Sydney Summer Series

Firstly, for all those anxious SSS fans wondering where event 4's results are.....don't worry, they are coming! Course setter James has been distracted with a muddy mountain bike venture and has only just got his hands on the cards and the laptop. Should be up soon.

Now, to event 5 last night. And another grey, overcast and damp evening. This time Dave McKenna had the starting gun at (for most) a new venue - Cabarita Park, near Concord. An excellent, multi pavillioned assembly area greeted around 185 odd runners (a record attendance for the area), many who had never seen this splendid Sydney riverside spot before. The map was at 1:7500 scale so coverage to the far pots needed to come into calculation - and did for the fast stallions. The main part of the map included the large redevelopment of the old AGL Mortlake gas works, now called Breakfast Point. Like event three at Abbotsford, running amongst this intensive apartment development was challenging and fun. Dave set several controls in spots that qualified as 'real estate tour' checkpoints.

It seems most runners headed North via 3, 20, 16 etc and looped around the wonderful riverside views at 21 and 28 before tackling a return (often via #1 and #2). Collecting the 'internal' apartment checks resulted in a variety of routes with either #4 or #7 not making the cut. The fitter bods swept west to collect 29,27,8 and 6 with the A team stars cracking on to the elusive 22, 13 and 14.

Generally the area was flat and the was accelerator down - high scoring resulting in this sweet combination. Ben 'dit like Beckham' Rattray took out the empty water bottle award with a clean 600 in 43 minutes, almost a minute in front of WHO star Andrew 'in pencil' Hill. Glen 'hold me' Horrocks also ran a respectable sweep for 580, shy of the sash by only two minutes. Others to catch this punters eye were Warwick Selby, a great 500 in the Super Veteran group, and Russell Taylor, also a big 5 run. Many of the top scorers managed their prodigious feats even after losing time searching at #22 - the 'thicket' having grown somewhat since the map was first produced. Another control to take my fancy was the lonely pot at #6, sitting quietly on the grass seemingly not attached to anything - amazing it lasted the night (unlike #23, last seen floating off the end of the jetty and only revealing one of its two letter codes (an 's' as I remember).

Several runners were not across the out-of-bounds area, and found themselves on the wrong side of rather high fences. One or two admitting to 'tunneling' under the wire, rather like a world war two escape! Despite this, the area provided a good run with the street and apartment sections needing concentration to avoid 'down-the-wrong-street-itis'. We will be back.

Next week Dave Noble (our webmaster) is in charge at Beecroft/Cheltenham. This is a great area, hillier than 'The Punt', but with a bit of bush track action and the intriguing section under the M2 to reward attendance. The map has not been used for a few seasons but has always been popular - a new mapped section will only increase the fun. Join us!

Finally, I should also mention the 'Socialgaine' on 18th of November at beautiful Port Stephens. This is a six hour event in a magnificent area, and in the same general format as the Summer Series - study your map before starting and get as many controls as possible. Entries close on 12/11 so get in quick. Info at www.nswrogaining.org