Well what a weekend! Sunday was the day of the Napton TREC competition in Warwickshire, the first event to be run by the organising committee that I formed just over two months ago. I spent Saturday generally running around doing a good impression of a chicken after an incident with a guillotine! Endless mounds of paperwork had to be photocopied, score sheet clipboards had to be collated and the merry band of helpers had to build the PTV course.
Mid afternoon I shot off armed with metres of bailer twine to complete one last check of the route. Julian Brown came along to act as a portable horse holder and I was very glad of his company as his 16hh team chaser picked up Wiz's usual hacking snail pace quite nicely. We returned to the venue in rather a hot and sticky state to join the guided course walk half way through. Julian and I demonstrated a few of the obstacles but Wiz, typically, chose that moment to show me up by trotting out of the led corridor and even bringing a branch down in the low branches – not quite the performance I hope to put in when competing! In true TREC style after the guided course walk we had an evening party and got to know the three girls who'd come all the way from Holland to compete!
Sunday morning continued where Saturday had left off. Last minute alterations were made to the PTV course whilst I set up the map room and got organised for the start of the POR phase. Throughout the day a wonderful band of volunteers arrived and I duly sent them into position. I can't express how grateful I am to every single person; all 31 people turned up on time, received my rather manic instructions and then completed their jobs without complaint. Thanks to all!
We had roughly 40 riders taking part across the classes and with the shortening evenings we'd been careful to allow everyone plenty of time to get back to the venue before darkness. A spot of tactical adjustments to the running order also allowed me to put experienced competitors at the front and back of the classes, both to teach the judges as they went and to sweep up any less experienced competitors who might have gone astray! Despite my cunning plan a few competitors still went walkabout but I'm pleased to report that all found the finish and returned to the venue in good time before darkness.
My wonderful scorers had been hard at work in front of the computer all day number crunching and they turned out the scores impressively quickly, allowing the prize giving to start before too many of the competitors had departed for home. I am really pleased with how well the event went on the day and am so grateful to everyone who helped out. Now I just need to try and catch up on a bit of sleep!