We go trackside with team 94 (Steve Sullivan, Chris Graves and Bruce Greenhalgh) to get the inside running on the Minigaine.
While it doesn’t have the nation stopping status of the Melbourne Cup the recent ‘Glimpse of Gawler Stakes’ proved to be a worthy addition to the Spring Racing Carnival. A strong field of over 500 competitors took part in the event which was, of course, not just about racing, but also about the fashions! Chris Franklin and Paul Hoopman caught the eye with outfits that harkened back to a yesteryear of grace and charm. Our team chose an Hawaiian theme with grass skirts, Chris in his cutting-edge multicolored skirt, while Steve and I went for a more classic single tone look. Assured that my bum didn’t look big in my skirt we joined race goers at the starting gate for the final briefing. Naturally, given the standard of our couture we were hounded by the paparazzi (well, Richard Sprod took a photo). After the briefing, the final countdown, and then… we were off and racing!
We headed north to begin with our first control being 21 at the netball courts. Then it was street work as we wound our way to control 71 in the cemetery. From there we took a punt on the white areas on the map affording the best route to 90 – and got it right (yes!) We were similarly lucky following an unmarked walking path to 52.
At the hour mark we were at control 50 and in Gawler’s main street. As we galloped down that road I had the chance to view the reaction of people watching three guys with back packs and grass skirts hurrying past. The responses varied from amused to a kind of avoidance that suggested that the person was thinking ‘if I don’t look at these mad guys, they won’t attack me’.
Our gallop slowed to a canter, then a trot and, very quickly, to a slog as we headed up the steep hill to 45. Mercifully, our route took us only a little higher than that control before we dropped down into Dead Man’s Pass and some welcome shade. There was no shade a little later as we ran south parallel to Gawler’s racecourse. I had the thought that if I were a racehorse my ‘racing connections’ might be thinking of sending me, not to the track, but to the glue factory. It was unseasonably hot and I was feeling it. I also wondered at SARA’s talent for scheduling events on days when the weather was challenging. The previous rogaine had featured a massive thunderstorm and this event had weather so warm as to be a real factor in competitors’ performance.
Our last real hill work was to control 74, and there we then had the choice of a longer, but flatter, road route to 56 or a more direct passage cross country. We chose the latter only to end up rating it ‘more difficult than we thought’. Control 100 marked our turn to home with the final furlongs mostly street running. It was fast going but I was now ‘flogging a dead horse’ and this led to a mistake in timing our run to the finish post. I decided not to go for one more control and that decision (possibly) cost us a placing in a tight, but not quite ‘photo finish’ result. Easy in hindsight, of course, and there was the consolation of a pleasing ‘handicap’ award.
All this fun, fashion and excitement was only possible due to the dedication and work of volunteers. The Minigaine is a joint effort between Scouts Australia (good to see no less than 11 Scout teams) and SARA and I thank all who contributed to the creation and running of ‘A Glimpse of Gawler’.
