Tuesday 23 December 2008

Wild Goose Chase

Posted by speedygeoff on Tuesday, December 23, 2008 with
Monday night training saw Amanda, Bronwyn, Gary, Geoff B, me, Jodie, Katie, Ken, Maria. Mick C, Miranda, Rachelle, Ruth & Sonia enjoy a wild goose chase of my devising, a kind of scavenger hunt without the scavenging, around Parliament House. The wildest goose was Miranda, whose powers of observation under pressure turned out to be the best of a good bunch. Miranda won a caramel koala for her efforts; as did Sonia who arrived from Melbourne that afternoon, but in her case the prize was more out of sympathy than any merit or accuracy, although she did finish 5 minutes before everyone else, and the effort in question was her dragging Amanda by the arm all the way.

Tour de Mountain Mawson, Sunday 21 December
25k men
29 Mick Horan 2.20.13
41 Adam Robinson 3.35.35.
41 finishers + another 18 women finishers

17k men
15 Roger Pilkington 1.32.55
23 Geoff Barker 1.46.51
24 Peter Hogan 1.48.28
31 finishers

17k women
6 Charlie McCormack 1.42.33
7 Bronwyn Calver 1.44.44
15 Caroline Campbell 1.56.00
17 finishers

9k women
2 Jodie Davis 1.06.32
3 finishers + another 4 men finishers Not many were too keen to run just Mt Taylor. Well done Jodie!

Mountain running in 2009
I have been noting mountain runs I might run next year. This is not one of them. The mountain runs I *might* attempt next year, if I am around at the time, include Brindabella/Bulls Head (if it’s on in 2009); Deep Space marathon events; Bush Capital marathon events; the Black Mountain challenge. The Fitzroy Falls marathon and the Nowra-King of the Mountain run look interesting too. But I will never run on any course which has rough or steep downhills. Including steps!

Twenty questions
The Wild Goose Chase involved answering these twenty questions. Forty minutes was allowed for the runners to find the answers. There were no perfect scores but only one of Miranda's answers varied from mine.

For the record, the questions were:
North of Parliament House
Q1. Bus shelters: Explorer Bus status? three words (5 pts)
Q2. Built by “Barry Webb Associates 1988” they line Federation Mall. Count them all! (20 pts)

East of Parliament House
Q3. Who donated the two stone lions? (5 pts)
Q4. Near the lions, who unveiled the Bali memorial on 16 October 2003? (5 pts)
Q5. What are the loading dock opening hours? (5 pts)
Q6. The fountain on the NE corner – what is it in honour of? (5 pts)

South of Parliament House
Q7. Opposite the start of Melbourne Avenue, how far is it to the “public entrance”? (5 pts)
Q8. How far do you think it really is? (5 pts)

West of Parliament House
Q9. What is at station 6 on the fitness circuit? (5 pts)
Q10. Do one. Did you do one? Hint – the correct answer is yes. (5 pts)
Q11. Down the sealed path to the North-West, past our “favourite” hill and under the road, you come to a park. What is its name? (10 pts)
Q12. What can’t you do right now on our “favourite” hill? (5 points)
Q13. “Sports Field Closed”. What for? (5 pts)
Q14. What sort of “course” is the fitness circuit? three letters. (5 pts)
Q15. The sundial at the NW corner. What kind of sphere? (one word spelt correctly for 10 pts)

Old Parliament House
Q16. To the east of old Parliament House is the House of Representatives Rose Gardens. Just inside the near gate: in what year did women vote for the first time in a Federal election? (Careful!) (5 pts)
Q17. To the west of Old Parliament House, just inside the Senate Gardens, what is the surname of the “celebrated architect” whose sketch inspired the design of the shelters? (5 pts)
Q18. At the same spot, what does RSTA stand for? (5 pts)

General
Q19. There are some tennis courts around Parliament House. If there were doubles matches going on at every court, how many people would be playing? (10 pts)
Q20. How long are we permitted to park where most of us park? (5 pts)

You are welcome to do the 40 minute test yourself on foot, don't ask others the answers, especially don't harass the guards, and you can submit your answers to me for evaluation!

Two answers in one

Click to enlarge. I lurked near here to make sure question ten was answered correctly!