Provisional results here (or find them in the MapRun app); corrections to Tim no later than Tuesday please so he can finalise and we can publish.

During the summer Dallowgill event, the centre manager mentioned the possibility of using Ivy Bank campsite as a bike O venue. Investigation revealed that it had parking, a small cafe, toilets, wifi & was a bit quirky [cut down beer barrels for gents urinals being one of them!] Add the free bike wash after, the decision was made. I biased the area to the E so as not to overlap the Dallowgill event, taking some of you on the BW E of the A6108 through Ripon Parks; in the S Studley Royal deer park showcased the rutting stags, impressing their ladies. Kirkby Malzeard has a lot of minor roads & gravel tracks, giving many route options without having to travel on the muddiest BWs. # 26 & 30 were temptingly located close to the finish but not all riders had time for them. # 14 & 28 were there to get you through Ripon whilst avoiding the town centre. The loop of # 5, 1, 6 seemed a good start but only scored 20 points – going straight to #11 scored 15 & took you to the same place much quicker.

The 47 riders enjoyed dry weather with virtually no wind, not bad for November but many were late back – a result of the lumpy contours & also the fact that Ivy Bank sits at the highest point on the course. When Andy Conn entered & then Edwyn O-Evans I was worried that the course may have been cleared in the 2 hour limit but not quite. Not too many tech problems, riders are obviously mastering the intricacies of MapRun, just a few phones misbehaving here & there; if you have a Garmin watch it can be loaded with the MapRun app via a phone or tablet, in my experience the watch is foolproof on these events.

Top rider was golden oldie M50 Andy Conn with 461, just ahead of M21 Edwyn 457, if only the latter had not been to Parkrun before perhaps he would have squeezed home. Local M50 Harvey Jones made use of his home advantage to score 449 once the young Rochesters had sorted his tech for him. Top Mix was Sally & Saul 324 just ahead of Claire & David’s 320 whose 70 penalties killed them. Solo ladies saw W60 Sarah Slade come out top with 310, head & shoulders above the rest; generation team result was close, the Dranes 316 just pipping the Risbey’s 310. Further down the field Pamela’s 279 was enough to see off partner Maurice’s 231 but he was concentrating on getting back to watch Leeds United that afternoon [why?]. Bad luck James LePage who suffered a puncture a couple of miles from home only to discover that his saddlebag had opened up & lost his repair kit, another rider did find his multi spanner though [small consolation].

Next event is Jonathan Purdy’s Yorkshire Water park at Wykeham [also an opportunity for Parkrun there first?] on 7 December – don’t miss this new area….
David Day Planner (thanks to David for organising an excellent course!)