By George(s), what a glorious start to the 2014 Xmas 5-days

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Last Updated: Saturday, 27 December 2014 22:24

A wedding, a huge World War II cannon, sweeping views of Sydney Harbour, and European orienteering royalty.

Everywhere you went at today's opening long sprint at Georges Heights (Sydney's wealthiest suburb) there was something to catch the eye.

Swedish World Cup team member Tove Alexandersson, a six-time World Championship silver medallist, easily won the women's A course by more than 2 minutes as Europeans filled the first four placings.

It was much tighter in men's A, where Canberra's Dave Shepherd (the closest thing we have to Aussie O royalty) was just 12 seconds quicker than ACT young gun Lachlan Dow over the 4.5km.

"It was an awesome course, great fun," said Shepherd, who coincidentally was at the same location in March for a wedding.

"Sprint is not my discipline and I didn't pick all the right routes, but I didn't make any real mistakes."

The long courses headed east through Sydney Harbour Federation Trust land, which used to be for military use (the northernmost control was this old cannon), then down to the wedding area in the SE corner of the map, back through the start and finally west around Rawson Oval where Allan Border cut his teeth as a teenage batsman of note.

Some of the shorter courses made great use of a new section of the map recently opened by council (the bit south of the 3 tanks). From there you could see a US Coast Guard ship anchored in Chowder Bay (see top pic) - dare we suggest laid up with "engine trouble" until after the NYE fireworks?

While the wedding photo control had a stunning backdrop across the harbour to the eastern suburbs, guests waiting for the reception to start at the nearby Gunners Barracks were bemused to see a stream of runners passing by. 

A huge thank you to Bennelong Northside for a wonderful start to our first ever urban Xmas 5-Days carnival - particularly setter Gordon Wilson, vetter and mapper Terry Bluett, and organiser Darren Slattery. SI guru Ron Pallas - as always - ensured smooth sailing on a calm day.

Photos are on our Facebook page, while results are here.

Don't forget that public transport tomorrow (Sunday) is $2.50 per person all day. As Cockatoo Island is only accessible by ferry, be early at the wharf.