Reg Porter Competition Round 1 : Tourist Trail
Sunday 10th November 2013
A bright sunny day greeted our contestants, but with a distinct nip in the air I was glad I wasn't going to have to fumble with pencil and paper out on the road. Twelve plucky souls (plus Nico along for the ride) assembled for the 9 o'clock start with Mr McGuckin noticeably keen to hare off before anyone could grab his wheel and take advantage of his navigational skills as per the norm on a Sunday morning. Only Graham Jeffs took the time to consider the challenge before clipping in so it was little surprise to me that the first competitors I should come across, as I set off to enjoy the roads less travelled, were him and the late-starting John Miller desperately seeking Potters Green. Ahead at the junction with the A272 I encountered a more confident Paul Gibbons, then John again in a valley as I headed back towards Blackboys. Beyond there I saw but Micky T, Terry (& Nico) at Lions Green before I assumed my seat by the door in the Dicker cafe.
Terry arrived with 10 minutes to spare having obviously given in to the cold judging by his half-finished answer sheet, but he had picked up Midgo by way of consolation. I counted them all out and I counted them all back with only Mr Miller incurring a penalty for lateness to the tune of 5 minutes. To his credit, whether he guessed it or not, he was the only one to get the Hale Green sign that had no other mileage references to help, but also the only one to fail to bag the Palehouse Common sign 50metres from his home! Nobody ever did find the sign for Potters Green nor follow me through Chalvington where they would have found the sign for Ripe. Worst guess was more likely a misreading or misunderstanding as, even at the pace he rides, I doubt Rob P was at any point 17 miles from Hawkhurst Common; he was however clearly the only one to make it as far South as Arlington Reservoir and yet somehow returned to the Dicker without logging the sign 500 yards from the finish, although 3 others failed here also!
As evidenced by the closeness of the final scores, and the similarity in their answers, several of our competitors almost certainly rode together and their strategy may well have paid off had they a) not been delayed helping Dr Stu heal a puncture, or b) managed a single correct guess amongst them. As it was the man with the winning combination of local knowledge and hard-riding ability was Mr Gibbons, just pipping Ian McG + Mr Jeffs, with the awesome foursome a further point behind. Without his time penalty Mr Miller would have been mid-table and not left Rob adn Micky quite so well placed ahead of the free-wheeling. Chairman Slow failed to cover himself in glory, but was still pondering whether the marks for the Tourist Rail should be weighted next year in light of it's demands, and at least he took part and is thus still in the running for this.
1st Paul Gibbons 13
=2nd Graham Jeffs 12
=2nd Ian McGuckin 12
=4th Stuart Anderson 11
=4th Brett Davis 11
=4th Alan Lloyd 11
=4th Mark Longhurst 11
=8th Rob Pelham 6
=8th Micky Turner 6
10th Terry Everest 5
11th Chris Martin 3
12th John Miller 2*
* including 5 points deducted for lateness.
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