Slow times and thick vegetation dominated our State League finale for 2016 in the Southern Highlands.
SHOO hosted us on an updated Boxvale Tramway map at chilly Mittagong on Saturday for a Middle Distance event that went out through some vague forest and soon became very intricate among the cliffs above Nattai Creek. Uringan Ian McKenzie’s win in M35A was worthy of special mention as he usually walks around the SSS.
Most winning times were around 50-60 minutes and set the tone for Sunday's Long Distance event at Belanglo State Forest, where quite a few people were 90+ minutes on course.
IKO used the northwestern sector of the forest and competitors soon found out that the area has greened up. "The white is light green, the light green darker and the dark green…," commented one veteran. It was a real physical challenge in places and a mental challenge in others, as we expect from a Long event.
Andy Simpson (Big Foot) cleaned up a quality field in M50A by 17 minutes, while ACT O royalty Jo Allison and Dave Shepherd took out the 21A classes. Dan Redfern (Garingal) had the run of his life in M55A to finish second to David Poland by two minutes.
It was touching, too, to note the number of orienteers who visited the memorial for those who lost their lives to Ivan Milat.
Thanks to both clubs for a terrific warm-up for the Australian championships in a fortnight. The weekend's courses are on Routegadget and results on Eventor. Please fill out the very brief Course Setter of the Year surveys for each day.
Final OY scores will be posted very soon to determine our annual badge winners.
Thank you to all clubs, participants, organisers, setters, controllers and the junior squad caterers for the 2016 season.
