Western Hills were in position to take three titles yesterday at the MetrOLeague finals yesterday at Mount Annan, and did in fact beat Illawarra Kareelah 34:21 points to win Division C. However it was mighty Big Foot who took Division A and Division E from them winning strongly 30:18 and 35:20 respectively. Garingal, despite having a massive 6 teams in the events, scored a win only in Division B beating Bennelong Northside 32:23. Uringa mopped up the remaining division, winning D division also against a disappointed Bennelong.
The new map from Dave Lotty and SHOO of Mount Annan was a delight to run. Sweeping grassy hillsides with small plantations of native trees made for very scenic running. Mount Annan itself added some physicality to the map, with Course A having some 250m of climb as well as its 6.6km length, but no-one was complaining. The co-located assembly, start and finish were in a pretty glade surrounded by garden beds, which made it feel like the orienteering community had the park to itself, which apart from a few mountain bike enthusiasts, it mainly did. Only the southern half of the map was used, which provided an opportunity for beginners and more experienced alike to run off the map on the northern edge, but also means that there is more of this fantastic map to discover in the near future.