MIDLAND GLIDING CLUB
NEWSLETTER

Number 105 September 2003

CONTENTS

Chairman’s Contribution........................................................................................................................................................... 2

Towlines...................................................................................................................................................................................... 2

CFI’s Bits..................................................................................................................................................................................... 3

Midland Gliding Club Child Protection Policy....................................................................................................................... 3

SkyWave..................................................................................................................................................................................... 4

From the Flying Field................................................................................................................................................................. 5

A Birthday Thank You.............................................................................................................................................................. 5

Task Week 2003 - The Week after the Day Before............................................................................................................... 6

Task Week 2003 Results......................................................................................................................................................... 12

Internet Access........................................................................................................................................................................ 12

For anyone who missed the spectacle of the sheep getting thoroughly stoned on whatever was being used to spray the bracken:

Cartoon by Roland Bailey (with thanks to Susanna Edwards for the idea)

Please send Newsletter contributions to: John and Ann Parry Holly Cottage Wentnor Bishops Castle Shropshire SY9 5EE Telephone..01588 650379 Fax.………01588 650596 Email……..John.Parry@Virgin.net	Club Details: The Midland Gliding Club The Long Mynd Church Stretton Shropshire SY6 6TA Office Telephone......01588 650206 Office Fax.................01588 650532 Members Telephone..01588 650405 Email……………….office@longmynd.com
Club web site: www.longmynd.com

Chairman’s Contribution

Charles Carter

I make no apology for beginning another newsletter by applauding the many notable flying achievements during the last few weeks. If I start mentioning names I will be sure to miss out some great flights and so will content myself with a brief resume.

A 650 km and four 500 km by Mynd pilots in the week leading up to task week was a warm up for the first day of competition when ten pilots got around a 300 km task which is fantastic. Two flights of over 300 km were achieved on two successive days, one in excess of 90 km/hr, by one of our lady pilots at Bicester and other flights in excess of 400 km recorded from the Mynd. A sprinkle of Silver flights shows that we have continuity.

Task week was enjoyed by all and our thanks to Director John Parry and his team for a professional and well run competition. The 2003 winner Dominic Haughton who is also the Met Man received the new Alison Rowson Task Week Trophy which has been generously donated by the Rowson family in memory of a staunch and much loved club member.

The strength in depth of our soaring pilots has again seen the Mynd winning the Rockpolishers League and competing in the Inter Club final at Bicester during the last weekend of task week. This gave Mynd Captain Dominic the opportunity to despatch his nearest rival for the Task Week honours off to Bicester to represent the club. An extremely creditable third place out of seven in the final was the result. Well done to all.

Can I please appeal to all of you who do meritorious flights to write them up in the appropriate place so that when the BGA annual statistics are produced instead of a zero for cross country flying kilometres flown from the Mynd we can get somewhere near the actual total.

The DG 505 has started to fly the youngsters which is its primary purpose and is also proving very popular for soaring flights with club members. If like me you have not yet had the opportunity to fly in it then collar one of the many cleared P1s and have a go. It will get busier with FFF flying and the chances for club members reduce accordingly.

For new members I would like to say that with autumn and winter just around the corner the chances for good training days do not diminish. Calm days can often be just right for circuits or even that first solo and the stronger windy days can be an opportunity for your first wave flight, so beat a path to the Mynd whenever the weather looks half decent and make use of the flying opportunities which are denied to flat land sites when the thermals go into hibernation.

The west side of the clubhouse looks resplendent with its new coat of paint and many thanks to all the artists who contributed. The willingness of members to do so many jobs around the club from maintenance and upkeep of services through to helping out on the flying field make the committee’s job much easier.

Towlines

Chris Harris

Earlier in the year Paul Stanley asked me if I would take over as tugmaster from September. I am sure you would like me to thank Paul for his efforts over the last five years. During this time he has been very effective in encouraging greater use of the tug. No doubt he will have more time now to enjoy his own gliding although he will still be a regular on the tug pilot rota.

Please note that a new Tost release hook has been fitted to the tug. This is for the safety of all tuggies due to the fact that this hook should allow release with the cable at any angle to the tug. It does however have a drawback in that the rope can now be connected to the tug the wrong way round. Please make sure that the white end is connected to the glider and the blue end to the tug. The ends of all tow ropes are suitably identified with coloured sleeves and the tug has blue spot markers both sides of the rudder to remind you.

