King of the Mountain at Queens Park

Saturday, 25 February 2017

Geelong Street-O   -   King of the Mountain at Queens Park

This week’s event had a definite Royalist theme as participants competed for the King of the Mountain title with the course starting in the Barwon River valley at Queens Park.

The steep hillside around the valley looked daunting but this republican leaning writer was braced to tough it out !! As it turned out, it was possible for all but A and B grade to avoid the worst of the hills and stick largely to the pleasantly meandering paths around the river and parkland.

That didn’t prevent course-setter Luke from setting a navigational challenge which was best epitomised by the fact that each A grade participant chose a different route. Given that the start/finish was based in the middle of Queen’s Park with its surrounding golf course, with only 2 ways in and out, is a special cause for credit to Luke. Well done !!
 

In A grade, Ron T recovered from his poor result (by his high standards !!) from last week to be home 1^st from Mark C and Toby C.

In a small field in B grade, I managed to nudge out Sofie with Don F next (and possibly still recovering from jet lag).

Damian W and Paul VDV were 1^st and 2nd in C grade, followed by Stuart McW and Mel B. These 4 have had many tight finishes over the series, with Peter B always close to the mark.

Family grouping of Celestine, Jeanette and Jeanne entered D grade, got a couple of controls then chose to sit beside the river. Who can argue that this wasn’t time well spent ??

In the walking, the runaway train that is Michael H, again produced the top score (65 points). Tellingly – with the gap ever decreasing – it was Linden and John Y next (62pts), followed by the consistent Tom F (58 pts) then a gap to the rest. 

A special thank you from the long-suffering scorer to Peter E and Robyn H, who always punch their cards in a very clear, well centred manner that leaves the scorer in no doubt as to the appropriate score !!

Well done to the winners of the polka-dotted coffee mugs across all grades.

That’s it – one event to go for the series.

Prior to this we do have the Street-O Championships on. Representing the Geelong series will be Luke H, myself, Des G and possibly a female walker. Keep in mind that even if you haven’t qualified for the Championships, you can still come along and participate as an ordinary entrant, just as you can at any Street-O event.

For our last event at Western Park (cnr Pakington and Autumn Sts, Geelong West), we will have an 8pm finish to allow time for a presentation of series winners.

Please bring along a plate of something, to allow the opportunity to mingle and strategise about how to perfect our navigational skills post-event !!

Alan Cooke