The third race in the MBO league saw us back on Cannock Chase, this time on the less hilly Hednesford Camp and Brindley Heath. Hednesford camp used to be a military base for national service, and the bulk of the area is relatively flat and has well surfaced paths in a grid fashion. Brindley Heath is not particularly hilly either, although recent rain has added a reasonable amount of mud to this side of the road. Weather on the day was warm and dry, a nice change from recent weeks.

This race was a middle distance race, so we were to expect lots of short blasts between controls, and a winning time of about 50 minutes. The A course (under 50 men) had 27 controls in just 11.8km, so while short would require a lot of navigation. All courses crossed a busy road and in both directions had a timed-out crossing. Some riders took more advantage of this than others, you know who you are!

Top of the A course was as tight as you would expect for a middle distance, less than 5 minutes separating the top 7. The top 3 were Andy Windrum, Killian Lomas and Steve Heading, again Steve rode to and from Matlock for the event. Top of the B course was even tighter, with only 105 seconds separating the top 5. Lucy Harris made the most of Emily Benham’s absence to record the victory, only 5 seconds faster than Angela Brand-Barker, with husband Tony rounding out the top three. Judy Douglas again won the C course. Sadly no-one attempted the novice’s score course at this event; I guess the shorter distances on a middle race tempted novices to do the correct course for their age.