CFI’s Bits

Neal Clements

We have had some wonderful cross country flying this year with excellent achievements both in terms of speed and distance. In task week alone on the first day we had 10 gliders round a 300 km with me carefully sweeping up the rear to ensure that all went well. Task week gave me the opportunity to observe many people of different abilities thermalling. It is the key skill to soaring cross country or if you only fly locally to staying aloft for a long time. I noticed several pilots turning at very shallow angles of bank and not being able to climb very well. This causes difficulties for other pilots as well because climbing inside another glider’s circle faster than them is fraught with difficulties. Please take the opportunity, if it is a thermal day, to take a ride in a two seater with a good cross country instructor and get them to demonstrate entry into a thermal, the angles of bank required for best lift and also how to centre. It will make your flying much more enjoyable and if you want to go cross country then it will make you much faster.

My second point relates to briefings. These are vital aspects of the day’s flying. The other day we had to accommodate over 60 paragliders using the ridge and we had to fly an extremely difficult circuit to achieve this. Briefing is where this type of information is discussed and understood, the latter being the key point. If at all possible then attend the briefing and participate in it, helping out with information or advice.

Midland Gliding Club Child Protection Policy

David Rance

What would you do if a child accused you of abusing them, when all you were doing was trying to strap them into a glider? It happens.

What would you do if you suspected somebody else’s child was being abused?

Along with most other organisations which welcome families and young folk to their sites, the club is introducing a Child Protection Policy to help guide members on how to avoid problems and how to react when they occur.

The policy addresses:

· The correct way to behave around young people and to organise groups to avoid problems in the first place.

· The correct way to respond to a child who makes an accusation of abuse either against you or another member.

· The correct way to respond to suspicion of a child being abused or another member being an abuser.

The policy is being developed and refined at the moment and when it is in place, all members will be asked to read it. In practice it will be as much about protecting the adults from the children as the children from the adults and will give guidance on the action to take if any problems do arise.

More details in the next newsletter.

Meanwhile, if anybody has first hand experience of implementing and living with Child Protection Policies, perhaps as part of their jobs, I could do with some help on this, please.

SkyWave

Ann Parry

Water or sky,

Supported by surrounded by

Taken for granted

Water and sky.

Sky full of clouds

Wave after wave.

With meaning for

Those who seek the air

Study its ways.

Sky means flying

Under those clouds

Seeking the lift

From rough to smooth.

Doing my best

Moment of being

Outcome accepted.

Yes, here, work this bubble

Stay with this scrap

Of rising air

Slowly lifting me to cloudbase

Then beyond and above.

Lucky now, the lift strengthens

Soaring up the cloud face

Out in the blue

Surfing upwards.

The clouds fall away

Far below me

And we fly higher.

Soaring in sunlight

Forgotten world grey below.

From the Flying Field

Sarah and Richard Platt

The run of westerlies during July saw Oliver Greenhall go solo, Silver heights from Clive Jones and Mike Witton, and 5 hour duration flights by Mike Witton, Dev Galal and Richard Malpass. Mike Witton also completed his Bronze and cross country endorsement. Some good waves flights were enjoyed on the 11^th, including Ian MacArthur and Jon Roberts reaching 8500 feet on the way back from Edgehill, and Dave Rance who flew to Grafham hitting 9000 feet on route.

We hosted the last Rockpolishers heat, and even though one day was scrubbed, we still won Rockpolishers, for the third year running. We then sent a team to the Inter Club league final, and came third. Well done to all those who competed. If you didn’t take part this year and would like to get involved, Dominic would love to hear from you.

The first half of August was hot and proved good weather for first soloes from Adam Bird (sent by his grandfather Chris Harris) and Alistair Lankester, and for John Chapman to complete his Bronze and cross country endorsement.

The 15^th August was widely considered a cracking day with almost Spanish conditions and a 6300 foot cloudbase, enjoyed by Julian Fack (500 km Diamond distance), Iain Evans (650 km), Nick Swales and Rod Hawley (both over 300 km), and Mike Greenwood (100 km in the K6). Visiting pilots Chris Curtis and John Strzebrakowski also flew flights of at least 500 km.

The next day, the first day of task week, was also good with ten gliders completing 300 km including Clive Jones (Gold distance). After that the weather went steadily downhill with Dominic Haughton struggling round more tasks than everybody else, to win task week. The weather improved again for 30^th when Nicky Jackson went solo, Allan Barnes flew 400 km and Iain Evans flew 550 km then forgot how to start his engine so landed 5 km away.

