Colchester and Chelmsford DF

 

2009 National Qualifier No. 6

 

19 July 2009
Fourteen teams assembled at Gt Dunmow this year, with Peter Lisle having decided that one marathon a day was enough.

Unfortunately the aerial arrangement at station A (though providing much fun on site) resulted in insufficient signal at the start for anyone to get a bearing. Starter Tim told us "60 degrees and between 10 and 20Km"

Weather was warm with the occasional light showers not putting too much of a dampener on things. Four teams decided to head northeast to Peter at the edge of the map, with the rest heading towards the infamous new town of Harlow.
Andy Collet was soon on site crashing around at about 2.20pm, having pinned the B station and found somewhere to park (Bearings from Roy Emeny - not so quick!- Follow the red arrow from the cursor posistion.) Andy having crawled right passed Philip, the first competitor to find a station was then left to Colin Merry, who came via the same route at 2.33 pm. Tim, Andy and John Mullins followed shortly with Doreen not far behind.

Soon after Peter had his first crop of the day at Broaks Wood (Shardlowe’s wood on the map) with George smashing through the cover to find him at 2.43pm followed by Brian, Graham Nicholls and Geoff Foster. All then went quiet for Peter, whilst the rest of the field trickled into Philip.

Roy E had a tiny cocked hat, well at least that's his excuse.

 

Position Competitor Finish Time A Time B
1 Tim Parker 15:49:20 15:49:20 14:34:05
2 Brian Bristow 16:01:28 14:43:43 16:01:28
3 Geoffrey Foster 16:02:10 14:44:54 16:02:10
4 Andy Collett 16:06:30 16:06:30 14:35:04
5 George Whenham 16:06:35 14:42:53 16:06:35
6 Colin Merry 16:13:03 16:13:03 14:33:57
7 Steve Stone 16:13:50 16:13:50 14:36:30
8 Roy Emeny 16:17:28 16:17:28 14:53:20
9 Graham Nicholls 16:23:27 14:44:45 16:23:27
10 Graham Phillips 16:25:09 16:25:09 15:11:45
11 Ian Butson 16:25:34 16:25:34 15:16:02
12 John Mullins 16:27:47 16:27:47 14:35:40
13 Doreen Pechey 14:39:56 - 14:39:56
14 Gary Parker 16:17:58 - 16:17:58

The top runners took about 1 hour 15 mins to get between stations, so the 10 min head start turned out to be the deciding factor, with Tim first at 3.49pm and Brian second at 4.01pm. Twelve teams in all found both stations within the time with Gary Parker, the up and coming youngster finding the Harlow station after an afternoon of frustration at 4.17 pm.

Having found two stations, Brian decided to find and adopt some cygnets, discovered lost and abandoned in the road, which he then took home to Piddington. Both adoptees were given names by old softy Brian, the first being called ‘A present for you Dear’ the other named ‘The new Contest Manager’!

Philip Cunningham

PS. The cygnets are now living in luxury at the Swan Sanctuary in Shepperton.
................................................................................................................
Many thanks to Peter, Hilda, and virtually the whole Cunningham family for an excellent day followed by a magnificent tea.

Well done Tim, you must have had a 'cracking' teacher...

Roy Emeny