Wednesday, December 8, 2010

DEBBIE POINTS FEET AT LINDFIELD LIVE SITE

Course setter Debbie 'In Other Words' Byers and the Big Foot crew gave us a hint of things to come tonight with the Summer Series going 'electric' at Paddy Pallin. The Sportident scoring system gives the organising team a big advantage in eliminating all the adding up and card checking, with results going live as they are achieved - quite a contrast to the normal table full of helpers trying to remember their one plus one equals... The vibe seemed to be very positive from the large roll up, so subject to a positive review from the 'feet' and maybe a couple more trial events, this looks like the way to go in the future. Season 2011/2012 - The Year of the E Stick.

The Porkster is online early with only a brief review, as the old goat is off to inspect dead tracks in New Zealand first up in the morning. As a result, the indelible hardly got a lick, and has now been packed with the spare smalls and raincoat. Despite his hasty retreat from the new style results board (how good was this!), a couple of observations might be in order.

First up impressions looked positive, with a good spread of pots (and control units), including a loop for the guns at UTS. This impression was confirmed by several finishers, who considered this the best outing here so far. Especially welcome was the easy elimination (for most runners) of the dreaded 'big dipper' (the contour instruction class between 2-10), as loops presented above and below this asthma inducing puff mountain.

The bush track was mandatory, with the majority seeming to begin this way - south to #17 and into it. The northern start tempter was #23 and it offered various ways of being 'taken' - out to 5,22 and 6 for some (leave off #1), while another route saw the 2,24,1 link in play. Many went straight to 24 in a public demonstration of exit speed over beautiful green and grassy Primula. Flash Harry's the lot of them!

The outer big scores bought on a bit of hill climbing with 15-3-28-19 (or visa versa) getting competitors in the money, and leading to the temptations at UTS. This was a great bit of setting, where the tenner at 9 made you go deeper (yes, the Summer Series is meditation and analysis itself - and all for ten bucks!) in a desparate attempt to bag fifty. Luckily, these points were on relatively level terrain and worked if you had the Pontiac in top gear. The same can't be said of the 4,14,30 siren grouping - beckoning you to time clock doom.

I noted an excellent early score from Ian 'Christmas At' Meyer (560 points) - apparently achieved with a loop that left out 8, 10 and 12. Not quite sure how Ian worked the numbers after he seemed to fly off directly to #24, and places unknown, but it's a terrific score and may go close to the lolly (Andy Hill was noted on the flog as the Pie Face aimed the Volvo up, up and away).
Other early results in a variety of classes that had the Clerk of the Course taking swabs, were junior Matty Hill with a tidy 450, Tim 'Baseball' Rogers (MM) with 490, Malin Andersson (OW) posting 440 to pip Catherine 'Not Anne Of Cleeves' Murphy's 430. In the older gee gees, Eoin (VM) went pram free for 470, Robin Cameron's 'Corner' had the Toyota in overdrive for 420, Steve Flick pipped Doctor Waz (440/430) in the super vets and Teddy was an early leader in the Legends with 330 over the 'Wood Chip' (310). Legends leader, Sir Ronald 'Of Pines,' was out there in the Garingal colours, and may have run into a placing. I also noted Janet Morris had carded 220 in the legends to outpoint Sue 'Of Sydney', although Bryony and Ange were still on the course as PP put down the pencil.

Not many scores compared to recent musings, but then, this is all apparently now live, so all results should be 'up'! Amazing and exciting stuff. Hard to pick a lonely pot, but I'll go for #30 for its remoteness, or maybe #8 (I can see the 15-10-12-19-26 link working well). Be interesting to see how many visited UTS, and if it resulted in any time overs - certainly Ian 'The Medicine Man' McKenzie was there, walking the lot for a modest posting. Also good to see Terry 'The Newtown Jets' Bluett stretching out in his first real SSS run this season. Tezza is getting the knees oiled up for a bit of Christmas in Armidale action and a big year of 'O' in '11. The steeper the hill, the less you feel knee pain - as I'm told!

So, a top evening and a top course. Next week Ian Cameron has Blackman Park drawn and quartered, so we are expecting another beauty. Some nice bush, and the mangrove boardwalks add to the appeal of this top SSS area. Join us as we get out the watercolour brush and listen to the whisperings of Lloyd Rees.

6 comments:

The Outsider said...

Here is my view

Chris Brown said...

Event solutions available at: SummerSeriesSolutions.blogspot.com

undy said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
undy said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
undy said...

View or add your routes on RouteGadget.

Andy

(sorry about the deletions - I've found the preview button now... danged interfangle technology)

Fly on the Wall said...

Four and a half years... and Bigfoot finally produces a "fair" Lindfield SSS map that doesn't require at least 7km for 300 points! But those contours - I counted 25 from the creek (between #25 and #7) to the Pac Hwy!
I got 400 and was back early, thanks perhaps for the second week in a row to the urgency brought about by my $10 Big W watch stopping, this time after about 9minutes. Went 17-25-7-16-27-18-20-26-12-19-28-3-21-15-23-1-24-2. Got back at 41:40 so dashed out to get #5 and back home again. That was 6.7km but felt like a lot more, with 75m of climb according to MapMyRun.com - which surely is wrong. Didn't think the UTS loop was worth it. Should probably have added 22 at the finish for a small net gain but was too stuffed. Interestingly, for those who hate the slowness and added difficulty of the bush, there was still a reasonable score on offer for plodders like myself - without the insane 10-2 link. It would have gone something like 5-22-6-23-1-15-21-8-19-26-11-14-4-9-20-18-27-12-10-24-2 for 400 points but 7.8km.
The only bummer from using SI sticks - you had to go all the way to the control! Disadvantage for those with good long vision.

Previous News