This year's OMM was held in the Elan valley in Mid Wales, offering south west competitors unusually easy access. The weather was mixed but fairly benign, particularly after last year's severe gales and serious flooding in Borrowdale; it was breezy with showers, but we were spared the forecast heavy rain on Saturday and enjoyed some pleasant conditions on Sunday. BOK members were out in force and achieved some excellent results; it was good to see so many parent/child teams running this year, hopefully introducing a new generation to the delights of the OMM for the future. Sadly, the number of years of compatible overlap between aging parents and their athletic offspring is very limited, but we'll enjoy it while we can! Successes for BOK teams include the following (apologies if I've missed anyone):
Short Score (187 teams): Mark & John Grenfell-Shaw 13th; Ashley Cooper & Steve Darling 15th; Jonathan & Rosemary Hurford 17th; Christine Farr & Duncan Innes 23rd; Helen & Jack Kelsey 42nd; Pete Foster & Sandy Burgon 55th.
Medium Score (284 teams): Chris & Ben Kelsey 15th; Charles Daniel & Rhys Manning 30th; Pat & Louise Benjamin 178th.
C (291 teams): Sue & Gerry Ashton 39th; Roger Mann & Martin Bird 77th; Jim & Jamie Hayward 108th.
B (233 teams): Tim Britton & John Hartley 10th; Pete & Julia James 43rd; Alice Bedwell & Laura Pearson 127th.
A (67 teams): Mark Saunders & William Darby 18th (1st Vet).
Both Mark & John Grenfell-Shaw and Chris & Ben Kelsey narrowly missed winning the parent/child categories of their classes, short by just 3 points (1 place) and 5 points (3 places) respectively. Maybe next year if our youngsters are still willing and we can still keep up!
