Event Details
Club: | Cross Cumbria Cyclists (XCC) |
Event Name: | Stainforth |
Date: | 15/01/11 |
Format: | MBO Score |
Mapping: | Ordnance Survey |
Time Limit: | 2.5 hrs |
National League: | - |
League: | XCC winter series 2010/11 (Round 4 of 5) |
Electronic Punch: | SportIdent |
Event Report
The day it rained ...and rained ...and rained!
Yes the forecasters were indeed right - it did rain continuously for 36hrs, with the prospect of 100mm in some places - and one of those places was the Stainforth in the Yorkshire Dales.
It was pleasing to see such a good turn out for this event as entries had initially been slow to come in, again probably due to the uncertainties in the weather, especially since so many events where forced to postpone or cancel during the snows of December.
The course was set into two main clusters, one area to the north-west around Austwick and Wharfe and one area to the south-east around the environs of Settle. The whole area has a great network of green lanes and bridleways allowing for an infinite route choice and tactics to be played, for example a shorter route across a water logged field may not be as quick as taking the longer lane...
Given the very wet (and seriously heavy going) and windy conditions the course was indeed a challenging one and hence there was no chance of a clean up this time (and in retrospect would have probably suited a 3hr event) nether-the-less there was a good cluster of scores around the 330 mark coming from the senior males and male vet 40s. The outright winner was Alan Hartley with 334, also with 334 was Neil Northrop, John Murfin (local rider and M40) was only one point off with 333 and not that for behind was Andy Crozier (M50) with 326, being well ahead in this category.Like wise the definitive Master in his class was Ray Morris bringing a score of 300. Meanwhile in the womens categories the first home with a 40 point lead was Maggie McPhillips with 270, second was Jo Wulf, there where only a small number of women competing. It was pleasing to see some generation teams in action, all returning with Big Smiles, despite not having a single dry patch of clothing! The youngest rider was local fella Mathew Holroyd of 8yrs of age - Start em young I say.
Despite the torrid conditions it was pleasing as an organiser to see people coming back in with smiles - apart from the gentlemen with the bashed up arm (hopefully just a flesh wound and a bruise...) . Also there were a good number of 'first timers' who were certainly 'buzzing' with it after they had dibbled in at the finish.
Finally a big thank you to Chris Maudsley of Knight Stainforth Caravan Park who kindly let us use the facilities and helped with the IT, and to all those who helped assist on the day. The event raised in the order of £300 for Horton-in-Ribblesdale CE Primary School, so a good fundraiser too.
A note to self - for next time, is to get the IT (SI) kit in more time to avoid some of the registration and results problems - hopefully the attached results should match the score on your ticket, however there may be an error in the classes...
Happy riding
Alex Pilkington
Editor - We now have a spare laptop complete with Start, finish, 4 control boxes so that organisers can demo and get used to the kit before an event.