Chicken Farm Hare & Hounds - 18th July 2010

Provisional Results v3 (Printable Version PDF). Or for lap breakdown version Provisional Results v2

Have a look at what happened and who won at previous years: 2009, 2008, 2007

Update: Third version of the Provisional results are now available on the right showing Finish Times. (Link now working - Sorry. And thanks Paul.)

And Gord Powell was out snapping. Looks like he's got a shot of almost all riders. Have a look at his Flickr Site for even more photos.

Ben's Press Report

A TIGHT course produced a clear winner of the annual West Glos & Dean Forest MCC enduro.

Though less than four miles in length, the Chicken Farm hare and hounds course was circulated 22 times in three hours by overall winner Derek Bawn. He squeezed in an extra lap ahead of Rhys Davies and Steve Biddle, who were two clear of the rest of the expert field. Biddle and Davies are not often separated by much time at most events and at the flag, the Lydney rider trailed Davies by 87 seconds. Both came up against backmarkers and while Biddle smiled through gritted teeth, Davies took the opportunity for a quick rest before turning up the wick again. Another local rider, Simon Ellway, turned in 19 laps, almost four minutes ahead of Anthony Powell.

There was a clear victor in the clubman class, with a remarkable 21 laps completed by George Bayliss, who looks like he is aiming to upgrade to expert status soon. All the more remarkable was the fact he gave up a 175cc advantage to Carl Davies' 300cc TM. Davies managed 19 laps, one more than Brockworth rider Dane Palmer, and Jason Tillings.

The veterans class was an all-action affair, providing the only crash of the day at the start. As the over 40's thundered off the line, Coleford's Dave Smailes departed his machine at some speed, though no serious damage was done. Adrian Evans and Jerry Adams both completed 19 laps, ahead of Andrew Knapman on 18, and Andy Taylor and Gas Gas dealer Anthony Moore on 17.

The sportsman class provided the biggest class of the 80-plus entry, and a close finish, with Roger Holland heading home four riders, all on 17 laps.

Coleford blacksmith Peter Neale was the only rider in the trail class. He rode to the event from home, put in 15 laps, then rode home, without stopping for fuel. Though his air-cooled Honda CRF 230 lacked top speed, it hummed effiently around the course and was ideal for the tighter sections of the track laid out by clerk of the course Glenn Thomas and his team.

The club would like to thank all who helped to officiate on the day, and the landowner.

C of C's notes

Well I would like to start by thanking Andy Tillings for suggesting we have a look at this bit of land. We do use a little of this land for the Wyegate LDT but neither of us knew what land we could actually use, unknown to us, a few suprises awaited us. A good mix of fast and technical woodland awaited the entry.

The lap was about 3 miles long and the weather about perfect .

The start was good with only one faller, in the vets class (nice one Dave might have a bit of it on video)

It was nice to see most riders using the hard route, which was the very steep climb in the first bit of wood. The next bit of wood proved to be a bit of a challenge with a big log pile for the brave ( although the alternate route proved to be just as hard!)

From there a fast sprint up the side of the field to the next bit of woodland, the scowles of a small part of puzzle wood this proved to be a bit different to normal woodland from there to the last bit of woodland and back to the finish

3 hours of this resulted in a win for Derek Bawn who managed 22 laps. We had a few minor spills and one rider who would have been excluded had he not retired before I made it back to start finish area.

Feedback from the riders has been very positive. A big thank you to all of you who took part.

There's a few stories about but the one that made me giggle was the bloke that got travel sick riding the puzzle wood bit and had to retire.

And now a few thank you's
A very big thank you to the landowner Danny for the use of the land
A big thank you to the lads and lasses that turned up for the work parties
A big thank you for all those that turned out on Sat/Sun to work/marshal
A big thank you to Phil and Suzy for the timing
Not such a big thank you to the owl that frightened me Sat night after I shut the gate
Thanks to St Johns Ambulance for the first aid cover.
Thanks to the Mrs for putting up with me not being at home much for the 3 or 4 weeks before the event.
I must mention the Tillings clan for their support, cheers for that.
If I have missed anybody out sorry.
That's it from me just one last thing A VERY BIG THANK YOU TO THE (Umm...Person is the word I think he meant! ed.) THAT STOLE THE ROLL OF 'SCOTT' TAPE FROM OUT OF MY VAN.