2007/8 Northern Summer Series - Thursday Evening

Mappers & Course-Setters - the Collins Family

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Perhaps it was the hot weather or maybe it was the distant location, but numbers were down substantially this week. In spite of this, the start location was very pleasant, the surrounding area was flatter than most Western Suburbs maps and the course-setter had reduced course-lengths and made excellent use of the many parks and laneways that criss-crossed the area.

For those of us that had run the killer course on the previous evening (Wednesday night's course on the Greythorn map), this was an easy run to cap off the week's exercise. It was made even easier by the (slightly) cooler breeze that came up about half-way through the event - the effect was quite noticeable as we gathered after the finish to discuss where we'd gone and what we thought of one another's courses.

Ted van G. leads in A course, but is still reachable by Jun if he runs a blinder next week. Vic Sedunary is 10 points further behind in third place, with a comfortable lead over Mick Worthington.

Phil Giddings first place this week allowed him to drop a 92 point lowest score from his best 6; with the result that he's gained an additional 8 points on leading B grade runner Ray Howe. Only 4 points behind Ray, and sporting a 94 point "lowest counted" Phil can certainly close the distance on Ray if he has a good run next week - this will be an interesting finish to the season next week!

With Peter Kovassy and Geoff Hudson both on 590 after last week's run, both were keen to do well this week. As Peter trailed him to the first control, Geoff bemoaned the fact that he didn't want to run with Peter again as they had done in the previous week. Noting that there was both a Southern and Northern route choice available out of the second control, he let Peter punch first and then took the alternate route. Later measurements (via Google Earth) suggest that the route choices were probably within 100-200m of one another - not a lot in it as it turned out. Peter ran well and finished more than 2 minutes ahead of Geoff - and to Geoff's dismay as ran down the opposite hill and watched Peter traipsing off to the nearby loo, the Bennett boys - Marcus and Daniel cruised in during this period. This puts Peter in an unassailable position heading into the final event - congratulations Peter!

While Ewen Templeton continues to dominate D course, second place is still under negotiation. While Kath Liley has a comfortable lead at the moment, Allan Miller needs one more event to complete his "Best 6" - and his average indicates that if he does so, he will probably pull ahead of Kathy in the final event.

In the power-walking course there's Len of course - but look a little further and notice that there are some excellent results from many of the other participants. Please note that while we haven't split the PW course into categories - by drawing arbitrary lines at various points in the score list - if you're just above the line you come last in that section, if you're just below the line, you come first in the next - we do note that there are some terrific results here...many of which are worthy of note.

Stuart Woollett's average of 97.6 shows a consistency at high-levels that is not often seen in any of our park-street series. In (almost) equal 3rd place Lyn Green and Debbie Dodd are both competitive walkers with a good ability to manage their 60+ minute time allocation to perfection - neither have suffered significant time penalties this season. While Ron Frederick's average suggests that he could still make it into the top three, Len Budge clone Derek Green (a comment based on my observations of them walking side by side at Kensington) is just out of range (still a terrific effort Derek - it occurs to me that if we handicap Len so that he matches you, he wouldn't be quite so cocky...).

Finally, we note the terrific efforts by many of the folks that have started orienteering this year - and as is customary in many sports, we will award certificates/prizes to those that have done so well in our Novice Section. Christine (Chris) Butler started slowly with one or two 80's, but quickly got the hang of arriving back on time and stepped up into the high 80s and more recently lower 90s.  While Katharine Connor may not get enough events to make it in a "Best 6" competition, she's done well to score in the mid-80s - and we've certainly appreciated the "newcomer insights" she's been prepared to offer in our discussions with her.

Piper the dog, who walks with Julie Merryfull completed 6 events with one or two minor scores trails George (who tows Rosie along) - subject to an excellent result from Piper next week, George is likely to take out the canine section. In the groups section, the Walsh Family are always there - usually with Simon and Fiona leading the way and Angus and Oliver trailing 5-10 metres further back. 
 

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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.