Monday Night Fun Running

It was cold - 8 degrees for those interested. With 4 minutes to go, Geoff announced that it was time to put fleecy/warm tops in the car - but people just moaned and huddled even more closely together. (No penguin jokes this week - oh alright - just one....see below). It was only the promise of an early start that got some of the more reluctant folks to finally disrobe as David did his best to encourage those present with a series of warnings - about the darkness, wet paths, the cold, the dangers of running across parkland and the fact that he had engaged Glenn Mummery's company to dig a series of impassable ditches across what otherwise might have been the more popular route choices for the evening.

As we turned maps over there was a palpable wave of horror from the assembled crowd; someone murmured "Oh my God, he's used both sides of the freeway...". Over to one side another, overcome with grief at yet another long course, sobbed uncontrollably (OK...it was me....but I managed to stop pretty quickly as I needed to work out which way to go). I checked the scale - aha 1:10,000!! - but I knew to be suspicious...few course-setters ever measure the printed map and the late penalties in a couple of recent courses have been quite severe. I checked the scale bar - and it seemed that for once, the scale truly was 1:10K....so perhaps things weren't too bad after all.

David had noted that the drive towards shorter and shorter courses was pushing scores up through the roof - rampant inflation. We ourselves have seen this in recent times as hyper-inflation in street-O night events has caused the scores of even the slower runners to nudge the 70 point barrier. We addressed this by floating the maximum score - by allowing course-setters to decide what was fair at each event. In spite of this, scores have continued to rise and David (fine economist that he is) decided to do something about it. At tonight's event, David followed the fine example set by the Reserve Bank - and restricted supply by moving the controls a little further apart (and further uphill). To compensate us for the increased cost of points - he placed three of the 6 point controls quite close-in, thereby fending off criticism from those that inadvertently ran too far and too long on the North side of the freeway and didn't have time to get down South to the 3 high-pointers. The placement of #22 was diabolical...it seemed so reachable, but many of those that did go there might have done better to go South first.

Building a house on the vacant lot (ie alley-way) just West of #17 was a stroke of genius - and as I ran down towards it, it seemed to me that there might be a right of way down the side of someone's garden - I peeked behind the bush - no luck...thought I'd try further South - still no luck...and decided that I'd go and have a look from the other end in case it was just a concealed alley-way. Nope...it's a house alright! Fortunately, those that arrived there early warned others as they passed by...so most people managed to avoid inconvenience.

Glenn dropped his score-card this evening and re-ran the course in the reverse direction after the event to see if he could find it. Serendipitously, he did so - finding it about 50m from control #13. He reports that Jilly (the border-collie) slept all the way home in the car, raced into the house and has taken refuge underneath the table (he hopes to persuade her to come out before Wednesday evening).

"This is the recession that street-O had to have

Finally, as we stood around after the event, did you notice the amazing cloud of steam pouring up from the groups of people that had just finished their run (I wonder if we could harness enough energy here to steam dim-sims? Just need to talk to Stan to see if he can rig up something to suspend them above the runners)

Postscript - as it turned out, the increased course-length proved to be an interesting challenge. In addition to working out the optimal route between controls, one had to decide which controls were to be dropped - and when. Some dropped early so they had time to get down South, some went South first (probably the best strategy) and others (like me) were too greedy to the North and didn't get across the footbridge at all. I thought the course was really interesting - it certainly kept me thinking!

Feedback

Penguin Joke - Penguin #1 - "I am so sick of the club scene". Penguin #2 - "Yes...and so are the baby seals"

Barry - Yes the course was tough - but as a walker you know that you are not going to get all the controls -  and so all events are about optimising the distance and the points leaving as little spare time as possible. I got 12 controls - which I think is a reasonable challenge. Which reminds  me  - I did get 12 -  four 6 pointers -  22 to 25  perhaps I forgot to write one down

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