Report

As the afternoon rains cleared away to leave a sunny but windy evening, over 70 competitors turned up at Hendale, continuing to prove the popularity of the Poacher series. They were treated to three top courses planned by Pete Shew who made excellent use of the area, although some of the older competitors were heard moaning about the long leg towards the end of the long course. They clearly didn’t appreciate the route choice opportunities that this leg presented. Despite recent rain the woods are still mostly very runnable (with the odd irritating patch of nettles) and Pete did manage to take us into the best bits (of the woods not the nettles!), although double trousers are still recommended.
The leader board this week had a very similar look about it as the winners of the three courses were the same as last week at Willingham.
The Yellow course was won for the fourth week in succession by Dom Simmonds with a convincing winning margin of nearly 10 minutes. Can anyone beat him on this course?
Lee Smith was victorious on the Short course with a two minute winning margin over Jake Field. Jake though looks in a commanding lead at the head of the Short Course league table, but who knows what might happen in the coming weeks. Allan Cutler in third had his best finish this season, the leading lady on the short course so far is Heather Tuck who has had a string of consistent results.
On the Long course Liam Harrington scorched round four minutes quicker than the rest of the field to secure his fourth victory of the season. Zac Field was second with Neil Harvatt third – his best finish this year. There were calls for Neil’s disqualification when it was discovered that he had forgotten his own shoes and borrowed Pete Shews’s shoes and that these shoes had been out on the course previously and knew their way round!
A special mention to Keith Foster who persevered for nearly 2 ½ hours on the long course but did find every control on his course (and possibly some others also!). An impressive performance for an M80.

Full results

Routegadget

Organiser

Pete Shew