Rain Rain Go Away
A Cobbled Together Inward Bound
Race Directors: Tom Driscoll, Tom Fitzgerald and Erin Ronge
Course Setter: Holly Ashburner
La Nina decided to mix things up for the race organisers in 2022, with severe wet weather forcing the event to be delayed. The postponed race was streamlined and featured different Divisions dropped together for the first time since the removal of Division 7 Independent. Fortunately, despite the initial dismay of many runners and coaches, the 29th & 30th featured perfect weather for a trip to Maloneys Beach!
Explore the Drops
Could you pick them?
Divisions 1 & 2
Ridge Riding
Arriving back to Dropsite after their short scouting period, many Division 1 scouts were confident they would be able to pick Dropsite. After all, they knew exactly where they were – they’d seen signs for “I-Ridge Road” not far from Dropsite. The only problem – there didn’t seem to be a “I-Ridge Road” on the map…thanks for that, course setters.
Bruce’s Division 1 team correctly located themselves and were the first to head out of Dropsite, choosing to run north. The next team to leave, Bruce Division 2, clearly didn’t trust their Division 1 team and ran south, followed by every other team in the coupled divisions.
After reaching the intersection of I-Ridge and Araluen Road, most teams realised their error and headed back past Dropsite to get back on track. Johns Division 1, unfortunately, did not quite get the memo, and DNFd after running into an exclusion zone. Fenner Division 2 was also unable to recover from this rocky start, withdrawing from the race.
Bruce’s initial advantage, however, was surmounted not only by Griffin and B&G’s Division 1 teams, but also their own Bruce Division 2 team, who had opted for a longer, but flatter, route. Despite running most of the Race in close proximity, by Endpoint Griffin Division 1 had gained a sizeable lead over the B&G Division 1 team, who finished in second place. After spending hours lost at the start of the race, B&G Division 2 showed incredible physical and mental resilience to make it to the finish line less than half an hour before the cut-off time.
Divisions 3 & 4
Gliding down the Clyde
Divisions 3 and 4 were dropped on Brooman Road, just east of its intersection with Flat Ridge. Thanks to this distinctive feature, the course setters had thought that this Dropsite would be easy to pick. However, all but two of the teams headed in the incorrect direction, only realising their mistake after running east for 20 minutes and reaching McMahons Rd (shown on the Streetview to the right). Division 3 was described on Inward Bound Live as a social run, as all the Division 3 teams headed together along River Road, adjacent to the Clyde. Ursula and Griffin eventually pulled away from the rest of the Division 3 pack, with Griffin pipping Ursula at line by 3 mins and claiming the title of the first team from any Division to reach Endpoint.
Division 4 was won by B&G, who arrived ahead of Ursula (who were later disqualified for entering private property) and Wamburun.
Division 5
Putting the Run in Runnyford Rd.
Division 5 were treated to a classic Inward Bound drop, with no notable intersections nearby, just a long stretch of road. If they weren’t adept at reading the terrain, this perhaps left teams with no better option than to use a random number generator to choose whether to head north or south from Dropsite. Teams that chose south were handicapped by a long run up Runnyford Road ahead of them, one of the only consequential route choices in an otherwise straightforward course.
Throughout the footrace that developed, B&G, who had made the mistake of initially choosing to go south, chased Bruce, who benefited from the advantage that going north provided. Bruce held them off to win the division, proving the importance of choosing the best route from the very start.
Division 6
Don’t get distracted by the sunrise
Dropped at sunrise, Division 6 were guided to the coast not only by their compasses, but also the rising sun. This Division saw another footrace develop, with B&G storming ahead. They were securely in the lead by the time they had reached the highway crossing and never looked back, reaching the finish line first with a convincing 45 minute lead.
However, Inward Bound isn’t just about reaching the finish line first – teams must avoid penalties for breaches of the race rules such as lost gear or entering an exclusion zone. In this case, B&G Division 6 were given an hour time penalty for contact with spectators after passing through scrutineering at Send-off on the Friday evening, resulting in Bruce winning the Division, with Johns in second place less than a minute behind.
Division 7
Turning on the Tides
Division 7 was dropped during daylight in the middle of two distinctive intersections, making Dropsite relatively easy to pick. All teams headed south into the depths of Murramarang National Park. The largest challenge of the Division 7 course, and something Division 7 runners are sure to talk about for years to come, was the challenge of crossing the tidal estuary at Durras Lake. The postponement of Inward Bound in 2022 meant that the tide on the day was far higher than the Course Setter had originally planned. Rather than a simple river crossing, for many teams (particularly the less vertically gifted), crossing the estuary required practically swimming (which 172(c) would usually prohibit). As such, for the first time in Inward Bound history, teams were awarded time bonuses due to being delayed at the crossing for extenuating circumstances. Fenner ended up wading to victory in arguably the most competitive Division of the 2022 event.
2022 Results
A huge congratulations to all the runners and coaches for being a part of the first Inward Bound since 2019 and for completing it under such challenging circumstances!
A special congratulations goes to the following teams/squads:
- B&G for taking out the Inward Bound trophy for the 5th consecutive event.
- Griffin Hall on winning the Bill Packard Trophy for winning Division 1.
- Bruce Hall Division 1 for winning the Doherty-Banks Navigation award for being the only team in Division 1 or 2 to correctly pick their (very difficult) drop and executing a near flawless nav on the trickiest course this year.
The overall results were as follows:
Based off the finishing times and penalties as listed below:
Several matters were considered by the Race Referee in 2022, with the following penalties awarded:
- 20% point penalty to Johns for spectators with alcohol at send off
- 15% point penalty to Wamburun for failing to notify Race Directors of a course leak in a timely fashion
- Disqualification of Ursies 4 for running on a prohibited road (Old Coach Road)
- 2hr penalty to Ursies 3 for conduct at odds with the spirit of the event
- 2hr penalties to Burgmann 5, Burgmann 6 and Griffin 6 for missing Category B items (watch, whistle and photo ID respectively)
- 1hr penalties to Johns 3, Burgmann 5 and B&G 6 for contact with spectators
- 30min penalties to Wamburun 4, Wamburun 5 (x2), Ursies 5 and Griffin 6 for missin Category C items (blindfold, blindfold and reflective tape, space blanket and fleece pullover respectively).
- 30min penalty to Burgmann 6 for late arrival to send off scrutineering.
- 15min and 1hr time bonuses to Bruce 7 and Griffin 7 respectively for time lost due to uncontrollable factors at the Durras Crossing
The Race Referee would like to remind runners and coaches that the rules exist for the safety of all participants and officials. They acknowledged that due to this being the first running of the event in 3 years, there is a general lack of awareness of the rules among runners and spectators and has therefore been more lenient than in past years with penalties. However, now that the event has run successfully, they can not assure participants that the same leniency will be applied in the future.