The Loughborough clubs Scalford venue is well known for being a fairly daunting place when wet, and after 3 days of consistent rain in the region it was of little surprise when a number of regulars stayed in the dry to watch the F1/Moto GP fest on TV. However nearly 40 hardy souls faced the morning (in an assortment of waterproofs and anything else to try to stay dry and clean!) and more importantly 10 hardy observers were found to man the sections. The course plotters had been well aware of the forecast and so had taken conditions into account and as the scores show once again a perfect mix of challenge and enjoyment was achieved.
Only 3 riders signed up for the hard route and those sections with cross camber turns on descents proved to be the challenge for these guy's. Adam Brown and Mark Harris had a titanic struggle all day with Adam just sneaking the victory by a mark but as the scores show each had different sections that caught them for the big marks so a great ride by both in some difficult conditions. A slightly bigger entry tried the 50/50 but regular winner Pete Jones once again showed all the way round. Only the steep drop and turn with a red flag just in the wrong place on section 6 being watched over very carefully by Roland Slack causing Pete problems.
The middle route was as always the biggest section of the entry which is why the club tries to focus on delivering Clubman friendly trials, and Young Tom Spencer and not quite so young Nigel Wilson both found it to their liking with Tom just getting there by 2 marks. Phil Roe and Andy Butt battled for third with Phil just getting the nod on most cleans, Andy having an uncharacteristic 5 over the rocks of section 7 which saw both bike and rider wrapped in trees, just they happened to be on different sides of the section!
The club were very happy to see Keith Radley not only back on a bike after major illness over the last year, but also victorious on the White route from Nick Burton on his trusty Fantic in second and Simon Dumbrell in third.
The observers were the heroes of the day, all braving the constant rain and drizzle, except for Gary Shield who sat in a blacked out Range Rover Sport looking more like he was keeping records of deals he was doing than marks his section was taking!