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 Organiser Philip G0NXH |
Location Start : At the end of Brooklands Road, Palfrey Heights, Brantham, Nr Manningtree. NGR TM110 338 Postcode. CO11 1RX Map with zoom |
 10 Txs and associated triffids provide the amusement. |
| The only good thing about housing development is the occasional creation of open public land as a form of communal compensation. With the new cycle ways down by the Brantham decoy pond, the site clearly had potential. It also had its own sewage works, Church, stream and railway with two crossings, one a bridge, oh and nice views over the river and passing trains. |
 Without a dedicated car park improvisation was needed and an unused access road at the end of Brooklands Rise was used.
It was generally an open site with a number of formal and informal tracks and footpaths.  Looking NE from the start
There were a number of queries about sticking to the distance rules,
which seemed to worry some teams as they looked out over the site from
the start. This was though on a nice rise, overlooking over the stream
and its valley, which divided the site in half with a footpath running
along its far side. SE of start
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 Richard escapes 'A' ditch .... |  ...followed by Roy
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 .. and then Colin M .... it was cosy in there! |  Tim approaching the Ghost
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 Richard coming out of B
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 Some people had time for train spotting! |
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It was always going to be a site for the runners, and so it proved. The
A station was only a couple of hundred metres from the start, but
on the other side of the stream. There was not a lot of cover and a
train of teams quickly got underway progressing from A to B by the
stream to C on top of the hill in the hedge beside the footpath. This
gave some an easy start, whilst George with joker M had much more of a
distance to cover, but still only about 700 metres from the start as
the crow flies but with a bridge over the railway to find, passing
through the old farm yard. Tim was the first early visitor to the ghost, placed carefully in the centre of the action, having already done his Joker G, F & H. Roy followed soon after, going in with a smart white cap, but having it taken from him on his exit, swapping for a thorn. Colin F made light work of F as did Roy, who then struggled to move onto G. Both these TX may have been made more difficult, being close to the chain link fence of the sewage works. The railway bridge also had to be crossed to get to K, which had been tunnelled into a long dark thicket which kept Roy guessing and Tim taking two visits. L was in a small piece of woodland surrounded by concrete farm tracks which Colin F was pleased to get in and out of. M was the most distant and again the cover was thin but dark enough to require Tim to have to search twice. |
 Colin F has found his namesake
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 The Ghost has grabbed Roy's hat. |
 Tim walking by Triffid M again, which is on the ground just behind him.
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 Colin F leaving L. |
Results
As predicted Gary won on both straight points (350) and handicap (242), managing to log into F, L, K & M, all within 15 mins! Tim was the only other one to bag maximum points on his joker. The scores were quickly processed and results announced to allow distant teams to get away early, whilst the rest retired to the Hare and Hounds in East Bergholt. Times
Most teams finished and posted points fairly early on, with a fair bit of waiting round for the guns to go off at the end, Tim finishing at 2.55 pm. The exception was Chris who only had 38 seconds to spare at K, having risked H, to leave only 7 mins to run up the hill from there, cross the railway and get into the tunnel. Injury overshadowed the day, with Rosy unable to attend (though said to be recovering well) whilst new player Nigel picked up a knee problem at B and had to be helped off the field. Philip Cunningham G0NXH |
 Tim handing back the Hero Trophy to Gary once again.
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Full table of Hero points may be found here |
| Thanks to Philip for finding us a new site and goldilocks weather - most enjoyable. Next event is on July 14th with Chis in charge. For other information please see the Noticeboard |