"We are the champions! We are the champions!"

Yes, I do believe that to be the case!

I haven't got the full results but I know what happened, more or less.

Men's Individual Winner - Ed Catmur (OUOC) 63mins??, just pipping Alan Elder by about 13secs. He would admit that it wasn't the best run of his life, but it definitely got the job done. Well done Ed!!

Women's Individual Winner - Pippa Whitehouse (OUOC) 64mins, deciding that it would be fun to put some real distance (6mins?) between herself and her nearest Tab rival. What made this all the more impressive is that Pippa was bed-ridden only a week ago, and still hasn't recovered properly.

Men's Team Winners - Oxford. Think the winning time was about 1min30s, which was a bit fine. A great run from Tom Cochrane put himself only a couple of minutes behind Ed. A pretty average run by myself brought me home in a time of 80mins, just pipping a galant effort by an injured Ollie O'Brien. In times of 83mins?? and 90mins, Huw Arthur and Chris Millard showed the strength in depth of the Oxford team.

Women's Team Winners - Oxford. The girls showed their quality with a much more convincing performance, winning by a 12min? margin. Rachael Holmes steered her team in the right direction with a solid run of 73mins-ish??, with Becky Carlyle completing proceedings in a time of late 70s.

Beer Race Winners - ??? Cambridge??? What went on here I hear you say! Well, consensus was that CUOC managed to claim the victory with only 5 members in their team. However, the clearly superior Oxford team at this point were half way through their penultimate pint, with the training and experience from the previous year coming back with avengence. The combined JOK/DRONGO team were left well behind, though probably progressing much more rapidly than CUOC. It must be noted that the bronze jugs acquired by OUOC really gave this contest a majestic quality. The trophy was handed over to CUOC with little protest as most felt sorry for them because of the serious beating they had just been given in the forests of the North York Moors.

And yes, according the club statistician, this was the first occasion that OUOC have ever picked up both the individual and team prizes in both the men's and women's categories. Congratulations to all who attended, as this was definitely a team effort, with the hard work of the past year paying dividends, like never before. Many thanks to Cath Ashton who organised affairs and to everyone from JOK & DRONGO who were there!! I'm sure it won't take long until someone volunteers to organise next year's event ;-)

.. and how can I forget to mention that Alex Rothman managed to get the fastest time on both the A and B courses! 50mins for the A course, and something a bit slower on the B course. Sorry mate!

And I've also stuck the Beer race photos on Ollie's webpage. Tim, you look like a man possessed!

Matt Dillingham - A very chuffed OUOC Pres :-D

I hope you all had safe journeys home yesterday, and have recovered from the evil relay run-in!

I have a few thank-yous to say, to everyone who helped make the weekend so enjoyable: first of all to my mum who provided all the food (especially the cakes and flapjack!) and helped run the start (I hope her chatting on the start line wasn't too distracting!) Also, my sister's help was invaluable, giving up her half-term holiday to hang and collect controls, bag maps, sort out start lists and man the finish … Steve also deserves a big thank-you for all his help in checking my controls, moving the one(s) that had been slightly mis-placed, and generally keeping me sane over the last few weeks!

Finally thanks to: all the control collectors, Mark, Alex and Viv for driving to the pub, Loz for helping on the start, and you lot for tidying up the hall, not moaning about the control that was on the wrong edge of the marsh (sorry Pippa!) and not getting too angry about the missing O signs from Pickering (sorry JOKers!). (Hope I haven't forgotten anybody!)

I have just two pieces of property, which were left at the hall yesterday: a green Marmot jacket and a green Sigg bottle. Give me a call to arrange to get these back somehow (01904 762541).

I hope I've proved that not all North Yorks. forests are dull and full of brambles and that North Yorks. moorland can have some interesting bits…. See you at next year's event if not before!

Cathxx

Team Results
	MEN	OUOC	CUOC	JOK	DRONGO
	1st	01:02:27	01:02:46	00:56:17	01:07:56
	2nd	01:05:56	01:06:16	01:03:48	01:18:38
	3rd	01:20:23	01:18:30	01:31:48	01:29:28		NO FINISHER
	4th	01:20:43	01:23:39	01:33:56	02:30:00
	WOMEN
	1st	01:04:39	01:10:07	02:30:00	01:12:29
	2nd	01:11:19	01:16:07	02:30:00	01:29:29
	3rd	01:17:11	01:19:14	02:30:00	02:30:00
	TOTALS
	Men	04:49:29	04:51:11	05:05:49	06:26:02
	Women	03:33:09	03:45:28	07:30:00	05:11:58
	Total	08:22:38	08:36:39	12:35:49	11:38:00
		1st	2nd	2nd	1st