Nopesport

BKO held the year’s first national event on an area unused by many people before. The event was also used for the first race in the Future Champions Cup Series and as a result had quite a strong field, particularly in the older junior classes.

The shorter courses remained on the main Cold Ash map, an area with a large path network and runnable forest, whilst the longer courses were treated with a loop around the western-most part of Bucklebury Common which added on a fair bit of climb and a chunk of green to run through.

The terrain was not all that tricky, with route choice being the hardest part of each leg. Even so, small mistakes were costly as Matt Crane of Sheffield University found out. He admitted to making a number of small mistakes which let OD’s Graham Gristwood through to take the win on M21L in 5.4mins/km. It was looking as if Crane was going to win the event by miles, as he maintained a 13 minute lead for the majority of the day until late starters Nick Barrable, and then Gristwood came in with times a lot closer to that of the Sheffield student. Crane eventually finished 2nd, Barrable in 4th just behind Tuomas Tala who made ammends for his 2-second deficit to Nick the previous evening by beating him by 7 seconds.

Helen Palmer prevailed on the W21L with a 1 and a half minute win over Southampton's Christine Currie.

The event lacked a bit of atmosphere with the finish being stuck on a track just 200 metres away from the assembly field. Why the finish couldn’t have brought into the assembly area to add a bit of spectator interest baffles me. Wilf’s was also sorely missed, with the local Rotary Club being swamped with people wanting hot food on a cold day. All in all, a good competition, but the event lacked that certain something which we should expect of a National event.

Results will appear on the Emit UK website later this evening.