Race report. MBO Poldice Valley 21/5/17

I woke up at 6.30am to carefully Tipex out two non-existent bridleways which I thought I had deleted on the maps. Shortly after getting up I had a text from Will to say that he and Faye had got as far as Okehampton and realised they had left the laptop at home! So they were going to be running late…

Dad had come down from Devon on Saturday so we drove over to the village hall together. He had kindly brought down his slasher for me to borrow as when I was putting the checkpoints out I was worried that one of the bridleways near Todpool had become somewhat indistinct and that people wouldn’t see it.

Soon after arriving at the village hall, competitors started to arrive very early! Including Ifor which was handy as I asked him for a few tips about how to set up.

As I was sitting wondering how much entry fees were, the calvalry in the form of Will and Faye appeared! Phew.

Mum arrived soon after and dutifully went off with Dad’s slasher to beat down that naughty bridleway!

It was great to see some newcomers entering on the day. We had put posters in lots of bike shops and tried to spread the word on social media but it was difficult to know if it was going to have any results. I had found some old carpet tiles in my shed which transformed nicely into instant map boards for some of the newbies.

All the riders set off. Faye and I hung out in the hall, whilst my boyfriend Damian entertained us setting out the teas and cakes (made by him). A lot of thought went into the mug size choice!

John Parfitt was the first back, and then Sancos Boland. It is the first MBO I have organised and I think one of my biggest concerns after setting the course out was that the check points would get either nicked or moved, so it was reassuring to hear that nothing much seemed amiss as the riders came back in. Some tape had been moved down by check point 9. Interestingly, that was the checkpoint I was most worried that would be nicked as there is a lot of foot-fall there.
Unfortunately check point 26 wasn’t working, but luckily it was one of the furthest away so everyone remembered visiting it and had those points added on!

Everyone seemed to enjoy the course. Annoyingly some punctures for Sion James and Jonny Dodwell. MBO wouldn’t be MBO without Jonny having a some story to tell! ;)

First overall and M40 class winner- Ifor Powell with 540 points (out of 590)
Second overall James Alsept with 510 points, closely followed by Will Hancock also with 510 points but 26 seconds behind!

Class wins for Ron Barrett (M50), Janet & Matt (pairs) and Will Hancock (M21), Matthew Boyd (M70), Tom Bell & Floyd Ratcliffe (M18 pairs), and Helen Dodwell, Jo Staves and Claire Longman shared the womens’ prize as they rode together.

Thanks to Jonny, Will, Elizabeth & Kevin and Mother for collecting some of the check points in. I just got to enjoy the Carn Brea loop to collect those in.

Thoroughly enjoyed organising it, such a great excuse to get out and explore bridleways! I had a rough idea of how to do the route and get maximal enjoyment out of the trails so I was intrigued to see which way everyone went. Looking at the flybys noone did it as I intended!! But I suppose that is all part of the fun.

Thanks Will for the tireless IT support with the planning, and to Faye for the computer stuff on the day. Thanks to Damian for doing the catering and for general enthusiasm, and most importantly thanks to everyone for making the effort to come all the way to Kernow!

Looking forward to the Exe Valley 2nd July.

Race map can be viewed here:
https://www.keepandshare.com/doc/8205658/poldice-competition-map?da=y

League table after 2 events can be viewed here:
https://www.keepandshare.com/doc/8205657/sw-league-2017-after-2-events?da=y