Electric Cross Country Results 2006

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Report By Trevor Hornby (C.D.)

I was up early and checked the weather on the web which didn't look as good as previous days forecast however showers were not expected until about tea time. Wind was going to be light and mainly north easterly. It looked like we could expect a reasonable day. I arrived about 8:30 to check out which fields were usable. We really only had normal lower (SE) field but by opening the gates in the bottom corner I was able to get across the lower track cross road and up the chalk lane past the cows into the second section of north east field.

So the course was set starting in the main field; Task 1 was out of the field and up the track towards the main gate; back into the main field and running anti clockwise round the outside for tasks 2, 3,4 and 5; and on to the optional mid round landing (task 6); Staying in the field the task 7 is towards the gate in the bottom NE corner; across the track and onto the bottom fields for tasks 8 and 9; then returning back to the start for graduated landing. Each task consisted of a gate with two flags the compulsory component was in and out between them and then optionally meant moving to the outside flag where the task could be repeated but on the outside of the course. To give you an idea of distance the compulsory minimum course was 1.7 Km (1 mile) and the full optional course extended the distance to 2.5 Km (1.5 miles).

The start was slightly delayed, preferring to wait for Ian our 6th competitor enabling us to have 3 in 2 slots. A draw was made for order of play with Chris (1) Clive (2) and John Price (3) which made up the first slot and Ian (4) myself (5) and John Skinner (6) forming the first set of navigators. The first slot got away at 10:45. The cloud had thinned a little and some thermal activity was apparent. Wind was light and variable but mainly from the NE. All three found enough marginal lift to complete the course in the prescribed 35 minutes but differing tactics were applied. I navigated for Clive who tended to use smaller power runs and opted to only chase the compulsory course, this proved to be not enough as both Chris and John went for the halfway point landing which then doubled their task scores for the rest of the course.

Clarification of the turn task was given to ensure parity and Round 1 slot 2 got underway. By now Vic and Brian were available to help spread the load (thanks). Conditions for this slot had slightly improved (and this trend of improvement continued throughout the rest of the comp). Ian and I had made headway in front of John S who had chosen to do all the optional tasks. So when he landed out and was forced back to restart again I no longer thought his tactic of attempting all tasks to be a threat, anyway he would probably not have enough electrical or physical energy to complete the course. This proved to be the flaw in my plan!. Any way we all completed the course and had the interim landing bonus as well so it boiled down to the first half optional tasks which John had completed twice!!.

So first round complete and all pilots still almost in one piece having now completed nearly 3 miles. I had a few blisters and slightly strained my groin, Chris had a nick out of his elbow navigating a gate, Ian was uncertain about his chest pains and John S was exhausted recovering from his relaunch, the others didn't complain.

So considering the next round with a fly off was ruled out of the question, (and this will probably need to apply to any electric cross country we run in the future, we are still evolving) so we decided to run the second and make that the concluding round and then separate any score ties by counting back the scores if required. By the way, I had forgot to mention that the tasks generated points which were percentaged within each slot.

The 2nd round generally generated more lift and sink and more birds were evident to help spot. Slot 1 was myself, Chris and John P. Chris opted for the John Skinner tactic and completed everything including a 100 point landing which left him in an unassailable maximum score in this slot. John failed to make task 9 (the black gate), this was probably due to a poor battery charge and I failed to make it back to the landing bonus after task 9.

In the second slot Ian appeared to have a battery/radio failure just after his midpoint landing which completed his run. Clive completed the course with a selection of options done but John S came through again with a maximum including a close to perfect landing bonus.

6 miles later, exhaustion having settled in we cleared up closed the gates and a majority dragged ourselves back to the local for one or two. I got the calculator out and went through the results. Chris and John S had achieved a maximum 2000 and so looking at counting back the scores we find that 2 metres on the landing was all that separated the scores and finally awarded first place to Chris in a very close fought contest.

My thanks to all those who participated.

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