The Mynd has been well represented at competitions this summer, with Allan Barnes coming just second in one of the comps he entered, Simon Adlard coming second and Sarah Platt coming 8^th in the Inter-Services regionals. During that comp Ian flew 500 km two days running (Diamond distance) and Sarah flew 300 km two days running (Gold distance) (14^th & 15^th were the best days I’ve ever flown on).

Welcome to new members: Claire Price, Paul Price, Graeme Wild and Kevin Wild.

A Birthday Thank You

Chris Harris

Some of you will recall that I was 60 last September and you were cajoled or bullied or whatever into contributing to a gift of a day’s racing at Thruxton car racing course. Well finally today (4^th September 2003) almost a year on I managed to claim my day. What a day it was - I flew down to Thruxton in my syndicate Bolkow Junior which made a nice start to the day’s fun. I then had 3 laps in an MG ZS 180 being driven by an instructor, after which I drove it for 3 laps with the instructor alongside. Then it was off to the Martini Formula Renault single seat racing car. Boy oh boy - what fun - it does 140 mph and 0 - 60 in 4.5 seconds. I had 6 laps then a break in the pits followed by another 6 laps. It was absolutely fantastic although I was told to slow down twice by marshal signals. I’ve never had so much fun in a car in my life. May I say a big thank you to all for the present. Incidentally I now have a 10% off voucher for a similar day and a £500 off voucher if anyone is thinking of buying any MG car before December 2003 (to be spent on listed extras). If you want either please ask me.

Task Week 2003 - The Week after the Day Before

Debbie Bilham

The Official “Sexed up” Dossier

Prologue

Last year’s rising star, Allan Barnes recently came seventh in the Club Class Nationals and second in the Lasham Regionals B Class. Sarah Platt flew well in the Inter Services Regionals. John Roberts has recently flown his first 500 km.

We are now experiencing the tail end of a catastrophic heatwave, responsible for record temperatures, forest fires, power cuts and a marked increase in death rates.

The Mynd is looking spectacular, with the heather in full flower giving its best display for years. Not so lovely are the swarms of flies.

Mars is due to make its closest visit to Earth for 60,000 years next week and can be clearly seen in the eastern sky. Or put another way it’s the big red blob over the forest - you can’t miss it.

Friday 15^th August - The Day Before

Weatherjack gave it a 5. From Bedford to Birmingham the sky looked just like the textbook illustration of a classic day. I arrived to find Julian looking like the cat that’s had the cream; he’d just completed his first 500 km. Two visitors had flown 500 km from the Mynd; is this the first time this has happened? Welsh Git flew 650 having attempted a 750.

Ian Mac had flown a 500 from Bicester also. He wanted to get one today as his logger failed during the 500 he flew yesterday.

It looks as if we’ll need a bigger 500 km honours board soon.

Nick Swales did 400 km and commented that it just shows how easy it is with the right sort of day. It also shows just how rare the right sort of day is. Or is it simply that 500 kms are getting easier?

As I’m writing this in the car, it’s getting dark and chilly, a good omen for tomorrow?

Saturday 16^th August

Charles Carter opened task week by announcing that the Task Week Trophy would be known as the Alison Rowson Task Week Trophy in memory of Alison.

Once again John Parry (JP) is directing with Nick Heriz-Smith setting the tasks and Dominic Haughton providing the met, assisted by the weather owl. This year he has another hi tech device at his disposal, the piece of string. The forecast is not quite as good as yesterday. Tomorrow sees a passing front so it’s looking promising for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

GNSS outlandings are now allowed for motor gliders from where engine was started. David Rance, Nick and Julian Fack have removed theirs; Nick and Julian because they wanted to. JP states that there won’t be any assigned area tasks as he cannot score them. This doesn’t surprise me as scoring AA tasks is a strange art, known to few, and while JP is a bit of a whizz with computers, he isn’t conversant with reading tea-leaves or throwing the bones.

Nick set a “short” task to get them into the mood; Hereford Racecourse, Towcester, Bidford (to avoid Birmingham airspace), Mynd (309 km).

One terribly important job when crewing for Julian is to see that he has a nice cup of tea to look forward to as soon as he lands. Meg applies a complex mathematical model to working out when to put the kettle on taking into account his start time, average speed and time it takes for the kettle to boil, allowing for reduced gas pressure as the bottle is a bit low. By her reckoning he was 20 minutes late. When he got back he told how he got stuck at one point which held him up for 20 minutes.

Out of 15 gliders to launch, 10 completed with 3 landouts including Paul Shuttleworth in the DG505. Neal Clements was a bit disappointed with his speed; he was the slowest of the finishers.

