RTV Review:

HALFORD – 12-11-2006 – CARL O’CONNOR (Photos thanks to Tim Kemp)

8 interestingly long and twisty sections laid out by Steve Smith and John Jackson awaited us on Sunday morning as we rolled into Halford.

There was a fantastic turn out of 19 competitors and vehicles to really throw Richard Smith and Myself in at the deep end in our new roles (chief scruitineer and RTV secretary). Unfortunately there were not enough marshals to run 2 groups so we set off in 1 group to the 1^st section.

Section 1 was in familiar, swampy territory, the mud was catching a number of people out and my Sat Nav memory switched off after the 5^th gate and only 4 people getting clears. Section 2 involved some up and downs, with only 3 people clearing the section it was looking like a high scoring day for some people. Section 3 returned us to the ‘swampy bits’ with only Karl Humpage clearing the section as the number 2 gate kept catching everybody out as it got slippier. Section 4 was quite a long challenge, many people were caught out trying to get round to the 6 gate from the 7 gate (myself included) Maggie Ives went 1^st and showed all the guys how it was done with a clear, and then I showed everybody how to get a 7!

The afternoon sections began over the other side of the site; there was a lot less mud but many more trees’ (I could see my Dad begin to count the cost of potential repairs). Section 5 was very straight forward, this led everybody into a false sense of security as we began section 6, Tim Kemp was 1^st off and went the wrong way after the 7 gate, and I was next up and finally my Sat Nav memory worked. Section 6 was a very enjoyable trek through the trees, up and down banks (Great section Guy’s). Section 7 was again pretty straight forward, then we arrived at section 8, with light beginning to fade the competitors set off on another interestingly long section, the number 2 gate caught many people out much to there annoyance.

I hope a good day was had by all and we can continue the very strong turn out of competitors for the foreseeable future.

Our next event is at Avon Dasset on the Sunday 10^th December where we’ll be holding a fancy dress car competition.

Laying out on Saturday will be Myself, Dad (Tony O’Connor) and Richard Smith, you can look forward to some interesting and challenging sections as it’s the 1^st time any of us have laid Avon Dasset out before.

See you all soon.

Carl O’Connor

HALFORD RESULTS:

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