Despite a foggy, a rather chilly, start to the morning it was good to see the sun burning through as the morning went on to give us a lovely clear day for the event.
We had a great turnout (which meant Steve printing some extra maps), and everyone seemed to have enjoyed themselves on the ride whatever route they took. Having planned two previous events in the same area, I tried to “winterise” the controls to allow everyone to get a good ride without being bogged down anywhere – and I think I managed to achieve that whilst ensuring a reasonable mix of on and off-road controls. I tried to make the area smaller than before, but with hindsight I would have made it even smaller. The high value controls on Caulkley Bank made that a popular choice for route choice, with some choosing the road over the bridleway (although it was rideable) between 28 and 22.
Planner’s hindsight means there are a few control switches I could have made but it seemed to work out ok. I tried to avoid the inevitable “number on telegraph pole ” clues, and chose a mix of ‘ride through’ and ‘stop-and-think’ clues. I had a few comments about the maths involved but I like to test everyone’s skill, including reading historic plaques (control 11).
A couple of early returners couldn’t find control 2 so I thought it may have gone missing but later riders seemed to have found it – everyone got points and I’m sorry if it was harder work to find a 5 pointer!
The Malt Shovel is always a welcoming place and we are grateful for their hospitality. It was great to see so many happy, and mostly muddy, riders returning.
Thanks to everyone for taking part – the results are here (updated Sunday 17th 10:24): Hovingham Results (v3)
Dave