Dominic asked JP if he infringed the same bit of airspace twice, does it count as only one penalty? Answer No.

Iain “Welsh Git” Evans was first with Julian second. Dominic was third, he would have been first but for airspace penalties.

Sunday 17^th August

Woke up to a strong easterly and unexpected cloud cover, indicating that the front was approaching sooner than had been forecast. Dominic showed various satellite sequences and charts all indicating that the day would deteriorate and so it was scrubbed at briefing. Tuesday and Wednesday are still looking good.

JP announced that he would endeavour to get maggot racing set up in the lounge. Neal Clements immediately announced that it was banned: “Too dangerous!” he said.

Den has found a new niche in life, grass cutting. Earlier Martin was discussing how he could cut “Long Mynd” into the airfield grass and how it might upset some of the more sensitive local souls. Can we fit “www.longmynd.com” along the west face? Den got quite confident with the tractor-towed mower but was a little concerned that it didn’t seem to be cutting terribly well. “Have you tried switching the blades on, Den?” suggested a helpful, if brave, bystander.

I retired to the car to do some writing, put on a CD classical selection and sat back, buried under a laptop, charger and numerous wires. Before long the soporific effect of the warm afternoon sunshine and light breeze take its toll. I shut my eyes and drift off. I hear the familiar opening bars of The Blue Danube; I see a plastic lemonade bottle slowly tumbling and twisting against the sky as it is cast into the air. A space station rotates slowly on its axis as it orbits the earth. Strangely it is shaped just like a lemonade bottle.

John Lewis, Warwick Nuttall and Clive Jones have been experimenting with pressurised lemonade bottle rockets with some impressive results, in one instance all down John’s trousers. The early prototype was a bit unstable. The addition of fins and a ballast tank in the nose improved matters considerably but perhaps the most dramatic development came with the modification of the fins to induce rotation. There are some doubts as to whether the Mynd moon rocket could actually be launched in 45 minutes.

JP finally got his airspace checking program working. The printer was seen spewing out reams of paper. Briefing could be interesting tomorrow.

Meg, Julian, Paul Garnham and I went to the Roebuck at Brimfield, about twenty miles away but well worth it for their fish pie. The numerous stickers in their window listing The Good Food Guide, Which Food Guide etc, say it all. It was raining when we came home.

Monday 18^th August

Woke to a westerly but quite a lot of cloud cover.

At briefing John announced that 6 pilots had infringed airspace and that as a result of closer examination, Dominic has been reinstated to first place as his infringements weren’t as bad as first thought. JP reminded pilots that a second penalty would be doubled and a third quadrupled…

Dominic produced met charts showing a clearance to the west which should give us a window of about 4 hours but with the possibility of considerable high cover. Nick decided to wait and see.

At 1:30 he set Shobdon, Hay on Wye, Leominster, Mynd (121 km).

The low cloud cleared and gave way to a changeable wavy sky which looked good for a short time but soon deteriorated, leaving just high cirrus to the immediate west of the Mynd, but cumulus in the distance.

Only 3 set off. Dominic got back very low on the ridge and had to climb to land, 18 landed out and Julian landed at Shobdon for an aerotow retrieve.Later Chris Harris took the Ventus for a flight without first removing Nick’s camelback. Unfortunately he sat on the nozzle and so experienced the questionable pleasures of an en-suite glider cockpit.

Tuesday 19^th August

Started cold and cloudy but with a clearance forecast. Re-brief at 12:30. A wave task of Shobdon, Halfway House, Presteign (156 km) set. 14 gliders started with 10 passing Y. Only Dominic got round. Several experienced GPS hiccups, in one case due to a dodgey battery lead and flat internal battery.

Some days earlier, Meg spotted the Waterdine Restaurant at Llanfairwaterdine in the Which Good Food Guide. It is one of only 17 in the country to be awarded two stars. When she discovered that Julian had landed about 5 miles away from it she got quite excited (so did I!). The retrieve wasn’t quite as straightforward as we’d hoped as the bridge in the centre of Clun is closed, necessitating a long detour. We missed a sign which meant turning the trailer round and Julian, although on the ground, was still at 1,400 feet amsl.

The Waterdine was special. We realised that on tasting our spritzers; clearly they weren’t made with any old plonk. Our initial impressions were confirmed by a particularly memorable meal, served by friendly staff in a very relaxed environment; despite initial doubts as to whether they could fit us in, there was never any impression that the restaurant was busy or crowded. Worthy of its two stars, this one is definitely worth a visit.

