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Lakeland Lanequest Event 2 Report

Another Gibbs and Jackson win in solo classes.  

EVENT 2 REPORT – THE MANOR HOUSE INN– OXEN PARK:  TUESDAY 12TH JUNE

This week’s planner Carol McNeil, known to all Lanequesters as the series originator, devised a testing and hilly course centred around the Manor House, Oxen Park. With the dreaded climb of Brandrake Head and the open slopes around Great Burney to the west, and the Rusland Valley to the east- including 10 gates to open and close, there was as usual plenty of head scratching at the start as the 124 competitors sought to find an optimum route linking as many of the 30 control points as they could visit inside the 2-hour time limit.

It was a beautiful summer’s evening in prospect, in classic lanequesting territory- quiet wooded lanes, narrow unfrequented and often gated roads. Rachel Toyn summed it up:” the cotton grasses up on the moors and the beautiful sky were just sublime. Amazing views out to sea and north to the Coniston range of hills as well. Wow aren’t we lucky to get to ride our bikes in such a wonderful place!”

For winner Tom Gibbs it was a perfect evening- “great views, nice hills and impeccably placed controls. Best part was the woodland road with the sun out, worst part the drag into the headwind to get there! For those with the event map, this was Tom’s winning route: 6,7,5,3,1,2,4,9,8,11,12,10,30,29,28,24,26,24,23,22,20,19,25,18,17,16,15,14,21,13

Last year’s series champion Helen Jackson proved her racing pedigree once again with victory on the women’s’ solo class- leaving Sally Ozanne and Jo Cleary tied in second place, Haverthwaite resident Cleary using her local knowledge to good effect: “I headed west first, for two reasons. I wanted to get the dreaded Bandrake Head (which wasn’t easy to avoid if you were going for 15+ controls) out the way early on”, she commented afterwards.

Event 2 results:

Solo Men- Tom Gibbs 302 points; David Heffernan 290, David Sproston 286

Solo Women-: Helen Jackson 252 points;  Jo Cleary 250/ Sally Ozanne 250 points

Generation Pairs- Ben and Sam Oldham 140 points

Adult Pairs/3’s-Gareteh Thomas/Mark Fishwick 262 points; Ben and Lee Proctor 260 point

For full results and series details:  https://www.wheelbase.co.uk/about-us/events/lakeland-lanequest-2018/

This week’s chosen Charity was Oxen Park Reading Room, with funds going towards its total refurbishment to create a community venue to benefit the residents and visitors to the area .