Monday Night Fun Running

What an interesting course! There's been a lot of discussion about course-lengths of late and folks have suggested that while shorter courses please the masses, they don't challenge the gun runners...and vice-versa. Tonight's course was spot-on - and ensured that faster runners got to stretch their legs while walkers and slower runners had to choose carefully which controls to go for and which to leave out.

Conditions were cool and crisp - the start location was well lit and had plenty of parking. As time approached, Rick handed out the maps and Geoff struggled to lock the car key in the new "keyless lock-box" (more on this below - see technology report). Rick advised that he had pulled most of the control locations from a set of previous maps but hadn't had time to check them - we all agreed that people should record the last digit on "the nearest light pole" and off you all went.

It was only as Barry Giles rolled up, that Geoff finally managed to close the box - it seems that the thick rubber handle on the Toyota key prevented the safe from closing properly and re-orienting it within the lock allowed the box to close. After passing Barry a map, Geoff followed the other runners too. Judging by the number of times we all crossed paths with one another, there were clearly lots of opinions on what might have been "the optimum route". While many headed out to 25, others cut into the middle and started 16, 15, 25 (with the more gung-ho doing #5 at this stage too).

Course-Setter  -  Rick

"The nearest light pole" strategy worked well - although at times we had to take the spirit of the idea a little further and make it "the nearest pole" ...fortunately, we all wear headlamps and can see the pole numbers anyway. It was interesting to note that the clockwise runners met the anti-clockwise crew as they ran between 12 and 8 - both groups would have had 10-11 controls at this time and everybody seemed to be running well. An excellent result from power-walkers tonight too...with Judy Hopkins and Ilze Yeates nudging Eric and Bryan (fresh back from his Oxfam training run last week) who headed the field this week.

Disaster Strikes...

Everything seemed to be going so well....but as we approached the finish, the crowd standing around the rear of the land-cruiser did not bode well. It seemed that the keyless lock-safe was playing up and refused to give us back the key. Adam who was first back had initially opened the box and interested in seeing how it worked had popped the key back in and re-closed it...only to discover that it steadfastly refused to release the contents from that point on. Geoff tried the combination and master-fiddler David Beard climbed down to negotiate with it. In the meantime, Adam called Jack Bramham, a fellow ARDF member who lived nearby - and who was a master locksmith. Our theory was that Jack could have something sharp enough or heavy enough to cut his way through or into the box - thereby retrieving the car key.

Thanks to everybody for their patience and good spirits in difficult times - it was cold and most present were lightly dressed and/or clammy after their run. There were jokes about group hugs and suggestions that we should huddle together as penguins do in Happy Feet - people were beginning to realise that they should have grabbed the Lost and Found jacket and fleecy top that were unclaimed earlier in the evening.

Help Arrives

	Everybody cheered as Jack arrived in his work vehicle - and, after listening to the explanations of what had happened, Jack mumbled "that there wasn't a lot that could go wrong with such things" and bent down to check it out. Having used similar devices before, he realised that the handle that locked the device was stuck and automatically pressed the lid down with his other hand to take the pressure off. Instantly, the lock popped open and the car-key was visible. Another cheer, offers of more hugs and rapid collection of clothing and keys from the land-cruiser. Most headed homewards, but a small group of BBQ regulars retired to La Porchetta's nearby for pizza and pasta - this seems to be a regular Monday feast....touch base with Bruce if interested in joining them for a bite to eat after the event. Later investigation shows that the bulky key will only fit into the lock in one way - any other way puts back pressure on the door and makes the release handle very stiff. To avoid this in future, we've painted a picture of the key inside the lock and will train people to open a jammed lock next week.
Need a locksmith - click the photo to visit their website
Keyless lock in the CLOSED position Note the release handle on the left side	In the open position Note that the key orientation is now shown more clearly	Thanks to Jack for coming to help us out so quickly

In future....

• We'll put the key in the right way - to avoid the problem
• If it gets stuck again, we now know how to open it.
• Schon will carry a spare key to the vehicle - if something did go wrong, we can still return gear and get home.
• We will mount the lock on the spare wheel - higher position should make it easier to operate the lock.

Finally, apologies to Adam who got stuck in the middle of this and was quite inconvenienced by the whole affair. Adam had planned to move on to a Scout meeting elsewhere, but stayed on to explain to others what had happened and then hung around to see if he could help at all.

If you haven't already done so, we need everybody to log into the training database and pick a date, a map and a course. If you haven't used it yet, why not check it out now at http://street.orienteering.com.au/training/login.asp

Note that in the last week - we've now included a contact list table - so we can capture contact details for participants - please note that this information is only visible to people that know how to login to this system.

Which club will be first to bring out a set of clothes designed for the Iceberg Series?