Better weather and a central location saw a vast improvement in competitor numbers for this the second event of the Newcastle Park Tour. This event also saw a little (easy) bush orienteering included in the courses.
Three courses were offered today with the official Park Tour Long & Short being suplemented with an Extra short for those wishing to stay in the Park proper. The long course featured a map change-over which presented no problems for those people that actually read the instructions. Yes sometimes reading the instructions can assist your on course performance! Earlier in the afternoon during control placement, course setter Geoff Peel watched a young primary school lad remove one of his controls that had been there hardly 2 minutes. The lad appeared to be surprised that this object was not there merely for him to take and do so with it whatever he wished. His attitude was disappointing but not unique amonst those of his generation. Later Margaret Peel running a last minute vetting of the long course discovered one control was missing. It turned out two had been tampered with (by young guys on motorcycles). This greatly affected the first real competitor, Peter Charlton time but he was fairly gracious in not letting this bother him and simply set about finding both the control stands and flags that had been discarded in the bush.
A strong finish from Steven Kentish
Winning performances on the day were Michael Cairney in the Extra short, Alex Massey repeating last weeks victory in the Short and Arthur Kingsland shaking off injury to show he is no spent force and still amply capable of toping the field.
Thanks go to those that helped on the day either at one of the desks or collecting controls. This made for a much easier evening for the organisers.