Down south at Wingello

Tuesday, 8 June 2010

A revision of the map to suit a middle distance course. Now at 1:15,000, and Joe the Marine's Gully (aka Halfway Hill in the Fling) taken off the map.  Gone too was the long gravel road loop.

Some re-established tracks to add a little interest ... should be a pleasant warm-up to the leg-buster at Belanglo the next day.

Or so I thought!  Turned out that Alison had not only set a leg-buster with three 100m climbs (for courses 1 and 2), and two for all the others, but she'd also given us enough extra distance that the courses were won in standard long-distance winning times!! At least we all got a strenous workout, and we now know that the smaller Wingello South map is still big enough for a long distance event!!!

Seriously, the courses gave us some good route choice, with a tricky little option at control 1 with two controls on different courses located close together - and yes, we had a few people who forgot to read the control number before punching :-(

The single-track down the re-established track in the forest was a bit confusing for some ... this was where you needed to use your compass to keep you headed in the correct direction instead of turning off into one of the unmarked 'rides'.

Long after official course closing time (which we extended - but thanks to those riders who followed instructions and came back to the start/finish at official closing time - you know who you are), riders were still coming in.  I was very impressed with the good humour on everybody's faces despite the extra long time out on the course for most.

Thanks to Alison for course-setting, to Nick for programming and running SI, and to everybody who helped collect controls, pack up gear and transport it to Belanglo.

El Pres