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Organised by Chris Plummer
| This year the weather turned out to be quite traditional, it had snowed. As last year, the start was Teggs Nose, just NW of Macclesfield Forest, and Chris had scouted out a wood just at the base of the hill, hoping that most competitors would overshoot by quite a way then have to climb up the hill again. However on the day he couldn't get his car to the car park by the lake, and had to abandon it in Langley Village, and proceed up the snow covered road in his wife's car, a 4WD Imprezza Sport (loves the snow, can get anywhere, but stopping it again is the same problem as any other car), and as Clive absolutly refused to sit in the snow and cold under a bush, Chris had arranged some slight subterfuge in that his neice was to sit in Ann's car with Clive to give some camoflage (and to get on with her revision for GCSEs). I don't know what came over Clive, it was only -8º C. With a further slight wind chill down in the valley, the ground would be frozen, but then so would his bum. |  |
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With Dave Chippendale snowed in, and John Jocys attending to his burst boiler, only two teams turned up at the start, Chris Heys, and a welcome return for Dave Holland, sweating away in our mid-winter heat having popped home from Spitsbergen for Christmas. Due to the cold (wind chill down to -15º C), Chris Plummer let them drive down off the hill the long way round through Macclesfield to avoid the ice on the steep way. Bearings taken near the Leather Smithy sent them back to the foot of the hill, but they also had traction problems on the snow with Chris's Fiat Bravo. After having beaten up a Range Rover at the dam, Chris Heys spotted the Impreeza and thought "Plummer's Ann has an Imprezza - the crafty devil!" so a 50 yard charge ensured and the fitness from cross country skiing overcame fitness from cross country running, with Dave Holland beating Chris Heys by seconds. |
| The morning ended with Giles being pelted with snow balls by all of us, as he couldn't resist the stuff. See picture "in flagrenti delecto" or words to that effect "caught in the act". The Leather Smithy pub wasn't open so we decamped to Sutton Hall for several foaming pints of hand pulled Abbot Ale and a good lunch. |  |
Chris Plummer
