Checkendon is back!

On the weekend of March 18/19th a hoard of NATBs descended onto the Checkendon Challenge arena for a weekend of fun and frolics.

It was an opportunity to catch up with friends and meet new members.

As always, and with a bit of help from Cliff, Sally, Roy and Emma the trail was looking amazing, having been leaf blown and raked the normal roots and holes were exposed to ensure any falls were easily blamed to poor eye sight!
This course is always a favourite, on private land, 5k of twists and turns single track, small obstacles and no public!

As always the NATBs camped near the wonderful Team SHWA and we once again were lucky to be included and treated to a wonderful feast of food due to our affiliation with them. Kerrie is our hero!

So who was there and what happened?

The following 16 members rocked up and put on an excellent show!

Cliff Tarrant, Sally Tarrant, Eleanor Tarrant, Matt West, Sarah Love, Isobel Powys, Emma Giles, Roy Giles, Hannah Giles, Mary Forster, Julie Graham, Danielle White, Helene Pettitt, Gary Oke, Lucy Matthews and Emily Thomas.

Covering off every discipline it was so much fun, and a tad hectic, helping everyone start, finish and recover! The bikejor classes had 45 entrants and scooter over 20 - massive classes!

With various dramas and funny moments one deserves a special mention, this being Izzys wonderful chair tumble, pulled over by the smallest dog in the field - AKA Aggie the wonder terrier x spaniel! We were treated to a tug of war content between some of our dog athletic team members,  it was great to watch the tenacity of the dogs, determined to not let go of their toy!

Once again we showed our true club spirit supporting each other and having fun, we are hugely looking forward to the April event, only 2 weeks to go!!

Results

Bikejor Female
Emily Thomas - 10th place
Lucy Teal - 17th place
Sally Tarrant - 19th place - I have to however mention here that Sally's run with Vinnie the wonder beagle (also known as Jesus) was rudely halted on Saturday due to crow scarers making extremely loud noises. On Sunday however Vinnie (AKA Jesus) put in a sterling run pulling Sally round to finish with the biggest smile of the weekend. Based on their Sunday time they would have actually finished around 12th if the Saturday race had been completed - go Sally and Vin!

Bikejor Male
Cliff Tarrant - 3rd place
Matt West - 7th place
Lee Drury - 9th place (honorary member for the weekend!!)

Scooter Female
Emma Giles - 9th place - the woos showing that their long distance trekking is paying off, putting in a performance of hugely fast pure trek speed! Sunday time only being slightly faster due to being bribed by mini cheddars!!

Scooter Male
Gary Oke - 5th place

Female Canicross F1
Julie Graham - 6th place
Lucy Teal - 10th place
Emily Thomas - 12th place
Hannah Giles - 13th place
Mary Forster - 15th place - Mary however was replaced by Emma last minute due to Mary being unwell.The lovely Aggie decided to sniff a lot, try and follow the other dogs under the tape and was generally having a marvelous time! It was a lot of fun and Emma and Aggie bonded! 

Female CanicrossVF1
Helene Pettitt - 2nd place
Isobel Powys - 9th place
​Sarah Love - 12th place

Male V1 canicross
Gary Oke - 4th place