2009 National Qualifier No.8

06 September 2009

14 teams took part in the Coventry DF hunt, the last of this year’s qualifying events. It was good to see John Drakeley competing again after many years absence. The teams started at the lay-by/picnic area off the A421, 2 km east of Buckingham, where good signals were heard from both transmitters.

Station A, G4CFG/P, was hidden in Maidford Wood approximately 23 km from the start at a bearing of 330 degrees. The aerial at this site was 4 wires arranged in a cross, connected at the centre, with the transmitter tapped into one of the legs. Brian Bristow was the first of the competitors who tackled this station first, clocking in at 14.42 - some competitors had greater difficulty than Brian finding the transmitter and clocked in some time behind. Of the second group, Graham Nicholls led the way with others following quickly behind – time was beginning to run out by then. Commiserations must go to Colin Merry and Matthew Clark who ran out of time by 37 seconds and 1 minute 15 seconds respectively – so near yet so far as they say.

Station B, G4KZU, was hidden in a hedgerow along a footpath running from Olney to Clifton Reynes approximately 24 km from the start at a bearing of 45 degrees. This station used a simple long wire aerial running along the footpath, with the transmitter ‘teed’ in part way along.

This being the final round of the qualifying events meant that the winner of the Rose Bowl would be decided. It was a three horse race between Peter Lisle, Brian Bristow and Steve Stone, either of which could, mathematically, have won. However, the eventual winner was Peter Lisle narrowly beating Brian by 2 points.

An excellent tea was served after the event at Blisworth Village Hall by the Lineham family - many thanks to them for their service once again.

Graham Nicholls qualified for the National Final.

George Whenham

Position Competitor Finish Time A Time B
1 Brian Bristow 15:33:05 14:42:15 15:33:05
2 Peter Lisle 16:01:16 14:53:47 16:01:16
3 Geoffrey Foster 16:01:29 14:50:06 16:01:29
4 Graham Phillips 16:01:35 14:45:25 16:01:35
5 Graham Jones 16:19:14 14:51:06 16:19:14
6 John Mullins 16:20:26 15:00:34 16:20:26
7 Graham Nicholls 16:23:51 16:23:51 14:39:11
8 Tim Parker 16:24:19 16:24:19 15:08:17
9 Steve Stone 16:24:33 16:24:33 14:38:42
10 Roy Emeny 16:24:59 16:24:59 14:42:46
11 Colin Merry 14:45:24 - 14:45:24
12 Mark Coventry 15:15:53 15:15:53 -
13 Matthew Clark 15:22:01 - 15:22:01