SELOC Successes
SELOC’s very own sprint event at the Horwich Festival of Racing was the biggest of the weekend for all of us, this year incorporating the NWOA Sprint Championships. There were wins and medals for Anna Wilson, Daniel Wilson and Matt Driver in their respective age classes. Full results are on the website so I won’t repeat them here.
Matt’s run brought out the best aspects of sprint racing. After a good run in the Prologue around Queen’s Park in Bolton he headed into the Final with a lead of 8 whole seconds over Rowan Capper of EUOC. They must have been eying each other warily as they waited in the throng for the mass start, and were racing head to head over the first few controls along with Sam Stead of WCOC. It turned out that although Stephen Richards had planned a well-gaffled course, the three of them all had the same variations. Would be very interesting to know what went through each of their heads when they realised that!
The lead changed hands frequently, but they stayed within seconds of each other throughout the course though Matt reports that he was hanging on to the map and the pack in equal measure. Coming in to the last control, Sam was in the lead by 2 seconds from Matt, with Rowan another second behind before he accelerated away up the hill toward the finish. Realising his 8 second lead from the Prologue was at risk, Matt dug deep and stayed with them to keep his overall lead by just 4 seconds. Exciting stuff, just a shame that the spectators couldn’t be aware of the intense competition taking place in front of them.
On slightly less pressured events earlier in the week, Paul Turner made it two races for the weekend by heading up to BL’s urban in Brampton, Cumbria, where his 6th place secured further points in the NW Urban League. Earlier still, Michael Hood was our only competitor in the rain of Wednesday night at DEE’s Castle Park (Frodsham) sprint where he finished in 10th spot on the Long course.
SELOC Club League
Paul Turner has already updated this with results from Sunday’s event and the full table should be on the website shortly. After 7 rounds, Matt Driver continues to top the table by a comfortable margin. He is the only person to have 5 counting scores, so that margin may erode as others clock up more good runs in the nominated events. But he’ll take some catching if his speed and navigation are maintained as they were on Sunday. Next event is SROC’s this Tuesday, 18 June, in Leyland.
Upcoming Events
In addition to SROC on Tuesday there are midweek events on Wednesday from PFO (in Nelson) and AIRE (Bradford) followed by MDOC (Brereton Heath) on Thursday. The weekend sees Yorkshire following the NWOA example with their Sprint Championships staged by HALO in Gainsborough on Saturday 22nd, paired with a Middle Distance race the same day. Then East Midlands join the fun by staging their Sprint Champs at Newark on Sunday 23rd to make an attractive weekend.
The following week sees an evening event staged by DEE at Arrowe Park on the Wirral on Tuesday 25th, followed by either the last of PFO’s current series in the excellent woods of Tockholes or the next in MDOC’s Countryside Score series at Marple, both on Wednesday. Then to round off June, on the 29th we have a SELOC Saturday event in Chadderton Hall Park, Oldham.
Finally, don’t forget that entries for the premier UK multiday event this summer, the Scottish 6 Days, close at the end of June for the main age-class courses – and you can get one day’s score to count in the SELOC club League too if you get a good enough run.