An outing for two purposes

The first purpose, in the sense of the one I thought of first, is actually the second one covered in this post.  That because it suited me to go to Yerrabi Pond at Gungahlinand then come back to Lyons for a run, rather than vice versa.

The reason for going to Yerrabi was to tick the Great Crested Grebe which has been hanging out there for several days (if not weeks by now).  Fortunately the viewing point - Soroptimist Point - was well defined.  There were quite a few waterbirds around but initially no sign of the Grebe. So I scanned the Pond through my telescope and soon spotted the required bird.
I'm sorry that is such a crappy photo, but the light was very poor and the bird was on the far side of the Pond.  I had forgotten to take my scope/phone adapter!  The red arrow indicates the Grebe in this un-zoomed image
The grebe seemed to coexist peacefully with the various other fowl around the place.  Perhaps it took the hint after getting a stern talking to by a Dusky Moorhen the day before?

In that image note the greyness of the sky.  It was actually a lot darker than it appears, and as I drove down to Woden the skies opened and a fair serve of rain came down.  It was still coming down when I started the race.
 In the official report on the event mention was made of a participant starting carrying an umbrella.  Here is the proof.
 The track was a tad damp and slippery.
 A pair of participants were striding manfully along.  I joined them as I have a sore back from gardening and a jog/walk outing was just what I needed.  Again the going was, what the horse racing fraternity would describe as, heavy: on that scale I'd rate it as level 9.
 Someone's Mum won't be happy about the washing.
 Due to the weather adminstration had moved to the tunnel under Melrose Drive.  I suspect this shifted both the start and the finsh so the distance was constant.  I was inclined to label this image as "Gimme She;lter".
 The usual suspect  - actually quite a few less than usual - assembled t hear the results.
Presumably if the rain had still been coming down we'd all had snuggled in the underpass.

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