The November foxhunt was hosted by Ron, Dennis, Jarrod, Courtney and Andrew, and consisted of five multi-legged hunts.
This was the first time in ages that we’d organised a foxhunt, and a few difficulties were experienced at the start of the evening. Amateur ingenuity did prevail however, and regular programming was restored after some technical hiccups. Eight teams gathered in Brice Avenue Mooroolbark at 8.00 pm.
Hunt 1 was a three-legged affair, but owing to a transmitter failure on legs 2 & 3, only the first leg was ultimately scored. Most teams found Hunt 1 Leg 1, which was a high-powered transmitter strapped to a tree in Castle Hill Park, Melway 37 H6. First in here was the TVB/JMD team, followed by VT and YDF. For those of you who found either Leg 2 or Leg 3, congratulations because you would have been hunting the radios’ local oscillators. In any case, these legs were hidden in Brushy Park and Griff Hunt Reserve in North Croydon.
Hunt 2 was a two-legged affair and all hounds found the transmitters within 10 minutes. Both legs were within 100 metres of each other, in the football ground at Ringwood North Reserve, Melway 49 K3. First team in was BLN on Leg 1, and TVB/JMD on Leg 2.
Hunt 3 for the evening consisted of two transmitters, hidden beneath the new Deep Creek Road Bridge (Melway 49 D7) and in Antonio Park Mitcham (Melway 49 C8). Geoff VK3VR decided to join the evening at this point; glad you could make it Geoffrey! First in on these two legs were YDF and YQN respectively.
The fox struck westward and went to ground in Slater Reserve, Blackburn North (Melway 48 C5). Another two-legged ordeal left many teams approaching from the north, trying to negotiate freeways, stormwater drains and pine plantations amongst other things. Well done to the BQZ team who found both transmitters on this hunt ahead of everyone else.
The fifth and final hunt for the evening was in Surrey Hills. One transmitter was hidden in a car park off Windsor Lane near the intersection of Canterbury Road and Union Road, while another transmitter was located slightly to the north near Surrey Hills Railway Station, Melway 46 H11. The YDF and TXO teams came first on these two legs.
Supper was held at the QTHR of Ron VK3EHF: a great feast was consumed and scores were concocted. Teams were marked on order of arrival at each leg. This means that the first team on each leg got zero and the clock was started at this time. The second team got 1 point, the third team got 2 points, etc.. The clock was turned off 10 minutes after the first team got in on each leg, and any outstanding teams were awarded equal next place. Using this system, the best possible score for the night was 0 and the worst possible score was 72 (9 legs scored x 8 teams participating).
1st: YDF 23 2nd: TVB et al 24 3rd: BLN 25 4th: YQN 26 5th: TXO 35 6th: VT 37 7th: BQZ 38 8th: OW 39
Thankyou to everyone for participating, we hope you enjoyed the evening; and thankyou especially to Elaine and Linda for their help in the preparation of a lovely supper.
Cheers, Ron VK3EHF