Stingers win junior men's relay at "Chill End"

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Last Updated: Monday, 01 April 2019 22:33

NSW took out the junior men's elite Australian relay title in the opening round of the National League at a bitterly cold Hill End on Saturday.

It was our first time back at the gold mining maps that wowed everyone at the 2017 Australian championships. Heavy overnight rain made conditions slippery on Saturday, and a cold wind each day brought an unexpected wintry feel to both days. 

"Feels like" temps were in the lower single digits as Alastair George (Big Foot, pictured top), Duncan Currie (Garingal) and Alvin Craig (Newcastle) won by nearly seven minutes in a comprehensive performance.

Alastair gave the Stingers a two-minute lead but Dante Afnan turned that around with a six-minute gap to give South Australia the lead at the final change. However, Alvin ran the fastest leg of the contest to secure victory while Ethan Penck got the dreaded mp for SA.

Likewise, Ellen Currie mispunched for the NSW junior women just when it seemed they had taken third spot thanks to a brilliant final leg by Iida Lehtonen.

Canberra Cockatoos won both the senior elite relays and the junior women to take a commanding lead in the NOL for 2019.

The unseasonal weather didn't deter the 400+ participants from enjoying this amazing terrain.

Some intricate gully systems and gold mining knolls and depressions provided very challenging navigation for all competitors. Non-elites ran a Middle Distance on Saturday, and everyone had a Long Distance event on the Sunday morning.

We should also make a special mention of all the NSW masters-aged athletes who ran in the NOL Relay: Stephen Craig, Jock Davis, Greg Barbour, James McQuillan, Andrew Smith, Jenny Enderby, Nicole Mealing, Toni Bachvarova, Anna Fitzgerald and Briohny Seaman.

A massive thank you to the Garingal organising team led by Johnny Petersen, assisted by the WHO club. Links to all the results and maps can be found here. Thank you also to the commentary team of Jim Russell, Ian Prosser, Arpad Kocsik and Ian Jessup.

All participants are asked to fill out the very brief course setter surveys. These provide valuable feedback to setter and controllers, and decide who wins the coveted Graeme Mitchell Trophy.

There were lots of photographers in action. You can find photos by Tony Hill here, NOL relay photos by John Harding on Facebook here, ONSW FB photos here, and photos by Alec Watt here. Feel free to download for personal use and please credit the photographer.