A beautiful blue sky, temps nudging 20C, wildflowers galore and sensational views to the CBD - the serenity of MetrO League round 5 at Manly Dam hid the tense battles for places in the final on a tough map.
There was plenty of drama in Division 4, where the young GO Legless team jumped from fourth to take second place on points difference after thrashing hosts Bennelong. Uringa-Central Coast blew their chance by losing to the GO Monitors; likewise WHO's loss to top team KNOX meant they dipped out.
In Division 2, SHOO edged out defending champions Big Foot on points difference to grab second spot. SHOO benefited from two Bennelong runners recording an mp.
In Division 3, IKO and UR-CC were untroubled and finished well clear of the rest of the pack. In Division 5 the bottom three teams all won, meaning UR-CC and WHO stayed first and second.
In Division 1, Garingal at last got the better of Big Foot in the cross country scoring method. Their final promises to be a cracking contest.
Our finals on August 23 will be:
Division 1 - Big Foot v Garingal
Division 2 - GO Dragons v SHOO
Division 3 - IKO v Uringa-Central Coast
Division 4 - BF-KNOX v GO Legless
Division 5 - UR-CC v WHO
The map was almost entirely green and black; so it was a constant battle to retain map contact as all the many tracks, fire trails, rockfaces and boulders seemed a blur. As such, times were generally slow even the courses were not that long.
The thick bush meant visibility was low; combined with all the rockfaces and bare rock this placed placing a premium on map reading.
At the pointy end the big guns were untroubled: WHO's James MacQuillan broke through for a maiden win in Division 1 in 38m51s, Garingal junior Duncan Currie (38m17s) streeted Division 2 by a massive six minutes, IKO rookie Simon Louis (29m56s) was seven and a half minutes clear in Division 3, and KNOX captain Dylan Sherman (31m17s) took out Division 4 by five and half minutes. Wow. Congratulations on such great orienteering.
In the contest for the individual medals, Angus Shedden (SH) has won Division 2. The tightest race is in Division 4, where Garingal junior Tom Kennedy and WHO's Marie Ringer (40) are just in front of Dylan Sherman (39). Toby Wilson (GO) leads Divn 1 from Andrew Brown (BF) and James MacQuillan. In Division 3, only a point separates Nicole Sellin (GO) from Linda Sesta (UR, who was absent on Sunday). And in Division 5, John Russell (SH) has a seven-point lead over Garingal pair Ellis Leung and Ian Jessup.
Thanks to Bennelong for a great day out. Results are on the ML web page, along with the draw for the last round at Nurragingy.
