Sydney teenagers Lucy and Fergus Mackie will make their Australian debuts at the world mountain bike orienteering championships in Portugal in July.
Lucy, 18, and Fergus, 15, are the first sister and brother to represent Australia in MTBO and will ride in the junior elite class in Coimbra.
The Mackies have been competing in MTBO for four years, including some international events in NZ. For tougher competition, they competed in the elite divisions at the selection trials at Beechworth earlier this month.
There, Lucy was third in the Sprint & Middle distance races, while Fergus stunned everyone with an outstanding second placing in the Long Distance trial over 29km. He will combine with the two senior men (Victorian Angus Robinson and WA's Ricky Thackray) in the elite relay at the world championships as well as doing the three individual events in the junior championships.
We congratulate the Mackies on this wonderful news.
Meanwhile, entries are open for the annual NSW mountain bike orienteering championships near Lithgow next month. All three formats - Long, Middle and Sprint - will be conducted over the weekend of May 14-15 at Sunny Corner State Forest and Rydal.
All the information can be found here. We thank the Newcastle and Big Foot clubs for hosting this great weekend. Entries close on Monday May 2. MTBO is a terrific alternative to foot orienteering and we encourage all members and non-members to saddle up and give it a try.
