggaroos again dominated. Bob Moore did well to win in just under the hour. Dale Clegg has returned to the region and celebrated by partnering Maree Wesley and finishing second in just over the hour. The battle for third place was tight with Dave and Deb Murray just edging out Iona and Brendan Judd.

Event 4 in the Interclub Challenge will be conducted at Walbundrie on Sunday 17 June. Waggaroos lead the 8 race series 168-87.

Waggaroos won the first event of the Interclub Orienteering Challenge against Albury with a convincing 56 points to 19.

The event was conducted in the Livingstone National Park and State Conservation Area near Burrandana last Sunday.  Wes Campbell set courses that challenged participants mentally and physically. Route choices were generally between going straight and battling the scrub to avoid the steeper climbs or running wider to tracks and accept the climb to avoid the scrub. The pits left from early mining days provided good navigational check points along the way.

Waggaroos win was set up when John Oliver and Stuart Young took the quinella on the 5.9km Hard navigation course ahead of Albury’s Matt Flower. John had a steady run and was always in the lead. Stuart lost some time when he ran past the first control which allowed Matt to assume second place. When Matt seriously missed the second and fourth controls Stuart was able to move into second place and retained it for the rest of the course. When Waggaroos Phil Roy and Lauren Edmanson finished ahead of Albury’s Wayne Bajenoff, the locals had a strong 18:8 lead.

Briohny Seaman, Alex Davey and Deb Davey then consolidated Waggaroos position with a trifecta on the 3.5km Hard navigational course. The trio finished almost 14 minutes ahead of Albury’s first finisher on that course. Briohny had an excellent run with no major errors. Alex lost significant time at the second control which should have been a straight forward up and over a ridge into a small gully. However he drifted significantly and ended up in the wrong gully system. Despite being well behind most other participants at that point a series of good legs helped him claw his way to second place. Albury’s Rick Armstrong was always in contention but a couple of navigational errors towards the end of the course along some very rocky slopes saw him slip from second to fourth place. When Albury’s Bill Krautz finished fifth and Waggaroos had a handy 36:13 lead.

Albury did have some success when Alex Sutherland and Josh Roy won the 3.0km Moderate navigation course quite comfortably from Waggaroos Bowen-Wilson family group despite having considerable trouble finding the second last control. While this gave Albury some valuable points from the Moderate course Waggaroos were able to score freely in the 1.2km Easy navigation course which had no Albury participants. The Judd family had fastest time finishing just ahead of Oliver & Carolyn Hatherly with Ryder Seaman in third place

This gave Waggaroos a resounding 56:19 points win.

Event 2 in the Interclub Challenge will be held near Chiltern on Sunday 29 April and there is no doubt Albury will be out in force to redress this loss.

Totals: WaggaRoos 56; Albury 19