British win at Orientshow

[The Loofa]

Congratulations to Dave Schorah (SHUOC) on his win in the men's class at yesterday's Orientshow in Lille. Dave was always amongst the favourites having come top in 2 or the 4 qualifying races on Saturday. Then on Sunday morning he won his quarter-final and semi-final with steady controlled runs. But with just 13 seconds covering the semi-final times of the 4 finalists the final was always going to be close. Dave took an early lead but the others were tucked in behind. Butterfly loops then took the finalists each out on their own - so Dave was able to open a 75m lead by the end of butterflies. But the it was into the labyrinth - a slight hesitation plus the chance for the others to see what he was doing closed the gap significantly. However Dave then kept his nerve over the closing stages and finished with 25m over his closest pursuer. He was then presented with a large number of prizes to take back to Sheffield.

Dave then anchored a SLOW team with Alan and Di Leakey to come 4th in the relay just missing a podium plave by virtue of one too many 30 second penalties for a mis-punch. 5 other SLOW members were there for the weekend but finished amongst the also-rans.

As everyone there could run the semis and final after the real races we could all pack in 9 races in all (the relay and a relay qualifier making up that total). I punched 377 controls in my 9 runs. Total running time about 58 minutes meant my average leg split was nine seconds - Dave's must have been under seven.

If you haven't a clue what this sort of race is look out for some video clips that should go on the SLOW website soonish or google Orientshow and look for the Youtube clip.

[JennyJ]

if you want to have a go at something similar come to Cliffhanger on July 12th - Millhouses Park, Sheffield. More details soon on the SYO website...