WHO's brand new Mulgoa map returned MetrO League to its true bush roots and sealed the 2016 finalists in telling fashion on Sunday.
The Barry Hanlon-Janet Morris creation is on the very eastern edge of the Blue Mountains National Park and was soon being spoken of as a potential State League venue.
Some of the legs on the moderate courses (Divisions 3, 4, 5) were of hard standard and required the full range of orienteering skills to navigate without substantial time loss.
As it was, only eight runners across the 140-odd Metro entries finished in under 40 minutes - a testament to the mental and physical difficulty of the courses.
As is often the case, when the going got tough, the tough got going. Big Foot and Garingal triumphed in Division 1 with six of the eight fastest times and will meet in the last round at Galston, with the Goannas needing a win to retain the trophy they took from the Feet a year ago.
In Division 2 it will be the new merged entity SHOO-IKO taking on the GO Dragons and looking for promotion to Division 1.
Bennelong Northside are in the other three finals: taking on SHOO-IKO in Divison 3, the unbeaten GO Legless in Division 4, and WHO in Division 5.
The ML web page has been updated with all the scores and splits, including the race for the individual medal in each grade. The current leaders are Andrew Hill (Div 1), Doug Jay (Div 2), James Southwell (Div 3), Rod Parkin (Div 4) and Tshinta Hopper (Div 5).
It was great to see the Needhams from the ACT and Northern Tablelands president Felix Burkhard participating.
Thanks to the WHO crew for a lovely day out. The finals are on a new Garingal map at Galston on September 4.
