King's Park - it was monumental!
Sunday December 17th dawned clear and sunny, with no sign of the forecast possible showers and, until well after 8am, no sign of anyone arriving for the picnic game. After resolving differences in the interpretation of "South side" and overcoming assumptions about what would provide the promised shade, about 60 eager members found their way to where Santa (aka the event planner) was waiting in his personal COVID quarantine zone.
Maps and photographic control descriptions were distributed but not examined, the point scoring system was explained, and handicaps were self-assigned for running speed, intended degree of cheating, and familiarity with the terrain (and hence the control descriptions). And off they went at the appointed hour – after some minor confusion about orientation, the map not being quite up to IOF requirements in that regard. (Don’t blame the course planner; it had to fit on the page. And if you rotate one thing why not play with others?).
Most of the group had re-assembled after the required 45 minutes. The course planner outlined the development of the course then everyone checked their own results, tallied their own scores, applied their handicaps, and made their own comparisons of results.
There is no results list; no-one collected the results. Nobody really cared and the handicaps were counterproductive for some people, anyway. Even the few accusations of guessing answers for un-visited controls and of breaking the cheating rules were cheerfully ignored. Just a fun outing in the park, really.
With that all settled, everyone adjourned to the other shade for the annual pre-Xmas breakfast, which reportedly was a very cheerful affair, except the course planner who removed his mask and went home to watch the cricket, quite contented.
A big thank you to Ian the Santa for planning and organising a wonderful Christmas event, and numerous elves for helping to get it all together.
Photos: (above) Rob and Vanessa on the course, by Richard Matthews; (below) Christmas O crowd receiving instructions, by Christine Howitt.
Ngalak kaaditj nidja Noongar Boodjar. Koora-Yeyi-Kalyakool.