Day 2 was drier than Saturday but the high rainfall during spring meant the trails were still more overgrown than usual. The terrain was just as hilly and navigation as challenging with riders having the option of revisiting the North Downs and exploring Blackheath, Winterfold and Holmbury. With the village hall in the south east of the map planning a return route was important. The wooded areas around Holmbury were tricky to navigate and many riders returned late. After 2 days of hills there were a lot of tired legs but happy faces ready for refreshments in the village hall.

Tom Davies won the day with 539 points out of a possible 600 collecting 22 out of the 26 controls. His crucial decision was to drop CP29 (20 points) early on leaving him to collect an extra 30 pointer later just beating Tom Gibbs into 2nd place. Nuno Cerqueira took 3rd place with one fewer control point.

The Men’s overall placings didn’t change on Sunday with Tom Gibbs (M50) claiming an overall win with 1590 points. Tom Davies (M40) was close on his heels and Nuno Cerqueira (M21) in 3rd. With 11 riders in the class, Ian Cartwright led overall in M60.

It was all change for the Women’s overall placings. Isabel Boyd (W40) returned to events after a few years off and with a strong ride on Sunday she won the day and took the top spot for the weekend with 957 points. Beth Perrou was not far behind taking 2nd and Jane Robinson 3rd. Claire Riley (W40) with a winning ride on Saturday in the bag took overall 2nd place and Jane Robinson (W50) 3rd.

Prizes for the podium places were all local English wines from Denbies Vineyard where many people rode the Leith Hill Greenway on Saturday to get to or from checkpoint 48.

There was a 2 hour course option over the weekend using MapRun with 22 controls in a much more concentrated A4 map area. Congratulations to James Breed for collecting 18 controls and taking 1st place on his debut MBO event.

Many thanks to everyone for supporting the event especially those who travelled from further afield to discover the riding areas in the south. A big thank you to Julian, Nuno, Dave, Ian N, Michael, Steve D, Paula, Caroline, Graham and Andrew who helped set up and run the event. It was months in the planning with teams on setting out on Friday, running the event on the day and collecting in on Sunday. Thanks to Gordon for assistance with the complicated 2 day SI event set up.