As usual Andrew (planner) came up trumps with his courses. The 'Yellow' course was very tricky (have a look at it on Route Gadget); a marked route was required for one of the less distinct paths. If you tackled this course, then, congratulations, it must have been 'tough', but fair. Dom (M12) produced a convincing win over Marsaili who, although in W10 class, is younger than that, in fact 9 years. Well done all of you.
Jake raced home to victory on the 'Short' well in front of Mel who trailed by 8 minutes. Other notable performances were from relative newcomer Chris Simmonds in 3rd position, John Butler our chairman who averaged 11 minutes per km, young Heather Tuck who must have had a personal best, and Fran who has just returned from Spain (where she ran every day) earning 40 points! Is that a record?
There were few surprises on the 'Long' course with our 2 LOG fiends taking first and second places. 1 minute 13 seconds separated the next three, Neil, Dean and son Zac. They seem to be battling each week for these places. Pete Harris is back to form this week with wins over his usual rivals. Sam (Poacher's youngest ever planner) was only 7 minutes behind England runner Zac. Incidentally Zac and Charlotte Ward have been selected to attend British Orienteering’s Talent Development Coaching Camp which is being held from Saturday 23rd – Saturday 30th July in Cairngorm, Scotland. Too late for the Poacher this year, but wait till next! Pete Kullich is back to form but will not be able to run all of the remaining 'Poachers'. If Vernon M70 can top 200 points he may well be our Ultra-Vet Champ this year. Veteran Mountain Marathon Man Dave Offler is back burning off his old mate/rival (yours truly) by too many minutes. Dave has nurtured the repair on his knee to the extent that it beats the hell out of my used-to-be poorly toe! One of LOG's other main men, Sean Harrington (the brains behind LOG), and father of champion Liam, usually takes several minutes off my times on home terrain around Lincoln, so I expect he will be slightly disappointed with his result. I will scrutinise route gadget and splitalyser to see where the ups and downs were of his race.
If you look at 'absolute times' on splitalyser you can see a graph of your performance. A very straight diagonal lines shows you had a consitent run with no errors. Note the top 2 on 'Long' and the 2 Pete's runs. Jake's graph shows a 'perfect' run as does Dom's.
After next week's race, with the 8 to count under most participants' belts, we should be able to project some Poacher class/trophy winners.
Next week - back to Halliday Hill. Be sure to check the location before leaving home. Tis unlikely to be Grasby Bottom (the crossroads).
Volunteer guest reporters are required please for our remaining events. Unless you are prepared to continue with my unbiased writings.
