Ian Miller reports on TT2013

Turkey Trot Dramatic Finish ! (Less than half a second in it after 30 controls and 20 kilometres !)

The Men's Long Course at the ninth annual Sydney Metropolitan Turkey Trot produced another exciting finish.   In a match race over 20 kilometres, Richard Mountstephens and Glen Horrocks could not be separated on their official finishing times and it was the decision of the officials that gave first place to Richard.  Richard entered Castle Hill Showground about 10 metres in front but Glen powered up the final hill closing the gap steadily and they both went for the SI units simultaneously.   Their time was a very fast 89:22.  Glen was in front for the first 10 controls but never by more than 22 seconds.  At control 11, Richard led by 44 seconds but Glen had caught him again by control 14 after a long uphill leg.  They were together at the start of the downhill leg from Castle Hill Heritage Park and recorded 7:53 for Glen and 8:02 for Richard for the 2.2km.  This is after having already run over 13kms !  Richard made a small break coming back into Fred Caterson Reserve but Glen pegged him back all the way to the finish control.   In the race for 3rd, Alex Massey's strength up the final hill enabled him to beat Steve Ryan by 9 seconds in 99:36.  (Organiser's Note - This is the second same time result for the Turkey Trot Men's Long Course.  the first being Glen Horrocks and Jock Davis in 2008).  

Meanwhile on the Ladies Long Course Lisa Grant, Gill Fowler and Paula Shingler were having their own battle.  Lisa ran well for the whole journey with very little lost time, while Gill had a problem at control 5 and lost 5 minutes.  They ran similar times for the middle part of the course with Gill passing Paula after control 24 to secure second place.   Lisa was first in 110:51, Gill second in 113:45 and Paula third in 117:50.  

Both the Medium Courses were won by runners attempting orienteering for the first time.  The Men's Medium Course produced a win for Angus Lloyd who held off his friend (also new to orienteering), David Topham by 18 seconds to win in 77:54.  The first six places on the Men's Medium Course were separated by only 48 seconds.  Andrew Povah was 3 seconds behind David beating Keith Povah into 3rd by a mere 2 seconds.  

Kathy Topham (another first timer to orienteering), won the Ladies Medium Course in 78:03 with Brook Martin second in 83:12 and Rochelle Cox in 83:33.  

In the Ladies Short Course, Carolyn Matthews started strongly, faded a little in the middle and finished strongly to win in 58:27 from Karin Hefftner in 59:42 and Nicole Selin in 64:39.  In the Men's Short Course Malcolm Roberts started steadily and improved throughout the run to finish in 51:08 with Gareth Chandler second in 53:40 and Darius Cartwright third in 54:14.

The weather was sunny, dry and cool which was appreciated by all.  Thank you to all the participants - we had a record equaling entry of 73.  We hope you enjoyed the event and look forward to seeing you at the 10th Turkey Trot on the first Sunday in July 2014.

Thank you to all the helpers on the day and to Ted Mulherin, Chris Crane and James McQullan for the organisation, map work and course activities.  Nerise McQuillan made the Rocky Road prizes which were well received by the placegetters.

Ian Miller