Twelve teams convened at Lane End car park for this year’s Geoff Peck memorial trophy and were rewarded with fine sunny weather, one ‘belting strong’ signal from Tx B, and a weak but identifiable signal from Tx A which those with more sensitive receivers were able to gain a bearing from.

Half the competitors went for the weak Tx A first. This was located about 18 km from the start in a patch of woodland on the Thames path behind the Dorney rowing centre (scene of some Olympic glory in 2012) and was a fairly long run in from the access points. Ray Goodearl was installed there with about 300 metres of aerial finishing in an inviting clump of thick foliage, and with a nearby barbed wire fence for the earth. The aerial was ‘end-on’ to the start thus causing the muted signal there, but provided healthy strong signals in other directions for subsequent bearings. Rosie Merry was first in here at 3.16 pm and a clutch of other teams followed in quick succession. Sadly, these teams did not make it to Tx B because traffic in Henley, on the ‘obvious route’ to Tx B, had ground to a standstill for some unknown reason.

Min Standen was installed in Tx B on the edge of woodland at Bix, with delightful views over the Chiltern countryside. He had about 200 metres of counterpoise aerial deployed, with a 100 metre aerial terminating on a barbed wire fence in one direction and a 100 metre counterpoise terminating in an earth stake in the other – hence the strong signal to the start, under 10 km away! Father and son competitors Tim and Gary Parker were in here in quick succession just before 3pm, and looked well set for victory. However Graham Jones and his team, despite arriving 20 minutes later at Tx B, managed to make up time between sites and pip them both to the post at the Dorney site.

Teams sat down for a good supper at Wooburn Green afterwards and were pleased to congratulate Graham and his team on their success and to celebrate a new name on the Geoff Peck memorial trophy.

Peter Lisle