We returned to the Royal Oak at Holmbury St Mary for the third time in four years, but with a map layout different to previous events, placing the start in the centre of a map covering Leith, Holmbury and Pitch Hills. It was also the first time we have used a SAF map at this location. The two hour event used all the 26 controls in a conventional format, while the 3 hour event required competitors to collect first one colour controls before switching to the other colour, allowing an A4 1:25 000 map to be unclearable in 3 hours.

There were a record 69 riders entered and the biblical rainfall overnight (and during Sunday morning) only led to a handful of no-shows. It seems that the lack of alternative activities has boosted entry to our and other MTBO events which are still able to run.

The going was soft, but the area is sandy and generally drains well, although the wet grit causes graunchy transmission and wears brake pads quickly. Heavy rain showers persisted throughout the event period.

Early finishers reported that one control was missing, except that the wire and gripple were still in the expected place! It remains a mystery how the control box escaped from its proper place.

In the 3 hour event, Ifor Powell triumphed with a superb 450 points (and over 3 minutes to spare) putting him a clear 14 points ahead of Ian Cartwright and Will Dixon (who managed one more control than Ifor, but picked up 15 point time penalty for being almost 10 minutes late. Special kudos to Andrew Snell who decided to trail run the course and picked up 276 points!

In the 2 hour event, Tom Davies picked up an impressive 330 points with 36 seconds to spare before handing over the bike (and receiving their daughter in return) to Nicki Adams who went out but returned complaining that Tom had destroyed the brakes. Peter Couldery was second with 290 and Time Buckley third.

Series results for 2020 can be found on the SLOW website https://slow.org.uk/racereports/mbo-score-2020-results/

Many thanks to Dave for organising the series, Julian for the course planning and to Ian, Michael, Liam and Rachel for helping to collect in the controls.