Pictured (L to R): Alison Inglis, Ana Herceg, Grace Crane
ACT League race 8 was staged on Castle Hill, the dominant feature of the landscape of the Lanyon Valley. From an orienteering perspective Castle Hill creates a challenge both for course planners and competitors alike. The course planner Ross Stewart and controller Matt Stocks were equal to the task of planning a range of courses which provided multiple route choices and most competitors were up to the challenge. The adjusted km rates after handicaps were applied produced a surprise outcome, with women filling the top four places
The winners in each age class were:
- Hard 1: 7.7 km 300 m 15 C: MOpen: Paul de Jongh BS A 70:53; MJunr: Oscar Brown GS A 104:00; MMstr: Matthew Crane AO A 80:05; WMstr: Grace Crane AO A 80:47.
- Hard 2: 6.7 km 220 m 14 C: MMstr: Fedor Iskhakov RR A88:45
- Hard 3: 5.1 km 160 m 10 C: MOpen: Robert Hembrow BS A 79:53; MMstr: Phil Walker PO A65:13; WOpen: Rebecca Minty RR A 58:35; WMstr Alison Inglis BS A 56:07
- Hard 4: 3.8 km 110 m 10 C: MMstr Michael Burt RR A 70:11; WJunr: Justine Hobson BS A49:44; WMstr: Cath Chalmers RR A60:40.
- Hard 5: 3.2 km 60 m 8 C: MMstr: Alan Sargeant BS A 61:10; WMstr: Pat Miethke PO A 62:40
- Mod 1: 4.3 km 100 m 10 C: MJunr: Joshua Mansell 13095 M 07 BS A 52:07; MMstr: Ken Mansell BS A 49:37.
- Mod 2: 3.3 km 75 m 7 C: MJunr: Patrick Maundrell BS A 55:05; MMstr: Michael Tedeschi RR A 80:23; WJunr: Katherine Maundrell BS A43:37
- Easy: 1.8 km 10 C: MJunr: Zaf Bluett-Jones AO A 22:47; WOpen: Rebecca Tedeschi RR A 34:30; WJunr: Veronika Iskhakov RR A2 1:36
- VEasy: 1.2 km 8 C: WJunr: Tessa Radajewski PO A 7:48.
The full results are here, the Winsplits are here, and the maps and photos are on Facebook.
The top five competitors on corrected time were
| Competitor | Handicap | Corrected times |
| Alison Inglis | 0.6320 | 6 min 57.24 sec |
| Ana Herceg | 0.5920 | 7 min 26.21 sec |
| Grace Crane | 0.7600 | 7 min 58.41 sec |
| Rebecca Minty | 0.7360 | 8 min 27.26 sec |
| John Scown | 0.6400 | 8 min 36.89 sec |
Noting her only previous ACT League race win was at another very challenging area, Wattle Ridge, near Mittagong, Inglis is a acquiring a reputation of excelling in such hard areas.
As event 8 was a standard event, with no loading, there was no change to the order of top placings in the 2022 ACT League. The top five best five scores from eight events are:
- 684 Grant Bluett AO A
- 676 Martin Dent RR A
- 673 Grace Crane AO A
- 662 Eoin Rothery RR A
- 652 Geoff Lawford AO A
The full standings are here.
The next race will be ACT League 9 at Awoonga on 7 August.