Portholme Meadow Summer Galloppen - 17 July 2002 Results

We were blessed with a star cast at this unusual event.   Neil Northrop had persuaded some of his SHUOC colleagues to nitestop at his home en route to the Swedish Oringen via Stansted airport.   This start cast included 3 of the British Elite performers, and Neil may well join this small band in very short order.   And I'm glad to say they loved our little area, and the nature of its oddity.  The oddity is basically that the area is to all intents and purposes FLAT.   One metre contours are the order of the day, and the depressions at this time of year - with no pools of water lying around - are but mere scrapes of about 6" - 12" deep.   But with mini-markers being used, and left lying on the ground, it is surprising how difficult they can be to locate if your compass and pacing are inaccurate.

The area is going to be expanded in the near future with the addition of 4 small patches so that the new map in its entirety will offer perhaps a limited colour coded potential.   A long O with nearby Hinchingbrooke is already being envisaged.

A spot of excitement occurred when a fire tender had to drive onto the meadow to extinguish a fire lit by vandals, right beside one of the controls.   Those few people deterred by the flames and smoke were accredited with having been there - luckily it wasn't a vital map-memory control.

Hally Hardie

Pos  Name                               Time  Comments
---  --------------------------------  -----  --------
 1   Matt Crane                 SHUOC  23.38
 2   Neil Northrop                     27.49
 3   Rolf Crook                        31.57
 4   Ian Jones                         34.59
 5   Jenny Whitehead            SHUOC  35.28
 6   Alistair (née Farquharson)Hindle  37.47
 7   Oli (don't ask) Johnson    SHUOC  42.06   Misread map on map-memory function with disastrous result
 8   Marcus Misson                     49.08
 9   Roger Horton                      49.41
10   Mike Bickle                       50.00
11   Mark Collis                       52.58
12   Bob Hill                          53.08
13   Maurice Hemingway                 55.56
14   Ian Lawson                        68.49
15   Helen Bickle                      71.55
16   Nicola Gardner                    73.52   Missed 1
17   Bruce Marshall                    70.52   Missed 2

Ali Robertson retired injured after steaming round the first half at a great speed.

Pos  Name                               Time  Comments
---  --------------------------------  -----  --------
 1   Hazel Bickle                      43.52
 2   Maria Marshall                            Found 1 - 5.