The contest started from the Lightwater Country Park where 9 teams assembled and, for possibly the first time in DF history, neither station could be heard from the start. I wasn't surprised that station B was weak as we hadn't been able to get any height on the aerial but I expected station A to reach the start.
Station A was sited on St.Martha's Hill, a few km South East of Guildford, NGR 027485. Station B was in a small copse south of Church Crookham, near Fleet, NGR 815514.
At around 1420, team Lisle was heard approaching but then they seemed to go away. Another transmission at around 1425 seemed to bring other teams into the area although nobody came in on the transmission. First in was Alan, who crashed through a load of holly bushes, closely followed by Andrew Mead and shortly after that Justin appeared and summoned Graham Phillips who clocked in at 1432. Further transmissions eventually brought in Peter Lisle and Rosie at just after 1440. 5 teams clocked in. After that it all went quiet until around 1500 when another team could be heard in the vicinity. This was team Parker who spent a considerable time walking around the site, then disappearing before eventually clocking in at 1514. 6 teams clocked in. I assumed that the other 3 teams would be making this the second station. Wrong! Another competitor could be heard at around 1545 and I assumed that this was a potential winner but a phone call from Colin Boyce told me that this was Graham Jones on his first station. A couple more transmissions brought him in at 1550. 7 teams in. After the 1600 transmission I transmitted quite frequently and eventually 2 teams could be heard trying to find the site. Both tried to come in through some very thick Hawthorn bushes but were eventually persuaded to take a less painful route to the transmitter. All 9 teams clocked in by 1622.
The contest was blessed with near perfect DF weather, dry, sunny and not too hot, a complete contrast to only 3 days earlier when we put up the aerials in snow.
John Mullins
| Position | Competitor | Finish | Time A | Time B |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alan Simmons | 15:18:36 | 15:18:36 | 14:31:10 |
| 2 | Andrew Mead | 15:27:21 | 15:27:21 | 14:31:15 |
| 3 | Peter Lisle | 15:31:35 | 15:31:35 | 14:41:31 |
| 4 | Graham Phillips | 15:33:08 | 15:33:08 | 14:32:40 |
| 5 | Gary Parker | 16:12:58 | 16:12:58 | 15:14:40 |
| 6 | Rosie Merry | 16:14:42 | 16:14:42 | 14:42:43 |
| 7 | Paul Clark | 16:20:35 | 15:23:44 | 16:20:35 |
| 8 | Bill Pechey | 16:22:21 | 14:56:34 | 16:22:21 |
| 9 | Graham Jones | 15:49:42 | - | 15:49:42 |