New Zealand has retained the Australia New Zealand MTBO Challenge trophy after completion of the Australian MTBO Championships at Cessnock on Sunday.
The Kiwis took a close 11 to 10 victory after the dust had settled in the seven hotly contested age classes over the weekend races that included Middle, Sprint and Long Australian Championships.

The Middle and Long Championships were both World Ranking Events and saw Adrian Jackson take maximum points in the men’s elite class winning all three races with Alex Randall second. New Zealand’s Marquita Gelderman similarly dominated the women’s elite class with three good victories.

Heavy overnight rain on both Friday and Saturday ensured all riders had plenty of cleaning to do between races with mud, puddles and slippery tracks testing their technical skills.

All states scored points in the State Shield trophy based on results from the Long Championship with Victoria taking top place with 30 points from NSW on 24, Qld 18, SA 10, ACT 5, Tas and WA 1 point each.

Big Foot Orienteers took on a big challenge to conduct the three championships in two days and are to be congratulated for their great work in producing excellent courses on three excellent, although muddy, maps.

Full results can be found on the Big Foot site
http://www.bigfootorienteers.com/Results/

Adrian Jackson on his way to winning the Australian Sprint MTBO Champs.
Photo: Dion Keech