What brilliant weather for mid November, well over 50 riders took part in the Ripon event from the South Lodge pub.
The area is split by the busy A61, I tried to encourage riders to use the safest crossing points on it. The E side is mostly flattish roads and scored 290 points; the W side is hillier and includes some bridleways scoring 235 points. I had avoided what would have been muddier BWs but in fact most of them would have been OK.
The pub changed hands a few weeks ago, when I called in to remind them of the event I was told they had no kitchen but could serve sandwiches & chips. Apologies for anyone whose food was delayed, I think we overwhelmed them!
The overall winner was M40 Robert Mawer on 515, he nearly cleaned up but somehow failed to cycle 250m to pick up #9 and had a minute to spare. Second was M50 Tim Evans on 447 followed by M21 Chris Dodd on 437. Vets are now M60+, easily won by M70 Steve Willis on 405. The performance of the day must be GEN Laura Barber who took a week off competitive rock climbing to amass 430, the highest score of any lady with father Jeffrey. W50 Jill Ellison scored 389 on the tandem with Conrad, next was W40 Claire Riley on 362.
There were very few snags with MapRun/phones/smartwatches today; there was an incidence of some phones going into battery saving mode during the event but they still recorded the track. I am told that this can be prevented by setting the phone not to go to sleep whilst using MapRun App. Generally though there were less & less problems, riders are getting the hang of the technology. We tried to reduce clutter on the map by only putting the control numbers on it, leaving off the points values, did this cause any problems for riders?
Apologies from Steve Willis for forgetting to bring the NYMBO League winners tee shirts. Hopefully, hel'' bring them to the Squinting Cat!!
Lost property: 1 pair black men’s gloves – contact planner David Day deedays@tiscali.co.uk