Reliable orienteering by Briohny Seaman and Alex Davey guided the WaggaRoos to a solid victory over Albury in the second of the Interclub Challenge events last Sunday.
Conducted on a small area near Ettamogah the terrain generally had good visibility but long grass made the going difficult. Courses consisted of little loops and included a lynch control in which participants had to find the same feature but approach it from a different direction.
The Interclub Challenge is based on accumulated points awarded for according to placing for an equal number of participants from each club on each course. WaggaRoos started the day with a 7 point deficit after losing the first event 12:19.
Briohny Seaman and Alex Davey got WaggaRoos off to a strong start with some reliable orienteering on the 5.7km course in the tricky terrain. Briohny recorded an excellent win and Alex was just 46 seconds behind. There was a bit of daylight until Albury’s Rob Simmons spoilt the WaggaRoos trifecta by finishing third just ahead of WaggaRoos John Oliver, only a minute separating the two. Albury’s Rob Matthews and Eloise Matthews finished shortly after but the damage had been done with Wagga establishing a 7 point lead.
The Chapman family clawed back a point for Albury with a 4 minute victory over WaggaRoos Kath Oliver on the 2.4km course. This was a challenge for all participants given that the lynch control for this course was on top of the highest hill in the area and required some serious physical exertion to reach it.
Debbie Davey (Wagga) and Rick Armstrong (Albury) were within sight of each other in the first half of the 4.4km course but Debbie eventually drew away to regain a point for WaggaRoos.
WaggaRoos won the day 17:10 and after the two rounds the clubs are tied with 29 points each. The third event in the Interclub Challenge will be held near Wagga in early June.
Thanks to John Oliver for this report
