It was with bleary eyes that the intrepid crew arrived at Centennial Park as the sun rose tasked with putting out the controls for Metro 1. The task was made harder by having to dodge the gazillion bikes forming an endless stream of Lycra clad riders plus a few cars. Crossing the road was all about timing.
Never was this more evident than when you needed to unpack the flotsam and jetsam from cars that is required for an event,
As the sun rose higher in the sky the bleary-eyed crew were joined by the first wave of Uringan volunteers. Quickly the start appeared, Finish flags and units in place. The important registration desks stocked with all that was needed for the event. The IT department was up and running.
Wave 2 of volunteers arrived having found a parking spot somewhere nearby. With this group now in place our early start volunteers headed out on their courses. There is a reason why you do this as one of our early starters came across a control that didn’t want to cooperate. This was quickly replaced.
It was about now that the 200 plus runners were arriving, establishing club camps amongst the trees. It was good to see a number of competitors took advantage of the light rail stop nearby.
Steadily the maps were being consumed as runners headed off into the field. The nature of Centennial Park, open and fast gave runners a little more distance than perhaps their legs were ready for. However, the winning time for each course were just what the doctor ordered.
At time of writing the team results are not up on line.
Uringa Results:
Division 1
Jonathan Nolan 7th
Michael Warlters 21
Ian McKenzie mp
Division 2
Shane Doyle 7th
Serena Doyle 8th
Maggie Mackay 18th
Division 3
Harrison Grubits 3rd
Jim Mackay 6th
Mitchell Grubits 9th
Istvan Grubits 32nd
Xiaohui Sherry Zou 38th
Division 4
Nicholas Smith 5th
Frances Richards 13th
Laurence Bruggeman 20th
Paul Coleman 24th
Division 5
Melanie Christie 6th
Gayle Shepherd 20th
Helen Murphy 23rd
Hayley Coleman 24th
Dave Lotty 32nd
Jane Boland – dnf (Jane found the errant punch returned to the start.)
Division 6
Elodie Warlters 21st
Benjamin Mo 28th.
The crowd dispersed reasonably quickly and I wondered how many were able to auction off their car park to the circling hordes?
Once the final runners returned – it was time to head back into the park to collect the controls. This is a thankless task usually done on tired legs but I am pleased to say the Control Collectors were in fine spirit- must have had something to do with Mrs Murph’s chocolate biscuit bribes.
Whilst the control collectors were out another group of worker ants were busy packing up the gear, risking life and limb to cross the car and bike filled lanes to the respective cars.
With a total of 208 entries this was one of the biggest Metro events for many a year. A huge thank you to course setter Matt for another great event along with Ant, who was Matt’s Controller. The efforts of the Uringan volunteers were outstanding.
Now for something funny. The live results were posted on a Swedish web site.
There is an option in the upper left corner to have the site in Swedish or English. Check out what happens when you switch to Swedish! Uringa translate into ........
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| Course Planner Matt addressing the throng |
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Great shot of Serena full gas.
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The next few months for our club will be very much enjoy competing, sitting back and watching other volunteers hard at work.
1 comment:
Great report. Well done all Uringans on the day.
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