Commentary on 2018 Turkey Trot

The Sydney Metropolitan Turkey Trot has a habit of throwing up a few surprises and this year, did not disappoint. Fire trails, single tracks, roads, indistinct tracks, off-track and bare rock mixed with some steep ascents and descents made for a challenging but mostly rewarding morning. An icy morning gave way to a glorious winter’s day as competitors dove into the technically challenging Refuge Rocks area before dropping into the Berowra Valley and looping back to Cherrybrook.

Glenn Horrocks does it again. There aren’t enough superlatives for this guy! He was in a ding dong battle this time though with Bart Vonhoff and Keelan Birch. The lead changed multiple times throughout the long race and each took different route choices on a number of legs but Glenn, as he has many times before, got home first. Bart was 45s back with Keelan hot on his heels. Aniko-Fozo Kertesz, who won the Medium Course last year, stepped up to the challenge of the Long this year and found herself in a tussle with Clare Williams. Clare prevailed by a couple of minutes but both ran exceptional races, finishing 5th and 6th overall. A bit further back was Toni Bachvarova, who claimed third.

Duncan Currie dominated the Medium Course from the get go to continuing his winning streak in the Turkey Trot. 20 minutes further back things were much tighter. Tim Giles held off Ruaridh MacDonald by a mere 20s. The trifecta went to Big Foot in the Women’s race. Mother - Joanna Parr - and daughter - Rebecca George - shared the podium for first and third respectively with Nicole Mealing separating them with second.

Michael Ridley-Smith was the closest of anyone from any course to breaking the hour mark. He won Mens Short and just pipped Lida Lehtonen, who won the Womens Short Course. They both had a buffer of over 10 minutes to the next runners with Peter Fozo and Owen Shepherd collecting second and third for the Men. Nikolett Halmai was the second woman across the line and fourth overall. Ellen Currie made sure her brother wasn’t the only podium placer in the family by claiming third.

Congratulations to all runners and volunteers and a big thank you to Garingal for the use of their maps. The courses were navigationally challenging early on and physically demanding after that. As always there were many stories to tell at the finish - some of triumph, some of despair. Regardless of how your fared, we hope you enjoyed yourself had a great morning orienteering. Rumour has it that next year may well see a complete change up with the Turkey Trot likely to be in a new area with many parks and reserves and very little bush. See you next year. Same time. Different place.