Uringa showed off the trickiest bits of Centennial Park in hosting a cracking round 4 of the MetrO League. Starting and finishing in the rocky, forested sandstone ridge - and taking the longer courses down to the duneland in the south-west corner - runners traversed much of the park's most scenic areas.
A cool overcast morning was soon brightened by the sounds and sight of dozens of yellow-tailed black cockatoos emerging from the forest right above the start. What a sight!
There were only three close matches on the day: Garingal Molochs escaped with a 27-27 draw against Big Foot in Division 3 when ML debutante Kerrie-Jane Akester, newly married to BF's hockey star Chris Jacka (a 10-pointer in Divn 2), punched the wrong control on the edge of the sandstone ridge near the finish. It's been that sort of month for the English lately. It was the Molochs' first point for the year and hard-earned.
In Division 2, likewise the GO Frill Necks grabbed their first victory of the year over SHOO 28-27. SHOO had the two quickest runners in the match could were left to rue Garingal's consistency across the board.
And in Division 5, Bennelong Year 7 student Tshinta Hopper filled in to help UR-CC Kestrels down WHO 29-26. Tshinta bagged 7 points and even finished quicker than mum Sharon Lambert, a Summer Series veteran usually quite au faix with the Park.
Elsewhere, Big Foot remain unbeaten in Division 1 and appear to set to extend their long reign as Metro Maestros. If the Feet beat second-placed WHO in the last round, Garingal or UR-CC can sneak into the final. Andrew Hill (WHO) maintained his lead in the individual standings.
Winning times were all well under the ideal 35 minutes - but the fast, open nature of Centennial Park encourages you to go the "Harold" or "Usain".
It was heartening to see so many new juniors and families participating. Conditions really were ideal for a walk or run. Thanks to the Uringa crowd for an excellent morning and to Ron Pallas for having the results online by mid-afternoon.
Results are on the ML page.
