FOUR COUNTIES CHALLENGE.

For the second year running competitors to Phil Thursby's and Bernard Lamb's Leicestershire based event were greeted with magnificent weather. With temperatures expected to approach 30C and weeks without rain, a slight breeze was all that was on offer to keep riders cool as they could attempt to cross 4 counties in one 3 hour ride.
With a start at the truly impressive Refectory at Twycross House School, set in it's landscaped elevated gardens with wide views across western parts of the course, riders could see something of what was ahead of them on a demanding course where unusually all of the 28 checkpoints were located off road. With such hard dry conditions, suspension would surely be tested to the max.
Organisers had predicted that no rider would achieve a clearance as choice of route and limited options on offer for a quick road return to HQ would play a part, not only on points scored but also time penalties. A maximum of 610 points were on offer. The best riders however will always seek a way of maximising their scores by searching out the most efficient routes and there were several in contention for top honours on the day. With this being round 8 of 10 there were league positions to be improved and consolidated.
Pleasingly for the organisers, all checkpoints were visited, even the more remote higher scoring ones in the north-west of the map, so the efforts of clearing obstructive vegetation in the worst parts had been worthwhile.
The course looked to favour a rider like Mark Rowley, who has won in the area before, and he indeed make a strong bid with a planned route which if executed would have given him over 500 points. However bad luck with a broken spoke, buckled carbon wheel and puncture ended his hopes and left the door open for several of his rivals.
In a closely fought contest honours were taken by Will Dixon M21 with 432 points, just beating Andy Gregg M40 410, closely followed by Andy Smith M40 and Nick Calkin M50 both on 405. This was a great ride by Will who is quickly mastering all elements of this sport. Michael Rackham M60 led his group with 370, whilst Alan Shergold M70 had a good ride with 284. Val Ravenhill was leading female rider with 299 points. Particularly pleasing was the participation of new recruits to the sport who all seemed to enjoy the experience, and are likely to return. Lisa Russell W40 and Ginette Spittles W50 riding as a pair put in a strong first time performance.
Local bragging rights went to Geoff Ford M60 with 260 points who further braved the heat by helping gather in the CP's.
There was no shortage of food with home made cakes going down particularly well, provided by Lorraine Thursby, Gill Lamb and Brian Ninness M60 who also competed. Particular thanks are due to Lisa Welbourne who helped in supporting the organisers with multi-tasking throughout the day. Thanks to Shaun Schofield for helping with the food and scoring.
Thanks are also due to the rider who found the vandalised CP1 and kindly reinstated it so that riders following behind did not waste any time searching for it in vain. The glitch with the computer which resulted in provisional results being delayed hopefully did not prevent the riders from experiencing a good day out on the mountain bike in the best that 4 Midland counties can offer.