Thursday, October 25, 2007

Overcast skies, drizzle and rain greeted around 140 mad runners yesterday afternoon for Summer (!) Series event 3. Not to be put off by the conditions, an impressive crowd rolled up to this great harbourside venue to enjoy an excellent and intriguing course set by Steve Flick. Although some of the pathways amongst the apartment developments (a feature of the location) were slippery at high speed, most enjoyed running in the cooler conditions, and the discipline of navigating the complex building areas (except the old farts whose glasses fogged up!). Some excellent harbourside parks, and the classic 'Wickford Island', complimented the street and apartment sections.

The control locations close in meant quite high scoring for most competitors, with checkpoint #16 and #30 there to test the young guns. Open Men's champion Andrew Hill, managed a clean sweep of 600 points in 43 minutes - an excellent run. There were also several 580's, either by leaving out #16, or by being a touch over time. Michael 'Douglas' Burton left off #16 but was back early - an outcome that needed a pint of Guiness afterwards as consolation!

One of the most interesting controls was #18 on the tennis court fence. This proved elusive to many, with the court being behind a high hedge! Keeping a handle on entry and exit directions in these pathways was a nice challenge, with the odd 180 degree error being reported. The mix of cunning and running was good stuff all round in this great SSS area - we will be back.

Next week brings the beginning of daylight saving and more time to see where we are all going! James Lithgow has a great course in store for us at Macquarie Uni, where a bit of bush running might be an interesting contrast to the Uni building complexes and the sculptures. Not to mention confusion in the car park buildings! All excellent material for the SSS addict, and not to be missed (of course).

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