Hi all

As promised, here is some preliminary information about our final event of the season in Urmston on the 12th of March. At this Cup Final event, the Hydrant Trophy is presented to the winner on the night, and the handicapping system ensures that everyone who competes has an excellent chance of winning. The prizes in our league competition(s) (which concludes at Gee Cross on Thursday) are also presented immediately after the event.

Traditionally, our Hydrant Trophy event offers something slightly different to our league events. In previous years, we have wrestled with "clueless controls" and some brains are still scrambled from Dave Mc's "snakes and ladders" event last year.

This year, the format is a "Virtual" event, and requires you to run with a paper map and  your smartphone. Many of you already do this - our safety information recommends taking a mobile phone to summon assistance in an emergency - or act as a backup light.

As usual, maps will be printed on waterproof paper - and that's what you will have in your hand.  

The best experience, and the one we want to encourage, is provided by running with your smartphone - with GPS enabled - and the "MapRun" app (available free on Google Play or the App Store) pre-installed and configured for the night's event. 

Your smartphone is probably most sensibly placed in a bumbag out of the way when you are running. 

Please note that everyone can take part, and a manual backstop (workable but much less exciting!) will be available if you cannot get hold of a suitable smartphone.

Peter and Jillyan are highly experienced NSL, and Hydrant Trophy planners. They have put a huge amount of time and effort into this new (and exciting!) venture for NSL (and MDOC). They, and their checking team, have confirmed that the technology works so .......  we hope that you will support them by coming along and giving it a go.

Further information will be provided in the "invitation" email (probably next weekend) - and lots of help and guidance will be available on the night. In the meantime, if you have any questions, send me an email or talk to us in Gee Cross on Thursday .....

Right ...... make a start, and download the Map Run app NOW!

Cheers

Grahame