The 08/09 season commenced with a bang last night at McMahons Point as around 250 punters pulled on the shorts and queued (queued!!) for the starter. Fantastic stuff, with heaps of old hands and many new faces - all dying to get the Volley's back into a bit of rhythmic bitumen dancing. Actual entries totaled 214, but this included many groups and twosomes, with the map sales department going into overdrive.

David Dash set a well spread course, renaming Blues Point Road 'Decision Road', as you had to make the big 'D' to head east or west after scooping up the 90 uphill points. Many feared the hills of Waverton and headed east, possibly to pop in to Kevin for a cuppa near #12. Reports of missing pots came in (#3 I think) and tales of woe with #30 - always confusing with the holiday crowd, and for Chippy. Of the eastern loop, #5 and #10 annoyed the flow freaks, as did #4 for the western crowd who, peering down from #21 to it, said 'no thanks' and sped off to the Commodore for a light ale.

So, plenty of good running on offer for our first outing at this spectacular and iconic Sydney location - on a beautiful fine but cool afternoon. Apart from the poor parking here, most seemed to be happy to be back in SSS mode once again. There was an infectious and enthusiastic spirit on show, as grinning white legged veterans contrasted with the buffed and grunting boxing class adjacent.

Previous series star, Andrew Hill 'Billy' swept the field (except #1 I think) with a great run for 570 points - just under two minutes late back. Early thoughts that the course was too wide were soon dispelled with Andy's fantastic result. Mike 'Rophone' Burton was not far behind with 550 and in awesome form at this early stage. There were other good 500's, with Dave He' Hegarty pulling out a 540 and Richard Green 'Peas' a cracking 530 in the purple silks. Good to see Jaap Bakker on the fly for 480 and Michael 'The Maserati' ' Free waving the baggy white T shirt on his way to a neat 500.

In the younger classes, great to see a spectacular 370 points from Michele Dawson, and Huon Wilson with an amazing speedy 440. Both are just back from Junior Squad orienteering representation in Queensland and are destined for great things.

Fastest female seemed to be the irrepressible Sue 'Dragon Boat' Davis with a great 440 point run, ahead, and on the rails from, a wide finishing Gil 'Mayor Michael' Fowler on 410. There were lots of other good scoring around the 400 and just under mark, with the east / west course split making it hard to add more than this for most race and millinery enthusiasts.

Before we move on to a preview of next weeks outing, a quick story to amaze and delight. How many runners realised there was an 'open-house' near control 17? Last night one competitor (who will remain nameless, but will soon become a legend), took time out from their 'run' to inspect the two-story house and had a discussion about orienteering with the two real estate agents in attendance! She (ok, it's a 'she'), refused their offer of a calendar though, saying "it would be too hard to run carrying a calendar"!!! Fantastic stuff, and as our SSS publicity words say, 'run Sydney parks, Sydney History, Sydney Harbour and Sydney REAL ESTATE. I think we are on to something here!

And so to next week at the Bay Run at Rodd Point. Course setter Steve Flick loves a gallop, so we can expect a good flog around the streets of Drummoyne/Five Dock and the fantastic, and level, Bay Run (well at least the western half). The street, housing variety and small parks towards the Drummoyne end are fascinating and worth a look, as is a quiet one at Gallaghers Irish on the corner of Lyons Road afterwards. The bigger parks to the south will provide the stretch points and a chance for the horses to sniff the grass and garden beds while looking for a nibble and the key beating Warwick 'The Singlet' Selby. Expect another big roll-up (easier parking) as we get to mingle with the joggers with jewellery on the Bay Run and enjoy event two in Australia's greatest summer running series.

Be there!

One week to go, so time to check up on the shorts and T shirts, and start inventing the 'leaving work early' excuses that see Sydney's workforce looking for the door every Wednesday arvo.

With daylight saving beginning this coming weekend, this will be the first time we are 'aligned' since the Olympic year. Despite this, we still fully expect to see the usual suspects rocking up at 4pm for some prolonged map study therapy (ok Michael, your sprung!). Garingal lead off once again with course setter David Dash 'Board' in the chair at McMahons Point. Always a good way to start, with the city backdrop, the Luna Park boardwalk run and the mad small streets of Waverton to blow away the winter cobwebs. I'm sure DD has a treat in store for us, as has our second event organiser, Steve 'It's a running sport' Flick. He's on the card for another cracker at Rodd Point and the Bay Run (apprentices can claim here).

