2007/8 Eastern Summer Series - Thursday Evening

Course-Setter - Alan Davis

We set out from civilisation (the Eastern suburbs) earlier in the afternoon and after establishing a base camp in Bundoora struck out for Mill Park Lakes. It was only as the more usual Mill Park Maze receded into the distance that we realised that there was still a ways to go. Surprisingly, the whole trip took only 30-35 minutes....and the holiday period traffic conditions made the trip much easier (take the opportunity over the next week or two to try more distant maps - much easier to get to than later in the year).

There weren't many there at 6:15 or so and we spent our time setting up courses and peeking at the map to make sure that the course lengths were reasonable. Mike - who checked the courses - thought they might be a little short but we were pretty sure that nobody would mind. By 6:30 people were starting to arrive and it was good to see several of those folks that came for the first time last week make the trip again today (closer next week - honest...). In addition, we welcomed several newcomers to the series - it's great to see some new faces each week!

Tonight's Map

We started at the Lakes Reserve - where the immediate area within a kilometre or so was pretty flat. As we turned over the map and saw the number of controls up on the high ground to the West, my heart sunk - but recovered quickly as I counted up to the required number of controls and realised that I - for one - was not going up there.

Most folks headed to #5 initially, and then went to #10 or #3. It was interesting how many people ignored Alan's warning about snakes so they could run the diagonal across to #3. As it turned out, the creek crossing slowed most people down so there wasn't much advantage in going that way. At #3, many continued South to 18 and 6, but a canny few led by Mark (follow me at your own risk) Besley headed across the open ground to #14, with the intention of picking up 18, 6 and 20.

Now while many Northern Series events are run in areas with attitude - or altitude - either way they can be quite difficult at times and are often not kind to those making poor route choices....tonight's course was well accepted by C, D and PW entrants. Those A and B runners that did encounter slopes for brief periods noted that they were nothing compared to what they had seen last night at Park Orchards.

As an indication of how close to the bush this map was, several people noted that they had seen wallabies, kangaroos and a number of hares as they took part in the course. Now that's something we don't see very often further South!

Well done Alan - great course, fairly set in what could have been a very challenging area. Everybody that I spoke to after the event thought this would be a terrific area for a Saturday or Sunday event during winter - we look forward to running it again later in the year. Finally, congratulations on the new map - a terrific effort for a first time street/bush map.

Russell's never had a knee injury before - but he's finding that street-O is and is happy to take advice from those that have. Like all running

Timing System Results

If you don't have a card or tag for the electronic timing system, please get one next week. If you're a regular NSS participant, we can let you use one of the snazzy wrist-bands (the deal is that we lend these to you - and only charge you for them if you lose it). If you come less frequently, we have the credit-card size units that are marked as visitor tags - and we encourage you to take one of these.

OK I Have a Tag - What Now?

Bring it to each NSS event (keep it in your O-bag as we use the timing system on informal events at times too). When you arrive, register your presence by swiping the card over the reader. The system records the fact that you're present. When the event starts, the system notes the time - note that the table below shows that this evening, we started at 19:00:49 - and waits for people to finish. When you finish pass your card in to the organiser at the desk and swipe your card again. The system announces that you've finished and your time will appear in the scores/on the web page - see below for tonight's results. If you don't register at the finish, we'll come out to search for you....

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The NSS Mailing List

Those that subscribe to the list got an email this evening as results were being copied on to the web site. This message gets dropped on to the list by the scoring software and goes to everybody that has subscribed to the list. To subscribe - send an email message to NSS-subscribe@orienteering.com.au (the list will send a reply within 2-3 minutes asking you to confirm your subscription. Once this is done, you can send messages to all others in the group). Please note that only those that are subscribed to the list will be able to submit messages to the list - this minimises the possibility of SPAM messages.

Increasing the Numbers at Northern Series Events

It's terrific to see new folks come along and while it's important that we continue working in this area, we can always use more help. The reality is that our best advertisement for this sport is you. If you enjoy taking part, if you believe that getting out in the open and getting a little exercise - in a social and supportive environment - is good for people, please tell your friends about the sport. We have brochures that explain the sport and a bunch of web pages that provide all sorts of background information that would be useful to new chums. If you'd like copies of any of these, please talk to us at any event or email us at the Admin link below.