Sydney Summer Series

A cool evening with threatening skies didn't deter a huge Summer Series crowd at Wollstonecraft last night - at 250 odd entries, our biggest this season by a long shot. Rob Spry had engineered an excellent course taking in, as anticipated, a circle of Berry Island and a rewarding stretch to the west. The clean sweep 'kicker' were a sparse group of three 10 pointers to the east that would have been the undoing of all but the best runners. Those with local knowledge also gave the Gore Cove bush tracks due respect - they are suprisingly slow with lots of turns and upsy-downsy stuff.

Andrew Hill returned to the top of the board last night with a strong run to all checkpoints in 48 minutes. His resulting 570 was just ahead of current Open Men's leader Wayne Eliot, who ran a very strong 550. This scoring indicates almost perfect course setting with the lead runner just falling short of the 600. Great stuff! Mace Neve was on the board for 390 in OW, but there may have been other later results in the low/mid fours. Gordon Wilson again ran well in Super Veteran for 490 - an excellent run across all groupings. The Masters and Veterans were also pumping - Larry Weiss with an excellent 500.

Despite the tempting points to the west, an early run south was probably the most productive. Getting Berry Island and the bush track behind you early, not to mention confronting the 'tidal route' from 24 to 11, allowed plenty of finishing options from the big spread of western pots. The anti clockwise scenario, which most runners seemed to favour, ended in the low point returns via #2 or via #20 - lots of late puff without much late pencil!

Many runners reported difficulties with the location of several controls, especially #9 on the bridge, and may have lost time as a result. We are urging all setters to be clear with pot location to avoid these problems in the future. It is not a hide and seek sport.

Next week we move to Shrimptons Creek at North Ryde with Tim and Bryony Cox on the footplate. Although this is runners territory, route choice can bring down the speedsters here as working an optimal loop can often be difficult. Good running, especially on the connecting parks and bike tracks make this a beauty. Plenty of parking, and there are toilets on site! The 'Ranch' pub adjacent is also good for a post-run roast dinner (and a cleanser of course). Don't miss it.