Nopesport

The NWOA round of the CSCup was held on Formby sand-dunes near Liverpool, organised by MEROC. With a high risk of control vandalism (possibly by the squirrels?!), traditional pin-punching was used, but the organisers still managed to get results out by the evening of the event.

In such a flat area, course lengths were long but winning times short - the 9.4km Brown was won in only a fraction over 5 min/km, with other courses at similarly quick speeds. The main challenges were the changes from open to semi-open and wooded dunes, with the already significant technical interest spiced up by an aging map. Occasional showers driven on by a strong wind and plenty of dog walkers and other members of the public provided plenty to break the concentration.

MDOC won the cup competition with a strong all-round display, being in the top 3 in all courses despite their only individual victory being in the Women's Blue. DEE, LOC and SROC were all fairly close together, in that order, with WCOC a distant fifth - perhaps the long journey from the North Lakes was too far to get the best turn-out.

In the trophy, ERYRI won convincingly, almost 100 points clear of PFO and BL who were a close second and third. Perhaps worringly for development of the sport, there were two 'nul points' in the junior categories - Light Green for BL and Orange for SELOC, but with junior weightings towards the overall scores being low then clubs can still do well without. Something for the CSCup committee to consider?

courtesy of Ed Nash: check out Ed Nash Dot Com