The WA MTBO middle distance champs were held on a revised map of Turner Hill which hasn’t been used in several years. Courses were set by Ian Dalton with Ricky Thackray acting as controller from abroad with his racing duties in Sweden. With the lack of track complexity at Turner Hill due to one-way tracks and trails that had become overgrown it was very difficult to create challenging courses that suit a middle distance format.
Saturday afternoon turned out to be a perfect day for riding as the weather was sunny at 21 degrees. The new trailer was deployed to great success and accommodated the tall Jack Dowling. It was very quick to set up and use.
There was some mix up with the google location for the event being incorrect on the website (my apologies as I didn’t check it) though the course notes did give clear instructions on how to get to the event centre. In the end 21 competitors took part in the event.
Congratulations to Ekaterina Kliukina and Hadrien Devillepoix who are the female and male 2026 state MTBO Middle Distance Champions. Congratulations also to the other open class winners. A few people got caught out missing the last control due to the excitement of seeing the event centre, even the loud shouting form spectators couldn’t distract the sheer focus of the competitors.
Thank you to all control collectors – Mike, Duncan, Rob Beattie, Anthea, Debbie, and Hadrien; and thanks to Jack Dowling for running admin and Sue for being courier to fetch forgotten equipment. Thanks also to Duncan who assisted in the last few weeks preparing the map and Ricky for being pseudo controller by helping me get back up to speed with setting events.
Results are in Eventor.
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Photos: Above M21A placegetters. From left Duncan 2nd, Hadrien 1st, Trent 3rd. Below, W21A placegetters. From left Ellie 2nd, Kate 3rd and Ekaterina 1st absent, taken by Sue Dowling.
Ngalak kaaditj nidja Noongar Boodjar. Koora-Yeyi-Kalyakool.