Nopesport

Harvester Relays 2004

This year held by Mole Valley on Pippingford Park, part of Ashdown Forest with areas of low heather, lightening quick woodland and open parkland. Times were fast and the conditions were good, with a slight mist in the valleys. The organisation was very good, with radio controls at frequent intervals and computer screens to keep spectators up to date with what was going on (even if there was a bit of a delay).

In the A race, the pre-race favourites were OD Men, SYO, Shuoc Sex Club 7 and FVO Flyers, with current champions Interlopers not sending a team. Ben Rattray of Clyde set the early pace (running the first two legs 12 minutes quicker than any other team), with Martin Ward of SYO and Andy Preston of OD finishing soon after. On second, Barry Elkington (OD) pulled away from the rest of the field, and Rachel Furness pulled Shuoc up to 2nd after Hannah Hargreaves had lost some time on 1st. SYO were right behind in 3rd, but 8 minutes down on OD already. Then on the longest night leg, Jon Northrop and Charlie Adams set the pace, taking almost 5 minutes out of OD’s lead after Jules Simpson lost time in some gulleys near the end. Andy Simpson went out and stretched the lead again, beating Dave Harrison by 9 minutes and Paul Hodges (who had some headlamp trouble) by 12 minutes. So after 4 legs, OD had an overall lead of 10 minutes over SYO and 14 over Shuoc. Dan Halliday held that lead over Shuoc, who moved up to 2nd as Jo Sellens passed Mike Sprot. Rich Guillaume, Tina Little and Dan Tett all posted similar times on 6th leg, with FVO over half an hour down. Graham Gristwood lost time on last to Bradley Crane and Tim Tett after hurting his leg (really nice big bruise), but held on to bring victory to OD by 7 minutes over Shuoc Sex Club 7, with SYO 3rd and FVO 4th.

The B race was won by Slow, and the 1st womens team was SO (Julia Jarvis, Liz Bridge, Bryony Crickmore, Christine Jepson and Lucy Jepson).

GG

Results