Fifteen teams assembled at the start in the car park at Cowleaze Wood. A good signal was heard from station A and a weaker signal from station B but all teams were able to take satisfactory bearings with nobody requiring an approximate bearing.

Station A, operated by Min, was situated in Chinkwell Wood, mid-way between the villages of Brill and Dorton. It was 19km from the start and on a bearing of 340 degrees. Min was using a new DF transmitter which probably explained why this station appeared closer than station B. Station B, operated by Ray, was situated between Little Hampden and Dunsmore, close to the Chiltern Way footpath. It was 15km from the start on a bearing of 55 degrees. Both stations had fairly simple quarter wave aerials in an inverted L configuration making them fairly easy to find, once on site.

The majority of teams set off for station A, possibly thinking it wasn't too far. Peter Lisle arrived first and was just leaving as I got there to take some photographs. Peter had also yomped it from Dorton which was about 1 mile away. Other teams then arrived at regular intervals, most of them coming in from the North, a route I hadn't considered. As I left the site and plodded back up the hill to Brill, I met a couple of teams who had come from station B and so were on their second station. As I got back to my car, I received a text from Min to say that Alan had been in to him and was probably the winner. I set off for station B and once on site met a few teams who were on their way out, having clocked in. As I got close to station B, Andy came running past and managed to find Ray with about 1 minute to spare. His highlight of the afternoon was taking a bearing near Chequers and being stopped by the police because of his suspicious activities!

Probably, the best way to have done this event was station B followed by station A. All teams managed to find station A and 11 teams found station B. After weeks of rain, the weather finally improved for the weekend and although the ground was very wet in places, the afternoon was dry and sunny.

An excellent tea was provided by Alan's wife and her sisters and daughters in the Risborough Community Centre. There was a small hiccup with the new clocks which meant I couldn't give the full results on the day but the problem was sorted and the full results are below. We did know the first 6 places at the time so Alan and Steve, both competing on their own, were able to tell the rest of the field how they did it.

John Mullins