Thursday, 24 March 2005
Mid-Week Event, Bardon, Brisbane
Thursday 24th March 2005
"Bardon Forest Park" 2004 1:7,500 5m
UBD158 K4 6km W of Brisbane CBD
"Long" 8 controls 3.8km 250m climb (6.6%)
(Note that the climb could have been much greater witha different route choice on 5>6.)
1>2 right of the hilltop but left of the housing; 5>6 left round by the road; 6>7 straight - a mistake (at least 3 minutes in the Lantana), should have gone left and low; 6>8 a debacle - straight to the top of the hill via the track, the I planned to take the dashed line but overshot the track bend and took the continuous line. The trap was that the OOB in that area is not evident on the ground,. and there were no houses in the gully. I spent 2 or 3 minutes staring at the map and at the blobby road end before I worked out where I was.
My time was 57 minutes, 8 minutes off the pace, which includes 2 minutes for a training conference at number 5 for both me and the winner.
Thanks to QOA, Chris Spriggs, Heidi Read and Clive Pope for the map, and Judy Scott for the event.
Sunday, 20 March 2005
OY, Collins Creek, Jimboomba
09:00 Sunday 20th March 2005
"Collins Creek" 1998 1:10,000 5m
UBD GoldCoast1 E17 45km SSE of Brisbane CBD
"Red 3" 14 controls 6.7km 175m climb (2.6%)
An interesting course; the first half was a full-on print across open paddocks, often with clear visibility from one control to the next, while second half was control picking in relatively dense forest. 10 proved hard to find, and I aimed off to the left for 11, only to bottle out and check left before checking right. Silly me.
Thanks to Ray, Elizabeth and Lee for their company on the trip and Nev for driving; Rob Simson and QOA for the map; Jim Dougall and TFOC for the event.
Thursday, 17 March 2005
Mid-Week Event, Bunyaville State Forest, Brisbane
12:00 Thursday 17th March 2005
"Bunyaville State Forest (West)" 2003 1:10,000 5m
UBD118 B9 12km NW of Brisbane CBD
"Long" 10 controls 4.7km 225m climb (4.8%)
This was a fairly rugged MidWeek event with long times and a couple of DNFs. My time of around 60 minutes was I think the fastest despite two mistakes. The first was at number 1 - I ran down the spur to the north - argh, classic mistake. The second was the run to the Finish, where intending to run up the creek bed I came out at the road at the bend to the east - very upsetting to find the cars had gone!
I ran up the creek bed to 2; went high and left at 4; along the creek bed at 6. An excellent course with intersting route choice and difficult control picking.
Thanks to Jim Bowling for the event, Jon Sutcliffe and QOA for the map.
Sunday, 13 March 2005
State Event, Bunyaville State Forest, Brisbane
09:00 Sunday 13th March 2005
"Bunyaville State Forest (East)" 2003 1:10,000 5m
UBD118 H9 12km NW of Brisbane CBD
"Red 2" 12 controls 5.9km 225m climb (3.8% but felt steeper)
Clive Pope ran straight from 1 to 2 while I went round to the right; and he beat my time, his local knowledge helping - the Lantana was runnable because of dry weather recently.
Interesting that most legs had track options which I largely did or would have taken: 2>3, 3>4, 5>6 (look closely down in the valley), 6>7, 7>8 (I went round to the left), 9>10 (I stayed low), 10>11 (to the right - definitely best), 10>11, 12>13.
Once again running two days in a row (no more than 16 hours earlier) meant I ran out of oomph half way and DNFed before the last loop taking 60 minutes. I should have run Red 3.
Thanks to Jon Sutcliffe and QOA for the map, Enoggeroos for the event.
Saturday, 12 March 2005
Park-O, University of Queensland at Ipswich
16:00 Saturday 12th March 2005
"UQ Ipswich" 2003 1:5,000 5m
UBD233 D3 32km SW of Brisbane CBD
16 controls 4km 95m climb (2.3%)
Number 4 may be a little puzzling. Geoff the setter learned his trade in the UK, where they fabricate control sites if they need to. The "Fodder Rack" symbol is used for a "tripod" - three sticks leaning together.
