Fox for the evening was the VR/TVB/MZ/JMD team. There was a good turnout – with 8 teams starting.
The first hunt was in a dead-end lane behind the cinemas in Glen Waverley. The hounds got into the area rapidly, but had some difficulty finding the correct entrance to the lane we were in. First in was YDF, followed closely by TXO, OW, BLN and VT; YQN, KIR and BQZ had dropped runners on the other side of the centre and took another 4-5 minutes to find their way in.
The second hunt was a Fox-O’ring event – a format made popular in recent times by Bryan (VK3YNG). The YQN team starred on this hunt – finding all 3 transmitters and the homing beacon in only 34 minutes. The were followed by BLN on 38 minutes and YDF on 39. The OW, VT and TXO teams also found all transmitters with KIR and BQZ only having located two.
The next hunt was supposed to be on one side of some horrifically dense blackberry bushes in Endeavour Hills (a spot that was in fact used by TXO only 2-3 months later). As we were pushed for time, we converted this to a mobile hunt to take the hounds back towards the next hunt. We transmitted as we headed back along the Mulgrave Freeway, seeing one or two hounds heading in the opposite direction as we headed North. We went to ground behind the AFL offices in Mulgrave. First in was VK3KIR followed by VK3OW and VK3VT with VK3YQN and VK3BLN taking the minor placings.
The next hunt was in Monash University and all teams found their way into this one. First in was VK3BLN – their good performance only being possible due to the dry conditions and the fox’s decision not to go too close to any sort of water course…as we had no recovery gear that night.
From Monash hounds took a longer drive to the area of Tally-Ho technology park. The transmitter was intermittent (to annoy the YQN team) and was tucked down a walkway at the rear of one of the buildings. First into this hunt was VK3KIR with Bruce from the YQN team second – climbing over a fence from an adjacent site to reach the transmitter. The YDF team drove directly into the transmitter stopping about 5-10m to let Adam get out for a run. This made the location a *little* more obvious for the other teams – with BLN and BQZ coming in moments later. Ewen, VK3OW, chose to take the same route to the fox as Bruce – but much less elegantly. As “time” approached he was entangled on the fence and the creepers covering it – so we moved the transmitter about 60 cm so that he could catch a glimpse of it and get in before time was up.
The final hunt for the evening was another Fox O’Ring event run by Ian, VK3MZ. Once again, VK3YQN took out line honours for this multi-transmitter hunt (if only they could learn to hunt ONE transmitter as effectively…). Next in was VK3TXO followed by VK3BLN, VK3VT, VK3OW and VK3KIR.
Supper was at the home of Geoff, VK3VR – lots of food was served – most was eaten. Scores for the evening were announced;
1 YQN 11
2 BLN 16
3 YDF 24
4 OW 27
5 TXO 29
5 VT 29
7 KIR 34
8 BQZ 52
Apologies for the delay in publishing these scores – we felt that leaving it for a week or two would allow a feeling of anticipation to build…