Joggers turn out to burn off their Christmas cheer

THERE was a excellent turnout of joggers keen to leave some Christmas calories on the tracks of the hill on Saturday in the first run of the summer series in ideal weather.

The series continues through January with sociable two-minute groupings, courses and distances varied according to the conditions on the day and promotion and relegation for the less sociable.

The long course runners understand this concept and most of the groups held together as much as possible with the 14-minute group winning the "most sociable award", the ten in the group collecting placings from 12th to 26th, Allan Jones dangerously pushing the pace and Donovan Colpo the only one dropping back to solo.

First-timer Aiden Fattore took line honours and wins himself a promotion to a quicker start group, as does Martin West close behind. 

Both were from the 10-minute group, which found itself split apart from first to near-last place, but it was nevertheless pleasing to see Greg Burgess on the tracks again at 49th following his catastrophic Shanks' Pony race which saw him evacuated from the course.

The track last week is the oldest run course on the hill, but it was so surprising being run in reverse, many Joggers were in totally unchartered territory and are unable to navigate correctly hence a few of the poorer times.

The lack of markers out on the course for the summer series increases the degree of difficulty, but it was only a few years back that the Joggers never used any maps or markers everyone was in their own headspace to memorise the course by name and instruction.

In contrast the inexperienced and headstrong mix of junior and adult short course runners couldn't stick together in a Velcro snowstorm and became fantastically and widely spread across the hill in both space and time. Only Albert Einstein could calculate where they went.

Michelle Quade finished an extremely unsociable first, and at the opposite end Elijah Brooker was dazed and confused and a long way back in last. Yet he was still better off than Will Lyons, with his double tragedy of face plant and disqualification for jumping the start gun.

A reminder goes out to all Joggers that they must log on and log off with their electronic timing tags at the mats as this is the only method in use to follow each Joggers progress - the manual systems are obsolete and time consuming. 

The next run is promising to be a hot one and will likely include the compulsory water stop behind Messner Street, so take care before, during and after the run.

The Joggers run from the water tower opposite Pioneer Park every Saturday at 5.30pm in summer, with your choice of long and short runs on the tracks and trails of Scenic Hill.