Cathies Corner Gets Into Gear

Thursday, 17 May 2012

"And now I have to introduce our tame course setter.  Some say, when at rest he naturally faces magnetic north; and that he is easily confused by escalators.  All we know is that he is called Ian G". 

With these words, our Top Gear themed event got underway.  The idea of the Le Mans start - we had to run to a fence to grab the maps - was to rev everybody up, but that plan went a little awry when we looked at the maps and realised there were a LOT of options, so we stood wracked with indecision.  Eventually we departed, scattering in all directions.  Cathies Corner is a wonderfully complicated map, and confusion reigned as we negotiated curving streets that led into courts and tiny parks - very easy to lose map contact.  I was congratulating myself on an error free run as I headed for home after no 20, telling myself "just follow the road round to the right and down the hill".  I stopped reading the map, and promptly ran straight into a dead end street that I hadn't noticed.  Oops!  Had to hit the accelerator hard to get back in time.

Only two runners managed to clean up the course, and this week Alex was faster than Bryan.  It looks like others dropped the lonely no 13, way up in the northeast corner.  Bryan has a perfect score of 600 and can't be beaten, but Alex is now level with Ian on 581, so they will have an interesting fortnight as they fight for second and third. In A2, Geoff and Bruce are also level on 565.

On B course, James managed a narrow win in spite of late penalties, ahead of Raymond and Peter.  James is just one point away from the perfect 600.  Tim cruised to a C course win, beating David and Denise, and is holding his slim lead at the top over Tony.  Clifford won PW from Tim and Gary, but Greg's consistent results have put him on top, ahead of Ron and Bernie.  Annie and Ilze are just two points apart on PW2, and Mark and Mike are locked on 527 apiece in PW3. 

With all these close results, the next two weeks are highly important as the Autumn series draws to a close.  Next Wednesday is at Mont Eagle and yes, the map is as hilly as its name would suggest.  On top of that, there are some very confusing intersections (I speak from bitter experience) so you'll need to be fit and focused.