It was great to be back in the forests again for the first time since Langdale in April so thanks to John Butler for planning the course and putting out all the controls. Thanks again to the helpers who volunteered to make the event run smoothly; especially the control collectors who managed to get back before it started to rain.
The forest tracks were superb to ride and visiting controls every 5-10 minutes is far more enjoyable than longer trailquests. The 2 hour limit keeps you under pressure so that there are lots of choices to be made as time starts to run out. I chose to go clockwise around the Newtondale area to the east, heading up Seavy Slack (which doesn’t get any gentler) before crossing the road. I intended to ride the superb bridleway past Elleron Lodge at first but decided to get into the forest sooner so that I could get round Spiers Bank. I managed but took too long.
Nick Harmer again showed the way but the most impressive score was by Karen Heppenstall, who scored the best female score and finished fourth overall. The super vets in the form of John Dixon showed the younger vets how to score. All of the control collectors were over 50 so the extra training is obviously paying off!! It was great to see so many Generation teams with Gary and Jake managing to keep ahead of all of the other family teams.
A few riders couldn’t find Control 6 as it was a bit higher up the bank in the felled area than expected. Please let me know if you couldn’t find it and you will get the points added to your score.
Future events
Saturday 26th August – Malham Show, Yorkshire Dales (NYMBO7)
4 hour event including free entry to the show. Details and entry form on www.malhamdale.com
Monday 28th August – Wykeham Forest, Scarborough (NYMBO8)
Another 2 hour forest event at the White Rose Weekend so entries to Sue Adams please.
If you don’t decide to enter until after the deadline, send an email entry to me.
Saturday 9th September – Harwood Dale and Broxa Forests, Hackness
2 hour MBO event on Day 1 of the National Championships
Sunday 10th September – Derwent Valley, Hackness
5 hour Trailquest on Day 2 of the National Championships
You can enter one or both days but need to do both events to qualify for prizes
Both events are in the NYMBO League so please send your entries to Sue Adams as usual.
Cheers
Steve