The 3rd and 4th rounds of the SLOW MBO league took place over the weekend 10/11th August in the Chilterns AONB. These were both also qualifying rounds for the National league and each used the 1:25,000 Small Area Format (SAF) with 2 and 3 hour options on offer.

Day one took in the gently rolling Western most part of the Chilterns, an area that is characterised by arable fields interspersed with wooded areas, many used for game shooting. This was a challenging area on which to plan a 3 hour event due to the limited number of bridleways and because there were no N-S routes in the middle, meaning that the only real option was two roughly circular routes. In the event, despite gale force winds, 6 riders managed to ‘clear the route’ on the 3hr course with Mark Rowley being the quickest, closely followed by Liam and Rachel Drew. The 2hr course was won by Tim Beale and it was great to see 7 members of a local family also taking part (the Harts/Lyons who happened to live next door to the campsite).