Western & Hills Orienteers (WHO) have dominated the 2024 Sydney MetrO League after taking out three of the six divisions on physically demanding courses in the final at Northmead on Sunday.
WHO-UR already had Division 1 in the bag and comfortably beat a depleted Bennelong in the last round to finish the year unbeaten and claim their first top level trophy since 2008.
The host club added to that with wins in the Division 3 (30-24 over SHOO-IKO) and Division 4 (33-22 over Bennelong) finals at Excelsior Reserve. It was a great reward for their investment in youth as their teams were loaded with promising juniors.
State member for Castle Hill Mark Hodges, who helped gain WHO a grant to continue their excellent development work, was on hand to present the perpetual trophies and medals to the winning teams. We thank Mark for taking the time out of his busy schedule to attend.
Bennelong Northside again took out Divisions 5 and 6 with easy wins over the previously unbeaten WHO and the Garingal Geckos respectively, while SHOO-IKO won the Division 2 final against the Garingal Frill Necks.
Courses mainly followed the steep tracks in the reserve, with only two viable crossing points of Excelsior Creek. The loose leaf litter, rockfaces and gravelly tracks made for cautious progress for many orienteers, while the younger and more nimble were able to run with greater freedom.
Winners of the individual medals are:
Div 1 - Seth Sweeney (WH) and Ryan Armstrong (BN)
Div 2 - Curtis Pepper (BN)
Div 3 - Kieran Joseph (GO)
Div 4 - Euan Shedden (SH)
Div 5 - Louise Waland (BF)
Div 6 - Dennis Sparling (GO) and Ning Li Marc Heng (GO)
A big thank you to all the setters, controllers, organisers, mappers, helpers and club captains for their volunteer efforts in a record year with 33 teams.
