Warm summer weather greeted six teams for the first hunt of 2009, hosted by the VK3 MZ/VR/TVB/HRL team. After assembling at the traditional city start location (north end of Cardigan St Carlton), hounds headed north-west to find the first 70cm fox near Highpoint shopping centre, with the second leg about a km further west (new houses 100m south of the Maribyrnong). The second hunt took teams to a tram stop off Raleigh Rd then to a reserve in Sunshine not far from railway tracks. The third hunt was a single leg 2m hunt to Laverton North (ground clearance an advantage but apparently not essential). The fourth hunt, also single legged, took teams to the parched wetlands in Point Cook just east of the new shopping centre. The final hunt was a three-legged event, re-arranged due to the shortness of time. The first leg was the gaffer tape special concealed in the HRL fire hydrant in a quiet Altona street (punctuated only by distracted police and enamoured hoons), second leg was somewhere completely different to the plan, third leg was near the Altona boat ramp. Supper was in Roger’s shed in Newport. Note: Hunts were scored using leg time. Hunts 1 and 2 were two-legged, and 5 was three-legged. Score for each leg was measured against the time of the fastest hound on that leg – so don’t be confused if you found the fox but still got a 10 (because you found it 10 minutes slower than the fastest team on that leg). If any further explanation is needed please let me know. Scores
| Team | Hunt | Total | Place | ||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |||||
| VK3 FAST | 17 | 9 | 1 | 2 | 24 | 53 | 5 | ||
| VK3 OW | 10 | 9 | 5 | 1 | 11 | 36 | 2 | ||
| VK3 YQN | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 22 | 31 | 1 | ||
| VK3 BLN | 20 | 0 | 3 | 9 | 6 | 38 | 3 | ||
| VK3 TXO | 20 | 11 | 2 | 0 | 17 | 50 | 4 | ||
| VK3 FOX | 20 | 13 | 0 | 5 | 25 | 63 | 6 |
YQN won the night, followed by OW, BLN, TXO, FAST and FOX.