Droobers regain the Laurie Bradley Trophy
Droobers regained the trophy on a rather soggy Pooley Country Park on New Year’s day beating holders Wrekin into 2nd place. The trophy is a unique event in the annual calendar as it is run over a single course with a mass start and a 60-minute time limit. The scores of the top 25 competitors for each club are used to arrive at the club score.
The start is always interesting since the runners have varying strategies, some stand and plan their routes while others tear off in different directions. With time penalties for being late finishing, route planning is key to make sure that runners complete the maximum number of controls for their ability. The post-event discussions on route choice prove almost as interesting as watching the apparently haphazard starting techniques.
As well as winning the trophy overall, special congratulations to Droobers runner Will Gardner was the fastest overall completing all 27 controls in an amazing time of just under 30 minutes, around 6 minutes quicker than the 2nd placed runner. Congratulations to the other 24 Droober counters and also to the other club competitors who all helped to reduce the scores of other clubs.