23rd Founders' Challenge Results
Here are the Results of the 23rd Founders Challenge held on the 5th October 2019
https://www.ldwa.org.uk/results/full_results.php?event_id=221
And here is the Report by the Organiser Gordon Parker
Report of the 23rd Founders Challenge 5th October 2019
The 23rd Founders Challenge proved to be an enjoyable and successful day out for the 135 finishers. The weather – cool, still and dry – was near perfect (personally I like a bit of sunshine to bring out the best in the autumnal forest colours and the stunning, wide views).
The new base at St Catherine’s Village Hall on the southern edge of Guildford worked well. Participants using public transport could walk in on an attractive route by the Wey Navigation. Drivers parked at the Artington Park+Ride and walked in; a shuttle service by Pete Colley got late finishers back to their cars.
At the Finish, we heard nothing but praise for the new routes with some old hands pleased to discover new perspectives as a result of the reversed direction. The email from Richard Ireson quoted below sums up the comments we received.
Peaslake as Checkpoint 1 and the completely new venue of Shere Village Hall as Checkpoint 3 also worked well. Only Checkpoint 2 at Tanners Hatch YH is now in the open air; we can if we wish offer hot drinks from all three CPs
.
The meal at the end provided by Hillys, a local family-run catering business, proved very popular and made our catering task much simpler.
By the time online entries had closed we were expecting 185 people and subsequently I received several late enquiries about entering on the day, together with 4 withdrawals, so it was a disappointment that we had so many No Shows and only 2 entries On The Day. 140 people started but 2 runners suffered a sprained ankle 2 miles from the start and returned to retire effectively before they had begun; 1 person retired at each of the checkpoints (and we received an email from the last person to retire emphasising how much he had enjoyed the event!).
Of the 140 starters, all but 17 were LDWA members:
19 mile walk 50 aged 13 to 84 finished in 4h44 to 8h43
30 mile walk 60 22 to 78 7h11 to 10h19
30 mile run 28 34 to 65 4h42 to 9h24
The members came from:
London 25 N Yorks 2
Surrey 30 W Yorks 2
Thames Valley 14 High Peak 2
Kent 13 E Lancs 2
Sussex 9 Dorset 2
Beds, Bucks & Nthants 9 1 each from Wessex, Heart of England,
Essex & Herts 7 Marches, Cumbria, S Pennines,
Anytime Anywhere and The Irregulars
Non-members came from Surrey (5), London (3), Hants (3), Berks (2), and 1 each from Kent, Wiltshire, Devon and Scotland.
A BIG Thank You to the 25 marshals without whom the event cannot proceed: their welcoming, friendly support has been appreciated by participants reporting their enjoyment of the event; they will be name-checked in the report to the AGM.
Founders Challenge 2019 THE PHOTOGRAPHS
A selection of photographs taken by Eric Rolfe