Webmaster Dave Noble has cleared the results decks for another season of close racing and Dave McKenna will once again be working the results spreadsheet. Throw in Graeme Hill on data checking duties and Rosscoe (alias Pork Pie) dusting off the yellow banner and you can see that the team is back and raring to go!!

Lisa Lampe is having sleepless nights wondering what her first non de plume for the 08/09 season will be, Warwick Selby/Selby can't wait for some easy navigation, Larry is looking for a granite free summer and Andrew 'The Truth' Lumsden is threatening a badge even before the first race! Fun coming up folks, big time.

See you all on the 8th.

Four weeks to go!

As you can now see, the programme has been posted to the SSS site with a pdf version available. It has also been sent to Run-For-You-Life, and orienteering subscribers will get the yellow flyer this week by post. Warwick Selby and one or two others are getting excited!

In addition to the new maps mentioned in my last blog, there is a bit of map augmentation going on as well. Look for Glenn's event at Gannan Park to include a bit more to the south and west - with Pork Pie working the coloured pencils as the old goat try's to decipher the contours along Buffalo Road and Laurel Park. A control on the old bridge (wait till you see it) might be on offer as will the usual collection of barking suburban dogs. The Glebe Point map is also being extended west to Whites Creek - giving us THREE tram stops on the one map, surely the envy of all other SSS venues.

Various orienteering championship events coming up to help pass the time till October 8. A good way to warm up for the 08/09 Sydney Summer Series!

Keep spreading the word.

Who's getting excited then??

The 08/09 Sydney Summer Series programme is almost there, and what a programme it will be! Beginning with the awesome backdrop of the city and harbour at McMahons Point on October 8th, we are offering a 26 event series of spectacular cunning running in some of this cities greatest parks, peninsula's and urban bush areas.

In addition to McMahons Point, the 08/09 programme offers several more dollops of harbour and river side running. Old favourite Meadowbank returns, as does The Bay Run at Rodd Point. Little Sirius Cove, North Harbour/Forty Baskets Beach, and Majors Bay have all got the water angle happening and will be popular events - and how about the river and bridges at Parramatta for a fist time SSS outing -yum.

Fish and chips at Balmoral, coffee in Glebe and a schooner at Woolwich are all on again, with a trio of newies to whet the appetite. Look out for the Three Amigoe map at Frenchs Forest (Glen Street Theatre afterwards perhaps) in March and the 'Burnt Bridge' run in Seaforth/Balgowlah in mid February. This event hooks up with the Manly Dam orienteering map and should be a cracker. Also on the SSS calendar for the first time is the new park map 'James Ruse' in North Parramatta. Look out for this little beauty from Ian 'Nose and Throat' Miller in late March.

Other areas returning after a bit of a lay over, are West Chatswood in early January, Brush Farm at Eastwood in December and the Willoughby 'Incinerator' in February. Throw in other classics like Greenwich Point, St Josephs, Burns Bay and Majors Bay and there should be enough to keep everyone happy. And don't forget our Tuesday evening holiday initiative, the December 30 run at 'Lawson's Lay-up' in Roseville Chase (who remembers the uphill fun?!).

In summary, lots of great events coming up for the 'navigation on the run' addicts - and lots of post race restaurant/refreshment possibilities to boot (who says we choose our venues because of the proximity to a hotel?!). So drag out the shorts and start spreading the word. The Sydney Summer Series is on again.

Luna-r Park (just for fun)

And fun it was. Against a spectacular Sydney city backdrop, Bryony and Tim Cox put on a cracking winter solstice event last night at Kirribilli. This special mid winter treat for those summer series addicts that can barely wait till October, attracted 60 die hards - including the legendary Andrew "Hills Hoist" Hill, and Michael's, Burton "On Trent" and Free "At Last". Also great to welcome back to Sydney running ex Garingal star Mathew Cull.

The course included an innovative 100 point control (which everyone visited), and a tempting extension to the rarely visited Kurraba Point. The course proved challenging, with Andrew running the lot but back 15 late for 550 points. Mathew was close behind - as I'm sure the late running Mike Burton was. Most runners swept east (past the puzzled federal police outside Kirribilli/Admiralty House) to get 26,12,25,8,19 and 24 - and on to points north. 28 was a cracker and worth the out and back. The sculpture control (#27) apparently went missing causing some difficulties in the dark (the ghost of Brett Whiteley!) but everything else seemed to provide lots of rewarding loops. The lonely pot award was probably #9, although the 50 points at Kurraba Point rarely troubled the pencil - sadly.

