Thursday, December 3, 2009

Horrocks Headlines at Record Roll Up

On a perfect Sydney evening, a record 235 nags raced to summer series glory last night at Wendy's Butchers Block blast - with Glenn 'The Man from Uncle' Horrocks sweeping the lot in 47 for a spectacular 580 points. The 'yellow singlet' was joined with a 580 run from Richard 'Poison Ivy' Green, only to go solo in the photo after the judges disqualified the Green Man for running across the out-of-bounds oval. Incredible athleticism from these two, who had clear air to those that followed.

After the parking fun at The Pot last week, Kingsford Smith Oval was a pleasure to arrive at. Lots of shade, lots of grass and the Big Foot robot starting machine tuning up. Many came by bike - an increasing trend. Things looked promising, even more so on registering, with Wendy's course getting Michael Free all excited as a 'lot' run. As in 'get the lot', nothing to do with Lots wife, although salt is a factor in there somewhere. Compared to previous outings on this track, it did indeed look more interesting and compact, with a nice collection around harbourside Longueville (and yes, this included a bit of contour embracing) and no remote controls on the way to Perth as we have had in the past.

So far so good. Nosing in a bit more revealed the Butcher's circle was a 'must do' at 220 points with the stretch north and how far west the questions. Many began with 23, and then looped via 1, 19, 25, 22, 11, 21 and 8 before option time - others circled the other way (including the speedy Super Vet, Gordon 'The Priest' Wilson (taking home 470 Freddo Frogs for his troubles). The two north east pots (3 and 17) looked the lonely ones, with 29 also getting the no vote from many fancies. Neil 'The Umpire' Hawthorne reported taking three minutes to collect 3 and 17 - giving him a nil return for this late return excursion.

A nice loop involved a rat run up the middle (12,2,15) before checking off 13 and 26, and the sweep west and south. The pleasures of Tambourine Bay and the mangrove track awaited before the various track junctions checked speed and a final lung buster home via #9. Fitter runners headed north from 13 to collect 20 and 24, with Heiko, working the other way round, taking the commuter route from 20 to 15 - via the main road!

With many pots located at ground level, there were a couple of toughies that didn't please the runners. Warwick Selby dropped seven minutes at #21 trying to find the rock platform, with several others reporting lost time there. Number 25 in the bushes and pot 14 also had a few competitors ceasing motion and going the scratch. Despite this, the course was an enjoyable chew with some excellent scenic vistas, great bush track running and generally impressive results from our stars. Big thanks to Wendy and the Feet.

Now folks, lets look at the leader board.

After our headliners, Mark Schaefer's 560 looks solid in OM, as did Anthony Petterson's 520 and last weeks winner Steve Ryan for 510. Veteran Malcolm '& Brush' Bradley chomped 540 in a great solo run to lead his class without the attentions of Mike Burton - stargazing in Chile. Mel Cox and James Lithgow (in a rare appearance) pencilled 470 and 440 respectively, while Richard 'Curb Side' Lane (460) and Pete 'Old Mother' Hibberd (390) led the other veterans. The increasingly svelt Stu McWilliam is also worth a mention with an strong run for 380 in this class.

Other 500 pointers include our two equal leaders in OW, Lisa Grant and Gil Fowler (500 apiece), and Shane 'Ain't that a' Henry in the masters group for 510. Anything into the fives is always good copy, especially when Pork Pie has the 2B twirling. And in the fours Mary Fein continued her form with a strong 480 in the MW group. Also in this rarified air, we shouldn't forget the SV's Selby and Hill (400/410) giving Dave Lotty a bit of pud (Dave, with a northern exit to the bush - he loves the bush - carded 370) and Mark Robinson (maybe a season debut?) for a very impressive canter and 440 pennies. Jim 'Bo' Forbes (350) and Michael 'The Princess' Roylance (310) also kept the SV board ticking with good runs, although the 'Roy' needs to work on his fitness. As his former trainer once noted, Michael is capable this distance with less thinking and more running. Karin Hefftner looks to have pulled the VW's with 390, ahead of great rival Robyn Cameron's 380. Also great to see previous veteran star Sue Clark back on the flog in Sydney for 360. Sadly Caeser was not on the leash.

In the Super Vet Women, the Porkster noted Helen Murphy had paid up and got 280 points to take home to Terry, ahead of Angela Murray's 180. Ange is obviously still suffering from the celebrations at Murrayfield last week, but is warming the kilt. Bryony also carded 280 in the SV class, keeping Tim in check (220) and adding to the building tally of the Central Coast series star. Good to see Catherine Murphy on the paddock (an excellent 390 in OW), a shade ahead of Deb 'Potato' Noble's 370. In the legends, great to see Anne Stewart in action for 220, and chasing Janet Morris home (250). In the junior ranks, Matty Hill continues to impress the judges with a striking 430, while Em 'The Typographer' Prudhoe (still JW?) scored a tidy 350 (Dad, pretending to be injured, pushed the walking frame around for 290). At the other end of proceedings Siobhan 'Oscar' Wilde was on the board for 110. Go the 'Banshee' the crowd yelled!

And finally from the broadcast box, great to see Caitlyn Anderson back from mummy duties for her first season run. Her debut 350 an excellent result.

Before we move on to a preview of next week, It is worth reiterating that areas mapped 'out-of-bounds' need to be adhered to. The oval last night was specifically declared and mapped OOB (pink stripe) as a condition of the areas use by the council. We need to abide by rules if we are to continue to enjoy areas such as this. Everyone, please note (sorry Richard!).

Now, next week see us off to the beach and Ian 'Tomato' Jessup's new area at Manly/North Steyne. As well as the beach, the area boasts a sharp hill in the middle of the map with amazing sculptural lookout, a great cemetery, Manly Rugby Club grounds and a bit of lagoon side fun. The 'Chess Set' is bound to get us on the puff in fine style, so an enjoyable outing awaits. Note his previous points about parking, but don't forget to turn up. Glory awaits, and maybe a swim after.

2 comments:

Dicky Green said...

I hang my head in shame at such a schoolboy error - no offence meant to schoolboys. At least it wasn't a cynical move like Thierry Henry in the roundball game.

Fly on the Wall said...

I also found #21 not well mapped and hard to read - though got it after only about 10 seconds delay fortunately. For first-timers in this area it was a wonderful location for a pot but hard to tell the detail on a 1:10,000 map.
Wondering why the pink tape ran from the creek up to the road when it was some distance off the uphill track marked on the map.
By the way, Dicky was not the only one running across the oval at the finish from my observation.
Struggled a little and had to settle for 380 points from 9-14-6-26-13-15-29-12-23-5-30-8-21-11-22-1-25-19 in 43m 30s. Mr Burton was away again (yeh!) but Mr Bradley creamed it for 540. So only 70% instead of possible high 70s.
Looking forward to the flat of Manly next week.

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