Barcombe Beating of the Bounds
Event date: 03 July 2010

Photo courtesy of the Sussex Express, Editor Rupert Taylor
Can you spot the detective inspector?      

Results

On the Saturday morning, thankfully not quite as hot as the previous few days, 10 Teams set off in 2 minute intervals on their Mountain Bike’s on the first section of the route which roughly follows the Parish Boundary. It is around 18 miles in total and following the Mountain Biking there were sections for dog walking/running, cycling, horse-riding, two running sections, boating and finally running in a costume (national for a world cup team) carrying a pint of liquid! As they progressed a sash with a pocket, in the colour of their team, was passed from one participant to another and they collected letters from a 16 Marshall’s strategically placed along the route. There were effectively 5 competitions – fastest around the route, Mountain Bike skill course (for the Mountain Bike participants when they had finished their section), best costume, amount of liquid left on the last section, and order of completion of sentence from all the letters collected on the route as well as at the finish. The results were as follows:

TEAM TEAM TOTAL ROUTE TIME BIKE SKILL FLUID LEVEL COSTUME SENTENCE                 So Sussex 81 48 2.09 10 3 10 10 Football 75 60 1.59 4 8 1 2 Police 73 54 2.06 8 1 3 7 Cornwell’s 65 36 2.17 7 9 5 8 Tennis 58 42 2.14 1 4 8 3 Bridgelands 52 24 2.31 5 10 9 4 Church 50 30 2.27 3 2 6 9 Drama 46 18 2.34 9 6 7 6 Belles 34 12 2.42 6 62 4 5 Arch’s 16 6 2.50 2 5 2 1

As can be seen So Sussex were the winning team despite not being the fastest around the route, and this was because they did very well in the other competitions. The route time was modified for two teams – Cornwells had an additional 10 minutes added to their time due to their boat getting “lost”, and the Bridgelands Team received a time credit due to delay in taking the sash for the Archaeologist Team where the rider had to retire. It was all good fun and here’s to the next one in 5 or 6 years time!

 

Thank you's

This event could not have been held without the army of helpers who volunteered their services. So lots of special thank-you’s:

• For all the Marshalls who stood and waited for the Teams to pass and hand out a letter, and especially Paul Trower who carried out the Start and Finish and also ensured that the logistics were kept on track;
• The Anchor Inn for the very kind use of their boats;
• All the Landowners for the use of their land where not public footpath;
• So Sussex for providing the Mountain Bike Course and Sue Seymour for the judging;
• Marina and Keith Hollis for the Costume judging;
• Claire Skinner for the judging of the “Liquid Level” and Mary Duncan for organising it to start with (and also for producing all the glorious coloured letters that were collected);
• Andrew Pearce for marking out the two running sections, which took him around 6 hours, and for collecting all the markers afterwards!
• Regency Coaches for the use of one of their vehicles for transport;
• Alan Cannings for providing a PA to talk everyone through what was happening as the morning and event unfolded;
• The WI for their stall and raising £64.50 towards the New Village Hall Fund;
• The Scouts for providing refreshments and the Drama Group for the “Fun” Stall and particularly for Gregor Smith for providing a such a good face to throw at;
  Police for providing the “Go Slow” signs;
• Last but not least for all the Team Leaders for entering and organising a Team and for all the participants for being such sports;

My sincere apologies if I have missed anyone from this list.

A total of £110 was collected from the entry fee and this will also go to the New Village Hall Fund.

Jim Skinner Tel: 01273 400920