Bush, river, park and a bit of street - a smorgasbord of terrain and scenery ensured our 25th anniversary Sydney Summer Series at Boronia Park was one to remember.
A proud Ross Barr, the series instigator in 1991-92 (the SSS has been through seven prime ministers), watched on all smiles as the retro 6pm mass start line course crowned the muggy evening.
Michele Dawson (pictured below) took out the women's line course in 39m55s. The lead changed between Barbara Hill, Lisa Grant, Paula Shingler and Michele before the JWOC rep triumphed by 16 seconds over Lisa, with Paula two seconds back and Barbara a further 12 seconds adrift. Classic match racing.
Michele's younger brother Aidan stormed out of the blocks in the men's race (see top pic) but overshot #1 and couldn't make up the time, eventually finishing fourth behind WHO's James Macquillan - enjoying his best season and winning in 35m11s, 35 seconds ahead of Richard Morris.
There was plenty of jockeying for minor places, too, with Andy Simpson pipping Big Foot clubmate Michael Burton by one second for the runner-up spot in the Veteran Men's class. Andy took the track out of the last control and went by the oval while Michael went north and below the contours, out of sight as both men powered to the finish.
All up 41 people set off at the mass start, while an even 200 enjoyed the traditional score course.
Our French visitor Aurelien Penneman topped that with 570, taking the bragging rights over Open Men's champ Steve Ryan and Masters maestro Glenn Horrocks. Rogaining star Gill Fowler was the best female in action, collecting 490 and sixth place overall.
Dan Redfern set a generous score course that rewarded everyone, and really made the fitter folk pant for their bonus points. Heck, even your correspondent racked up 390 walking! Lollies everywhere, but still a very good cardio workout given the up-down of the bush tracks.
And it was great to see 22 of the original 30 people from this event 25 years ago taking part, proving once again that orienteering is a sport for life.
A huge thank you to Dan and the Garingal helpers for another smoothly run event in a lovely area. The maps and a few photos are on our Facebook page.