Wednesday 20^th August

The forecast shows a lump of cloud due to reach us by 15:00. Nick initially set O/R Evesham, later revised to Shrewsbury, Shobdon, Mynd (109 km). After several GPS failures yesterday, JP discovered that there are some GPS jamming trials taking place this week.

Chris Ellis (18) lost his GPS part way round but Julian was able to confirm that he had been over Shobdon so he was scored for his first TP. JP points out the you don’t need to start at your comp number in minutes after the Cirrus had called “18, 18” twice this week.

Mac set off in wrong direction; was he trying to go to Shobdon first or heading for Evesham? After prompting he set off on the right task and eventually did it twice, cancelling out his score for the first attempt as soon as he called start on the second. We thought he’d done well until it turned out that he had no GPS signal, no logger trace, and therefore no score.

After Julian launched I returned to the motorhome and had lunch. While washing up, I saw Hazel approaching ominously with a landout form in her hand. “It’s Dominic, he’s at Leebotwood.”

On return he rigged and set off again for a hors concors attempt, not being able to score having already landed out. By 8 o’clock there was still no sign of him. We were getting worried so JP and Nick went off in the motor glider to look for him. His glider was spotted in the field at Myndtown with the canopy cover on; a clear sign that he was OK. An interesting flight for JP, either full throttle or full airbrake. Afterwards he admitted that he could have stood on the edge and looked into the valley. Any excuse!

Mike Witton flew to Bidford for a proper Silver distance in the K8.

The evening saw a good session in the bar with Ian Mac, Dave Crowson and Peter Turner taking turns on guitar and Lembit Opik on harmonica.

Thursday 21^st August

I woke to a noisy westerly (30 knots). The BBC confirmed that they would be coming to film for the Midlands Today regional news program. The bungey rope was brought out and a couple of launches done, but we were launching short west by the time the camera crew turned up.

Nick set Sarnsfield, Mynd, Presteign, Mynd. (138 km), to be flown in wave at height as he was unhappy about landing out in the rough conditions. Additional prizes would be awarded for height gain.

As predicted it started waving and the top cover increased as a warm front encroached from the northwest. David Rance called up that he had contacted at the north end of the Stiperstones and was passing 5,000 feet. At the launch point, Chris Ellis asked Julian if he could fly alongside JGJ so the camera man in the front could film him. While he filmed launch point activity and prepared to fly, he was completely oblivious to the Honourable Member operating the retrieve winch and hauling the cable back.

David Rance called start, the only one to do so. A couple of hours later, with the rain approaching, there was a sizeable gaggle still scratching around on the ridge. Needless to say they were soon on the ground.

Tony Danbury landed out having followed David over to the Stiperstones.

Later, Midlands Today saw its largest ever Mynd audience. After half an hour of local news, mostly dedicated to a footballer’s funeral we were rewarded with about six seconds of closing credits, with Julian consigned to the cutting room floor in favour of the deaths head hawk moth caterpillar.

Whacker is painting the clubhouse and is recruiting help. He’s offered a prize for the greatest area covered. Odds-on favourite is Whacker as he’s likely to cover himself with paint.

Friday 22^nd August

Yesterday was a contest day as David Rance passed Y, scoring 12 points. Indeed he was the only one to score at all. “Tell us why you did it” somebody called out. He also won the prize for height gain, having got above 7,000 feet, beating Nick and Ann Parry. He gave the wine to Tony Danbury for the lowest height gain.

The owl is pink; bad news. It seems that the weekend won’t be much good as we have a front running east west across the country, which isn’t expected to move much during the next couple of days. As expected the day was scrubbed.

The morning saw more development work on the Mynd Space Project with the new 2 litre version and an electric pump. The rocket was a bit unstable at first, but after some fine tuning and pressurisation to 100 psi, it exceeded Monday’s performances handsomely. David Rance, who was sitting outside the motorhome about 100 yards from the launchpad grew quite concerned: it’s a good job he never saw the potato gun which was built a few years ago. A recent news report told of a man in Germany who was arrested on firearms charges for possessing a very similar piece of apparatus.

Julian’s fourteen year old nephew, Sam, who’s an accomplished trials cyclist came up for a flight with Paul Garnham and flew very well. I mention him here because I’ve a feeling that we’ll be seeing more of him in the future.

The ridge worked well all day. The sky looked good for a couple of hours this afternoon but clagged over later with some showers.

Three paraglider pilots came for trial lessons, one stayed for dinner. Meanwhile his wife joined in the painting party and looks a likely bet to win the prize for the greatest area covered; Whacker did cover himself as predicted.

