The last BUNS event for this year was a rather soggy affair but nobody seemed to mind- and almost nobody had a functional map when they finished. A slight lull in the rain just before the start tricked everybody into thinking they wouldn’t need a plastic map bag, but once the runners were well away from any plastic bags, the rain came in earnest. However enthusiasm wasn’t dampened at all and everybody persisted for at least 40 mins.

Unfortunately I don’t have the results, but I think 3 people (David, James and Blake) got all 200 points and others got at least 110- a good effort by all.

It was possible to gain bonus points in this event by spotting and naming the different birds that were seen. So the results would have looked different this time with the runners who know their birds getting ahead of non-birdos. From memory 17 was the best bird total and, at 5 points per bird, this gave Mike and Angela an extra 85 points.

 

So, another BUNS series  and another year of BUNS has finished. What have we learnt? What skills have we gained?

We may have improved our planning skills- working out how many of the checkpoints we think we’ll get to in the 45 mins, what is the best combination to achieve maximum points and what is the best route to minimise the distance. (I always think, in an event like this, it is good to plan a route that gives you lots of options in the last 15 mins so that you can add checkpoints or delete them from your plan depending on how you are going).

We may have realised that it helps to look at the “control/checkpoint description” so that we know exactly what we are looking for- eg is it the tree or the shelter shed?

We should have improved our fitness- surely galloping around the streets for 45 mins does something for us?

We have seen parts of Ballarat we may not have seen before- and thanks here to all the organisers who prepared maps and put out markers.

And hopefully we all had fun.

 

BUNS will continue next year, starting probably in February. We will let you know.

Hope to see you all there.

 

Cheers

Jenny

 

 

 

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