British Bulldog Spirit
FVO rocked home three champions on a fine day for racing at the British Champs in North Yorkshire. No MittelEuropean supernaturals or brooding anti-heroes were detected, but the posse did its very best on an open and exposed terrain (think Dumyat without the views).
Hannah Inman turned last year's W12 silver into a 2024 gold, as she led out the youngsters for a finish time of 22.52, and victory margin of over three minutes. James Hammond had an early wakeup call in M18E, as he was nearly six minutes off the pace at the first radio control. Normal service was renewed though as he roared back into contention, coming home in 81.33 for his fifth British title in six attempts.
One name missing from the M21E start list this year was Graham Gristwood, who elected to take his place in the M40 field instead, and he glided his way to a 34th gold medal in a major race, a time of 65.52 proving to be over ten minutes better than the next finisher.
Jason Inman, in his final year in the class, came within a minute of defending his M50 title, but was run off into silver (67.44), while Beccy Osborn had an identical place in the W50 race (84.22), winning the silver for a 2nd straight year. Roger Goddard's big race consistency shone through again, and he nabbed the M50 bronze behind Jason, and Hazel Dean, in her favourite event (11 medals in 22 years isn't too shabby) took the W60 bronze in 73.55 to demote Alison Cunningham from the medal standings.
There were three more medals in the short/B courses, with a W10B silver for Lucy Finch, and short course 45 bronzes for both Jack Cheyne and Liz Owen. Off the podiums, Alison Cunningham equalled her event best of 4th, a position also taken by Scarlett Kelly in W16A, Sam Hunt was 6th In M18E, one place above Lindsey Hensman (W75), while a 9th for Chris Kelly in M50L, a 12th for Peter Owen in M16A and a 14th for Paul Hammond in M45L were also PBs.
Other entries categorised under: Success