Sydney Summer Series

Top Roll Up at East Killara as Glenn goes Gold

Course officials were surprised at the large turn last night as 217 out of 220 maps were issued to enthusiastic punters. This must be the closest to 'getting the map numbers right' in the series so far. A great turn out, and our best at this interesting venue so far.

Those that know the Bushrangers Reserve area, understand that there is the suburban 'paw print' with its spread of housing schools and parks - and then there is the fire trail girdle below pretty much going right round the map. This gives us a nice sniff of sandstone rocks, cliff lines and bare rock (!) and Adrian deployed his pots (new babies with only one code) across most of these options. There was a touch of green for the unwary, and large areas of DNM. These cascade down rather steep hills, so no wonder.

At first glance, there was a concentration around the assembly area which was a 'must do'. This included two overlapping control sites (6/4) generally a no-no in course planning, but ok here as the sites were completely different. Maybe Adrian was trying to lure runners to the enigmatic control #11. Anyway, the northern cluster needed to be added to for the fast guys, so head scratching generally resulted in three options 'post north' - a dash south west to 25,10,15,14 24 and home for the time poor, a more ambitious extension across Koola Park to nail #19, 28 and 20 before the return, or the 'doozey', dropping to 30 and 9 before taking the marked route tramcar and chomping the rest. There was a little money on the bush avoiders, who stretched to #29 in preference to the western bushies - maybe remembering previous experience.

Not many asked #26 up for a dance, Michael Burton reporting a full five minute run to loop 14-26 and back to #6. Number 26 might well qualify for the lonely pot, with #11 my guess for a close second.

Returning to the start. Most ran 16, 1, 17, 21, 3 and then east to #22 (time lost on this 'feature' by many runners). 2, 12 and 27 followed, with a backtrack yielding 13 although Michael Halmy climbed the cliff from below to bag the unlucky number. Dropping to 23 and 18 made sense leaving #8 to doze off. The loop home via #7 then followed or the options already alluded to. Some good stretching, but 600 proving to be too big an ask.

And so, our leader board revealed another top spot to the sweeper. Glenn 'The Gas Canister' Horrocks bagged the lot, flogging the yellow T Shirt home in 52 minutes for an outstanding 530 points. At the time of my results collecting (and as the lure of the Resches was taking hold), Glenn had twenty points clear air, with Michael Burton 'And Mum' posting a strong 510 (520 but one minute over) as our next best. Mike dropped 8, 30, 9, 4 and 11 from his run, and I suspect this was a fairly common take on the course for the speedy ones.

Back a touch, Michael Free worked the grey T hard for 500 to keep fellow Masters in their place. Tim Rogers carded 490, with Kar-Soon (480), Shane (460) and David Bray 'Of Sunshine' holding on for 450. There weren't many nags over 450, but one who had heads turning was Lisa 'The Louvre' Grant streaking the Open class with her 490. A stunning run from the Portrait.

Some other scores to note, were Sue Login finding 430, Jim McLean using the toothbrush for 440, Warwick Selby accounting for his SV rivals with 430, and Gil and Robin taking home 410 in their respective O and V sacks. There were lots of high threes to report. David Noble's 380 looked a lot like the 380 carded by Jimmy Merchant 'Marine', Graeme Hill, Rosscoe and Mark 'Mrs' Robinson (on the rise in the Vets). Going one better at 390 points were Mark Von Huben 'T Nail', Neil Hawthorne and two Masters stirrers - Fergus 'Dicko' Dixon and Mary Fien. Mary was an early runner and blasted her way round in full heat. She looked spent at the finish.

In the older mares and stallions, we see Owen Sharp enjoying another run in the SV's for 270, Chippy warming up with 310, but conceeding the points to Ron on 340, a blinker in front of Ken 'Routeburn' Jacobson and Mal Gledhill - both with 330. Good to see Dale Thompson powering back for 360 (the D never missed a beat running uphill out of #18 to the main road - awesome leg work from this track star), and also to see Angela Murray back with more speed, collecting 270, Ian Miller 'Tary Barracks' racking 300 rifles and Jimmy Forbes 'Hotel' and Dave Lotty enjoying a bit of track stuff for 330 each. Nice to share things around lads!

In the junior ranks, Sammy Rogers chalked 270, a touch in front of Aidan Dawson's 260. And I note Joshua Delmore proudly posting 50 points in possibly his first series outing. Good one Josh. There were many other quiet ones of course, including a modest 130 from Andrew Lumsden. Andy seems to be still suffering the consequences of a fall last season(!) and is leaving the big scoring to Deb. Lets hope the Big Foot supremo gets that much loved white T Shirt on the fly soon.

So, round 11 is done. A top roll-up and a tough course to master. But, hey, what a way to spend a Wednesday! Thanks Adrian and the Wester & Hills crew.

And so on to #12 and our pre-Christmas special at Balmoral. Rob Spry will scatter his pots from a new high up vantage point this time, happily avoiding the parking meter conundrums at the beach. So it's down, down to start this year, leaving the puff stuff for the flog home. Don't forget to wear your best runners and designer wear, pink looks good, as we streak the passegiata at one of Sydney's favourite and most fashionable harbour spots. And join in for fish and chips on the beach (or up at the Beuna Vista) afterwards. A great way to end the first half of what looks like being a record Summer Series. Thanks for being part of it.