Alex Davey, Stuart Young and Phil Roy led the way as Waggaroos extended their lead in the Interclub Orienteering Challenge against Albury last Sunday.

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:

6.0 km Hard Course
1	Dion McKenzie	ALT	0:38:59
2	Alex Davey	WRN	0:45:29
3	John Oliver	WRN	0:50:10
5.0 km Hard Course
1	Wayne Bajenoff	AWV	0:44:50
2	Izzy Hutchinson, Chontelle & John Dailey	WRN	0:50:39
3	Andrew Campbell	AWV	0:53:50
4	Ronice Goebel	AWV	0:59:58
5	Phil Roy & Loren Edmansen	WRN	1:01:02
4.6 km Moderate Course
1	Stuart Young	WRN	0:31:07
2	Deb Davey	WRN	0:33:45
3	Geoff Breese	WRN	0:38:40
4	Iona Judd, Brendan Judd and Paris Spencer	WRN	1:13:50
5	Rose Campbell	AWV	1:30:42
2.7 km Easy Course
1	Leandra Bennett	ALT	0:28:06
2	Kath Oliver	WRN	0:59:54
10 km MTBO Course
1	Finn Buckley		0:34:56
2	Brad & Seb Addison		0:35:03
3	Brad Clayden & Peter Guy		0:44:35
4	Petra & David Buckley		0:49:57
5	Phil Roy	WRN	0:50:55
6	Rob Housden, Greg Hodges & Andrew Bruce		0:51:45
7	Andrew Campbell	AWV	0:55:07
8	Julie Sunley	WRN	0:55:30
9	Sean Sunley	WRN	0:55:36
10	Zoe & Anthony Metcalfe	WRN	1:01:57
11	Wayne Bajenoff	AWV	1:03:57
12	David & Addison Bunns		1:19:16
15	Fiona Bruce & Sandra Hodges		1:24:53
13	Tess Buckley & Hannah Billett		1:30:43
14	Katie & Steve Burt		1:35:13