My only problem was running from 11 to 15 which cost me about a minute.
Comparing my splits with Lynne Cavanagh, who ran two minutes longer than me, we found that I was faster on all downhill legs (better knees), she was faster uphill (better fitness) and I was just a little faster on the flat (more aggressive.)
This was the public event associated with the Queensland Sprint Championships. My 26 minutes was not real good compared with the male winner - Lorenzo Calabro - 16 minutes; and Wendy Read, 20 minutes. They put my result as 10th and last in the Sprint Champs; had it been put with the rabble on the "Long" it would have been 2nd out of 22!
Thanks to Jon Sutcliffe and QOA for the map, Geoff Peck and the Cyclones for the course.
Thursday, 10 March 2005
Mid-Week Event, Brisbane Botanic Gardens, Mt Coot-tha, Toowong, Brisbane
12:00 Thursday 10th March 2005
"Brisbane Botanic Gardens" 1:5,000 5m
UBD158 L14, 6km W of Brisbane CBD
12 controls 105m climb
2.8km as the crow flies, 4.5km best route!
More route choice nightmares on this excellent map. I came second in 31 minutes, 7 minutes behind Ian Anderson but I don't mind.
Thanks to Ugly Gully / Jon Sutcliffe for the map, and Ray Kelly for the excellent course.
Sunday, 6 March 2005
Come And Try It, Gordon Park, Grange, Brisbane
08:00 Sunday 6th March 2005
"Grange" 2005 1:8,000 5m
UBD139 L11 4.5km NNW of Brisbane CBD
"Orange 1" 12 controls 4.9km 40m climb (.8%)
My 3rd run in 4 days but I ran better than I expected witha time of 38 minutes which was probably 10 minutes off the pace. A good map, a nice area and an excellent course with some intriguing route choices - none make or break but technically entertaining. I climbed the fence towards the end of 7>8, took the car park on 8>9 and 3rd right on 10>11.
Thanks to Rob Rapkins and Enoggeroos for the map; Brisbane City Council, Enoggeroos and Rob Rapkins for the event.
Saturday, 5 March 2005
Park-O, Anzac Park, Toowong, Brisbane
16:00 Saturday 5th March 2005
"Anzac Park" 1998 1:7,500 5m
UBD158 L16 6km W of Brisbane CBD
"Long" 15 controls 4km 180m climb (4.5%)
SportIdent - splits on QOA website.
It was fun running with others and meeting them again and again. Lots of route choice because many legs had a track option. An extra 50m on the track could save half a contour or some bush-bashing so I took tracks quite often (nothing to do with wearing shorts) eg 2>3, 4>5>6>7>8>9>10>11, I could also have used the track on 3>4, 6>7.
My time of 34 minutes put me 11 minutes off the pace but I don't mind being beaten by Lorenzo so call it 8 minutes! The only difficulty I had was an out of date map (7 years) on 11>12 where I had to pause a little to confirm I hadn't drifted off route.
Thanks Clive Pope / QOA for the map, Ian Anderson / Forest Racers for the event.
Thursday, 3 March 2005
Mid-Week Event, Gap Creek Reserve, Mt Coot-tha, Brisbane
12:00 Thursday 3rd March 2005
"Gap Creek East" 2004 1:10,000 5m
UBD157 H15 10km W of Brisbane CBD
"Long" 10 controls 4.1km 145m climb (3.5% but felt steeper)
Another excellent course from Clive Pope.
1 a little confusing as we were straight into the Lantana. Should have gone left and along the creek but went right and wasted a minute.
Went straight to 2 but should have gone right round the track - John Cooper paced me on that leg. After that, less route choice but a lot of very hard navigating.
Ian Anderson took 20 minutes out of me. Argh! I thought I had run well if a little slow up hills.
Thanks Clive Pope / QOA for the map, Clive for the course.
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