Anybody got an abacus?
Event: Summer Street Series Event 16
Location: Blackalls Park
Entries: 70
Weather: Perfect
Confusion reigned as to which male actually won the summer street series as the final event at Blackalls Park wound down and the presentations commenced. The women’s series results were clear-cut with Karen Blatchford crowned champion over Kim van Netten in second place and Nicole Haigh filling out the placing in third. It was very tight indeed for the overall men’s lead going into this final event at Blackalls Park. This had to be the closest series ever with nothing between Steven Todkill and Josh Blatchford. Steven won the day and was presented with the winners patch (and bitumen trophy) as it was assumed his win had ensured his overall superiority. Today our statistician and results master has updated the overall point score to reveal that in actuality Josh Blatchford had just eclipsed Steven by the smallest of margins with series co-ordinator Malcolm Roberts taking out third.
The final points were:
Women 1st Karen Blatchford – 900.0
Women 2nd Kim van Netten – 888.1
Women 3rd Nicole Haigh – 852.6
Men 1st Josh Blatchford – 893.3
Men 2nd Steven Todkill – 893.0
Men 3rd Malcolm Roberts – 868.9
If you have a glance at the final scores you will notice that it came down to decimal places in deciding the men’s winner. Is this fair? Should they both be classed as joint winners with both names appear on the trophy and in the record books? Maybe we need to consult (or make up) the rules. Seems a little unfair that the margin can be so infinitesimal over such a long season. Also interesting to note that a Blatchford won both sections. Is this the first family quinella? While I’m not great on the memory I cannot recall this happening before and it’s a great effort by them. I can see Nicola in the future matching her mum’s performances but I’m afraid family patriarch, Russell is now well past his use by date!
Handicap winners for each event were awarded club t-shirts while the much appreciated event setters each received a club cap. Those hardy souls that contested every event during the series won coveted "Toblerone Awards" with Mick Kavur doing so for his second consecutive year and even more amazingly Tony Hayes for his third!
Thanks to Liz and Tom Bunn for yesterday’s event. I’m not sure which one actually set it but do know that Tom spent some time redoing the map. Kate also deserves a mention for ably assisting with the laborious task of marking the many clue sheets.
While the series is now over there’s no time to rest as next week we commence our Park Tour Series. These are more closely related to “true” orienteering in that we use control stands and punches but offer relatively simple navigation in urban parklands. The first week offers to be a beauty with a new map of the Maitland Park area. Mapgirl caught a glimpse of the finished (blank) map yesterday and she says it looks terrific. Following that we head to a remapped Blackbutt for the first time in many years. I can’t wait and recommend all those street runners that perhaps have not tried this style of orienteering to give it a go. See you there.