2016 Collier Cup Round 4

01 July 2016

It was another pleasant evening with no rain so the competitors were in a good mood. There was a slight dampening of spirits when the signal at the start was very poor. An approximate bearing was given although most heard a weak signal. My rough bearing was about 70 degrees and the approximate was 125 degrees. I'm glad we got the approximate or I would have been on the wrong map.

I decided to take the M40 one junction and pulled into a layby near Little Marlow where I found that Alan had already parked. The signal was much stronger and indicated somewhere near Wooburn Green. The next bearing put him in the woodland near Littlewick Green. That area is very difficult and there are very few footpaths and even fewer places to park. Much of the woodland is surrounded by high fences and officious notices. While driving round a block of woodland I kept meeting Brian. Eventually we all parked up at each end of a footpath; I was at the eastern end and everyone else at the western end. Most of the area was a private dwelling with high fences around it but there was a good-sized area of classic DF territory with lots of mature rhododendrons.

It soon became clear that Peter was in a very large clump of the stuff and several of us were thrashing around for some time with no clear idea of where to go. Eventually I saw a blue glow which I later discovered was the LCD display on the transmitter. Then I saw Peter and was surprised when he said that I was the first in. The rest came in quite quickly although I don't think I gave the game away.

We then retired to the Queen and Albert at Wooburn Green where it was still warm enough to sit outside. We used Roger's new clock technology on the event and everything worked well.

Thanks to Peter for a suitably frustrating event.

Bill Pechey

Competitor Time Adj. Time Time Diff. Score Bill North
Bill Pechey 20:57:29 20:57:29 00:00:00 -5 10
Alan Simmons 20:59:06 20:59:06 00:01:37 3 6
Steve Stone 21:00:14 21:00:14 00:02:45 5 4
Graham Phillips 21:01:07 21:01:07 00:03:38 7 3
John Mullins 21:02:39 21:02:39 00:05:10 10 2
Brian Bristow 21:05:23 21:05:23 00:07:54 13 1
Peter Lisle op - - - 4