Blackberries. Lots of blackberries

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Last Updated: Monday, 08 October 2012 10:09

Briohny Seaman secured a solid win at the WaggaRoos orienteering event conducted last Sunday in the Murraguldrie State Forest.

Starting near the Murraguldrie Creek bridge the courses looped across the undulating hillsides that were a profusion of orchids, wattles and egg-and-bacon plants. And blackberry bushes. The blackberries have infested many of the gullies and although the clumps could be reasonably easily traversed, strands tended to grab at ankle height.

Briohny Seaman made very few errors on the 5km hard course as she worked her way around the course to win by just over 6 minutes. In one area where the blackberries were rife she stayed well to the west avoiding the main infestations and then worked her way up a long spur to the control. Others went more direct zigzagging their way through the clumps and then across the undulations.  Alex Davey missed out on the win due to a classic parallel error running down a spur south of the correct one; Wayne Bajenoff came third.

Debbie Davey had a great run on the 3.8km hard course winning easily from Wes Campbell who by his own standards had a disappointing event dogged by unforced errors.

Chris Lee won the 2.5km easy course. Participants on this course were led through the forest along a ridge line with the aid of some notes to help locate the controls. Although having orienteered previously this was the first time Chris had ventured out by herself. She finished just ahead of Kath Oliver. The Yeoman family had their first orienteering experience on this course and did well finishing in just over an hour.

Julie Gooding was the only participant on the 3.2km moderate course. The only difficulty she had was whether to stop and admire the orchids or continue running.  The Waggaroos next event is 21 October at Pomingalarna, with their Summer Series starting on 22 November at Lake Albert.

Thanks to John Oliver for this report