AROUND 1000 orienteers have kickstarted their campaigns at the Australia and Oceania Orienteering Championships held across the Riverina region.
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South Australian Simon Uppill proved too strong in the men's open category at Sunday's Australian Long Distance Championships at Gardiner's Lookout, near Winona, while Victorian Natasha Key took out the open women's with WaggaRoos Orienteers club member Briohny Seaman in sixth.
A big screen in the arena area is giving spectators immediate updates on the progress of competitors thanks to GPS tracking.
It showed Uppill tiring midway through Sunday's course, held in complex granite terrain, where reading underlying contours and focusing on big rock features was the best plan of attack.
The festivities began on Saturday with the Oceania Sprint Championships, held around the Charles Sturt University campus.
WaggaRoo Deb Davey finished second in the W50 age class, just over a minute behind Ballarat's Jenny Bourne, with Seaman coming home seventh in the main women's race, 99 seconds behind winner Lizzie Ingham.
The event continues on Monday with the Relay Championships at Gardiners Lookout, before the Australian Schools Championship Sprint at Kildare College on Tuesday.
WaggaRoos Orienteers president John Oliver said the event is a huge boost for the sport locally.
"It's a massive event to have here. The warm weather we've been having has won people over," he said.
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