Tomorrow sees the start of the Inter Club league final at Bicester. Julian will go down and fly intermediate on Monday.

Saturday 23^rd August

Whacker presented the painting prize to Roland who painted the greatest area as well as at the greatest altitude (he went up the ladder).

The weather owl is an embarrassed shade of pink, signifying damp air and generally bad news. The east-west front is still there and isn’t expected to move much in the foreseeable future, however the Met office chart shows a mass of clearer air encroaching from the east so there’s hope yet.

Nick set Burley Gate, Sarnsfield, Mynd (112 km).

15 gliders launched, with 7 passing Y and only Nick and David Rance completing, David doing so at 83 kph. When asked how he did it, David replied that he flew on a different day to everyone else.

Logically you might expect that a pilot who completes a task on a difficult day where most competitors have decided not to bother, and of those who have, most have landed out, to be rewarded for his determination and skill with lots of points. With the 1,000 point system this isn’t the case as David had now shown twice this week.

There is a big paragliding competition taking place over the weekend and with the 15 knot westerly it means that there will be 65 duvets taking off onto the ridge during a two hour slot from noon. In spite of giving an undertaking not to drift back over our field, some of them did so, holding up the winch launch for some 20 minutes at one point.

There were many landouts with several near Hereford and four just outside the SAS danger area. Julian soon ingratiated himself with his farmer by helping to repair a damaged sit-on lawnmower.

Dinner at The Feathers at Brockton which was as good as ever. Sam came with us and demonstrated that he can eat every bit as well as he can fly by making short work of the crispy half duck.

Sunday 24^th August

Awoke to find that the valley and Clee hills had disappeared. Nick set two tasks to the east and south which were scrubbed at 1:30, by which time neither the Clees or the Wentnor valley had re-appeared or shown any inclination to do so. Notwithstanding the mist, the steady easterly wind would have made launching the grid difficult.

During morning briefing a poll was taken in which a clear majority competitors indicated that they wanted a scoring task tomorrow. Julian voted against as he is lying in second place - a gnat’s tadger behind Dominic - and due to fly intermediate at Bicester tomorrow. As I will be accompanying him this is the last day of my task week write up.

The T21 was brought out of its box and rigged for the first time in FIVE years having now been taken over by a re-formed syndicate who are keen to get it in the air again. Anyone who has never flown in an open cockpit machine should do so; it is a marvellous experience, especially on a hot day.

So far we are lying second in the Inter Club finals. Today they set 200, 140 and 100 kms for the three classes. The latest satellite picture shows the Welsh marches lying in fog. Everywhere else is clear.

We learned that John Roberts had won the intermediate class at Bicester and Clive Jones was third in novice. The Mynd was lying in third place, just one point behind the joint leaders, Bath and Wilts and Hus Bos.

The mist eventually lifted giving way to a fine -and in the lee of the clubhouse - warm, evening which was, unusually for the Mynd, ideal for the traditional barbecue. Later Eddie and his oompah band entertained us for the evening.

Cartoon by Roland Bailey

Monday 25^th August - Bicester

Alongside the dual carriageway approaching the airfield a patch of scorched grass and hedgerow littered with couple of charred propane bottles bears testimony to a dramatic moment a couple of days ago involving Welsh Git. He came across a blazing van beside the road and stopped to see if anyone was trapped, unaware that there were propane cylinders inside; luckily they didn’t explode. While his attention was diverted a woman drove into his trailer. Fortunately it was built by a reputable manufacturer and so wasn’t badly damaged.

When we arrived at about 9:30 the weather was good for running a half marathon, a cool easterly breeze and no great risk of sunburn. It didn’t show any inclination to change much throughout the morning.

The club is located within a decommissioned RAF station and has a feeling of decay about it, which isn’t surprising as it is due to be closed and built over next year. The facilities are a bit limited and there is one piece of good advice for running in the London Marathon which also applies when visiting Bicester, it is this: bring some loo paper with you!

Briefing seemed a bit surreal with all the machinery and ritual of a regionals and only 15 competitors. Simon Adlard was tasksetter. His met briefing combined with the solid grey firmament outside didn’t stir a great deal of passion. A couple of comments suggest that he is noted as an optimist who won’t scrub the day unless he really has to. He set three tasks, hinting that he may scrub novice and downgrade pundit and intermediate if things don’t improve as hoped for.

At this point it is worth mentioning Russell Cheetham. He is flying pundit for Hus