Saturday 16th January

A fun but challenging time was had by all in the heat of North Freo on Saturday. The course setter (Noel Schoknecht) sat out this event at home – in isolation, after returning from Christmas and New Year with his Mum in Melbourne, so it was left to Simmo and others to do the hard yards!

On a very linear map, Noel set an interesting course which included favourite spots around the riverside suburb. These included the beach (Nos. 1, 2, 10 and 12 – no sharks sighted), a steep climb into the bush above the river at 9, Noel’s wedding location (No. 22), Mt Lyell lookout (23), Dingo Flour Mill (20), Matilda Bay Brewery (17), and the World War II guns at Buckland Hill (24 and 26). A popular route ran between 4 and 8 past the Schoknecht quarantine house, where Noel sledged runners from his veranda above the street.

From the Start, in front of the Grandstand at Gilbert Fraser Reserve (special thanks to Armando and the Fremantle Mosman Park Cricket Club for letting us use the Grandstand), competitors had to circumnavigate two cricket matches on adjoining pitches before making their way out of the Reserve. For the Short course, a big No-No was heading SW under Stirling Highway, which involved an extra 500m. However, this meant that the shortest routes involved some steep climbing.