Truro UrbX

Lovely evening in Truro. Bit of a mixed drive down from poole, but it got brighter the further west I went. Kerno had a number of courses available. The 'mens' race was thr 5.5k open course. 5.5k urban can be somewha longer on the ground as unles you are superman running straight through buildings is somewhat frowned upon! Managed to dip under the 40 minute mark. Took me to some areas of Truro I hadnt seen before and everyone came back saying what fun they had had. Looking forward to Devons event at Firebeacon tomorrow.

May 2nd Bournemouth Uni

Excellent Joint Club Night with Wim again. This time based at Bournemouth Uni. we had a 'come and try surveying' session which everyone found very interesting (and we got some updating done for the BU map in the process!!!).

Following that there was a sprint race laid out in the BU and Arts Institute Campus results of which can be seen by clicking on our 'results' tab. The two fastest, which were Roger Crickmore and Ian Sayer then went through to the 'spectator final' where they raced against Gavin & Dale. All four set off at the same time doing a different butterfly, they each passed through the spectator control three times before the finish. Well done to Dale who prevaled by 17 seconds. Feedback was excellent, everyone enjoying the spectacle.

Looking forward to the next Club Night which is on a Tuesday this time 7 June and will be at Ringwood. Watch for further details.

Midland Championships

I thought I was back at Sandy Balls for a minute; the car parking was in another caravan park. But this time all the race was in a largely undulating reentrant and hill area. Rather a crosscountry run with little route choice. I always say seconds count and they certinly did, but not in my favour this time. Lost the Midland Champs by one second! At least it wasnt on the run in, but i did loose 3 seconds on the last control!

Sandy Balls Sprint Races

Great days sport not only round the caravan site but the long course also spent some time on the escaparment, which was great fun going doing, but hard work going up! Well planned course with some routes choices that caught out the unwary or those that didnt plan ahead. If you havnt tried sprint o. Have a go!

Caddihoe Day 1

Wow, great weather, fantastic organisation, good courses (albeit a little on the short side) and a fantastic start to the two days. I didnt think the area was anything like as rough as it had been painted, but perhaps the excelent planning by Roger Crickmore had kept my course to the better areas. To be honest I would rather a shorter course in the better areas than extend the course into the rough stuff just to get the length. Tomorrow seems more like the required length. Looking at the start times there will be some great races in the forest. Bill Vigar and Mike Crocket for instance starting 11 seconds apart. Have a good run and enjoy the day. Lets hope for more of the same weather.

Hardy Relay

Great day, many thanks to all those who pulled together to put on the event. Terrific weather and a very relaxed atmosphere - probably due to the fairly late start. Was certainly good from an organisers point of view. Vets class won by Sarum and the Open class result was in doubt right untill the last with Wessex Raiders only taking the lead between the last control and the finish on the last leg.

Furrow Hoppers

Great win by Wessex Raiders of Kay & Ian Sayer, Rob Hick, Dale and me. We were magnificently supported by two other Wessex Teams; Wessex Runners and Wessex Rovers, who had mixed fortunes but still managed to finish without being dq'd (something QO couldn't manage). Many thanks to Graham Whiffen and Gorden Raggett who both stepped in at the last minute to make up the teams. Tale of Wessex Raiders (who won by 10 minutes incedently) is (apart from Dale running incredibly fast as usual). On Course A Rob beat Gavin by 3 seconds, alegedly I made a 90 degree error coming out of number 2 and lost 90 seconds. Dale beat us both by 3 minutes and that was on his 3rd run as well!. Course B Ian had a superb run and beat Rob by 5 seconds - Dale beat them both by 3 minutes! Course C the Map Memory I at least managed to keep Dales win down to 49 seconds with Rob having a solid run apart from 60 seconds lost at control 5 (Control 1 was excluded from times as it was incorrectly numbered). Course D went as planned but the timing of Ians first control is odd and I suspect the dibber was programmed to start a minute late. This means that D course time should be 1 minute longer but it doesnt affect the results. Another excellent day in the sunshine as due to QO's disqualification we just have to completed a team run at the Devon Relays next weekend to retain the Chairmans Trophy. If this is the case we could have some fun at the Hardy relays and attempt to put four equal ability teams in. Now there's a thought. Thanks to Dale for organising the teams for this summers entertainment.