All in all, a great night. Sydney's lights sparkled, the generator didn't run out of petrol and everyone loved getting the shorts on again. There were lots of requests for 'more please' - with the Moonlight Madness series providing a bridge until the 08/09 summer series kicks off on October 8 -refer to the Garingal website for details of these monthly MM events.

The SSS programme is in final draft and I will post details once finalised. It will be exciting - 26 events and several new and reworked areas will make the wait worthwhile.

In case anyone is out there....

Planning is well underway for the exciting 2008/2009 Sydney Summer Series season with three new areas proposed in addition to many of our favourite venues. With daylight saving now beginning in early October, the entire 26 event season will be in summer time, so all events will begin in the 4-4.30pm window. We are also introducing an event between Christmas and New Year's eve for the first time (Tuesday 30 December) - and at a venue with excellent picnic potential. Something for the whole family.

Things kick off on Wednesday 8 October (probably at McMahons Point) until our final on April 4th. Lots of harbour side, park and bush action as you would expect, including tackling familiar areas from new starting points. Full details should be up on the SSS site by early August.

In the meantime, don't forget Bryony and Tim Cox's Winter Solstice event coming up on Wednesday 18 June at Kirribilli. This mid winter 'summer series' run is for all the SSS addicts who can barely wait for October. Bryony has engineered a great course taking in the highlights and views of Lavender Bay, Luna Park, Kirribilli and Neutral Bay - it should be a corker. Assembly is in the small park at the south end of Broughton Street, Kirribilli overlooking our magnificent city. Starts from 4pm (for the night shy) to six (bring your LED) - don't miss it!

More news as the programme develops.

Out with a bang! Our final Autumn Evening event at Macquarie Uni went off in fine style last night with around 65 punters wrestling with the LED and dodging the strange queue's of commuter traffic.

Course setter Warwick Selby greeted us with an excellent deployment of pots - 80 points in the sports fields, 70 to the close north, 80 to the west and the balance in the Uni itself. Most headed east to the Uni, tempted first by #28, and then ran around in circles as they tried to work a loop to pick up the rest. At 1:10,000 scale, the Uni buildings and pathways are quite hard to decipher, requiring close study as runners ducked first one way and then the other amongst the sculptures, car parks and puzzled students. Despite the challenges, it is glorious running here - especially the feeling of flying past queue's of bus commuters held up by hurtling orienteers.

It appears the northern pots were the least visited, especially the long haul to 18 and 26. In the inner north group, many runners had fun trying to find the elusive alley to #10, discovering many other 'roads' between the units in this vicinity. A rewarding loop to the west (15,2,22,12,20) as a prelude to the Uni work found favour, although correspondent Rosscoe did not enjoy getting stuck on a high fence NE of #20! Generally the running was open and free in the grassy stuff, and fast around the Uni roads as mentioned. A great course with lots of differing routes and results.

Best score on the night went to Glenn 'Dracula' Horrocks who swept the lot in just over 50 minutes! A spectacular run for 540 points, and a clear lead over Nick Earl 'Wood' with 460. Kar-Soon and Peter Annetts are other 400 plus runners (both 430), in front of the two old Amigoe's Ron and yours truly who managed 390 - and a couple of schooners afterwards. Paula 'The Roof Tile' Shingler led the women home with 340, a touch in front of Caitlin 'The Cake Tin' Anderson's 310 points. Great running with many happy campers at the finish.

So this brings us to the end of this night time series. Numbers have been encouraging enough this year and we may well programme a follow up evening series to the 08/09 Summer Series, using close in and runnable venues. The Night Champs is on this Saturday night at Ryde where AE addicts that have not entered the night orienteering courses can have a final Petzel/LED fling. It's a great area with a touch of bush track stuff to keep runners honest, so make it a date.

Given that both series are now over, correspondent Rosscoe (alias Pork Pie) will retire to the front bar and the winter orienteering programme. Details of the wider orienteering events calendar are now linked to this web site (on the programme page) so you can see what's on - and hopefully join in - there are many great and fantastic O events planned in the coming months, both in and out of Sydney.

The 08/09 SSS programme is in early draft form and will be posted to the site around July/August when details are finalised. We commence on Wednesday October 8 and can promise another exciting and challenging series. Can't wait?? Hey, only 22 weeks to go!!

Finally, big thanks to everyone for being part of Australia's greatest city 'navigation on the run' series - you are ALL champions and a pleasure to share Wednesday evenings with. We will return!