Balanced TREC 2005
The 2nd Balanced TREC was held at Byhurst Farm, Malden Rushett on 18th September 2005.
It was held in aid of the Epsom Group of the RDA.
Balanced TREC 2005 Presentation |
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The picture left shows Stella Milne, Chairperson of the Epsom RDA receiving a cheque for £800 from Jenny Snowdon, one of the organisers of the Balanced Trec. Also in the picture is Andrew Snowdon, another organiser and the pony is Charlie Le Trec who was partly bought with the proceeds. We hope to buy the rest of him and some equipment next year! Grateful thanks to everyone who took part in the Balanced TREC — that's competitors, judges and everyone behind the scenes. We can't do this sort of thing without you! Jenny Snowdon |
Balanced TREC 2005 Results
These are the results in each class for the Balanced TREC 2005, showing placing and overall score for all three phases.
Level 1 Individuals |
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| 1 | 331 | GC |
| 2 | 186 | WN |
| 3 | 178 | KH |
| 4 | 150 | JY |
| 5 | 50 | SH |
Level 1 Pairs |
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| 1 | 442 | TR + MH |
| 2 | 441 | AB + GH |
| 3 | 407 | VC + NC |
| 4 | 384 | SC + MO |
| 5 | 360 | SM + SC |
| 6 | 358 | GG + AJP |
| 7 | 340 | JH + LH |
| 8 | 338 | NG + DC |
| 9 | 337 | DF + CW |
| 10 | 318 | LU + HU |
| 11 | 314 | AM + LM |
| 12 | 302 | AP + WBC |
| 13 | 256 | AR + MM |
| 14 | 194 | NW + JS |
| 15 | 128 | RC + MD |
Level 2 Individuals |
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| 1 | 273 | DS |
| 2 | 235 | BC |
| 3 | 30 | GR |
Level 2 Pairs |
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| 1 | 403 | JH + HF |
| 2 | 366 | NH + BP-J |
| 3 | 264 | SL + ZL |
| 4 | 226 | VJ + BM |
| 5 | 215 | HM + LJ |
| 6 | 149 | JB + SM |
| 7 | — | CM + LH |
| 8 | — | MK + JS |
Level 2A Individuals |
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| 1 | 316 | JT |
| 2 | 259 | LG |
| 3 | 168 | JSB |
| 4 | 128 | MS |
Level 2A Pairs |
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| 1 | 617 | RD + LS |
| 2 | 477 | CN-W + CD-B |
| 3 | 352 | PS + CL |
| 4 | 351 | AT + MA |
| 5 | 312 | JP + CG |
Photos from the Balanced TREC 2005
| Checkpoint 4 (L2/L2A somewhere in Prince's Coverts) | ||
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| BC | BP-J + NH | JH + HF |
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| LG | RD + LS | * |
| Control of Paces/PTV | ||
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| AB (CoP) | AB (mounted immobility) | * |
Balanced TREC 2005 CoP and PTV Report by Jenny Snowdon
On a bright sunny Sunday the day started with the Control of Paces Section. This was run over a course of 111m and had an interesting little chicane in the middle of it. This did not prove to be much of a problem to the majority of entrants, many of whom gained very respectable marks, with the top mark of the day (52) going to Jocelyn Templeman, the eventual winner of Level 2a Individual.
The PTV, which followed, caused many problems for many people. The course was quite long being a little over 1.5km and the speeds were set at 9 minutes for the Level 2s and 11 minutes for the Level 1s. 90% of entrants came away with time faults.
The first obstacle was the Footbridge, which did not cause many problems with most people gaining maximum points. This was followed by a very different version of Low Branches as one side was completely open and just marked with a penalty zone down that side. Well done to the 56% of the competitors who managed to keep their horses within the penalty zone.
A black wooden cow with a necklace of tinsel accompanied the Corridor! Only five horses decided that she wouldn't be causing them any harm! It was interesting to note that two of these were Icelandic ponies competing in their very first TREC.
The next obstacle was the Tape Gate where competitors had to open and close an "electric fence". A surprising amount of horses were sensible about this, 46% in fact.
Forward then to the Reinback, this year leading into a blind alley. Competitors then had the opportunity to get their horses going forward with a nice canter down the long side of a field before pausing to do the Sideways pole which was facing a hedge and then straight into the S Bend. Another long canter down the other side of the field brought entrants to the Log Jump, which was followed swiftly by the Bending, which this year was going slightly downhill keeping most horses in trot — only four completed successfully in canter.
Through a gap in the hedge was the Ridden Immobility, where horses had to remain still for ten seconds, riders just holding the buckle end of the reins, surrounded by several very bright flower "windmills". Fortunately, most horses seemed mesmerised by these!
The Gate was next, not an easy one, with the gate itself wanting to open away from competitors although it swung both ways.
After this, riders had to ride into the Rubbish Tip, past a selfishly parked van and dismount to remove rubbish that had been strewn in their path. The Trailer and the Mount followed this.
The final obstacle on this part of the PTV was a Hedge for the Level 2s and Straw Bales to jump for the Level 1s. Number 16, the Ditch, was to be found at the start of the POR.
Congratulations must go to Martina Slater, Carol Newman-Wing, Di Skippon, Jane Harding, Nicola Guthrie and Graham Clack for getting the highest PTV scores in their respective classes. Di Skippon had the highest mark of the day of 126.
Jenny
POR Report by Hugh Craddock
The POR seems to have been rather demanding this year. The route started off with the 16th PTV obstacle immediately after crossing the Leatherhead Road outside Byhurst Farm, before heading off across the fields of Rushett Farm (by kind agreement of Mr & Mrs Bart Woodall) round the end of the airstrip, and joining the recently reopened bridleway 27 alongside Rushett Lane and up to Woodcock Corner at the corner of Ashtead Common. Quite a few competitors failed to spot that they were required to complete a circuit of Epsom Common in a clockwise direction, headed straight on and immediately wrong-routed into Checkpoint 2. Those correctly turning left at Woodcock Corner had to look carefully for the unsurfaced summer ride across the common shortly after passing the Stew Pond. Those who missed this crucial turning either followed a longer route over "the Cross" (dodging brick-bats from local walkers), or a still longer route around the entire length of the all-weather ride. A tricky section along the boundary of Ashtead and Epsom common followed, involving finding a minor path connecting bridleway 145 and the all-weather ride. Those missing the connecting path may have discovered a bad ticket — but only if they were unlucky, because it was removed by the Ashtead Common warden around the time that the level 1s set out! Soon after, level 2s were required to spot the unsurfaced bridleway 38 forking off up a grassy ride to the left, and level 2s who arrived at the following checkpoint 2 via the all-weather ride were wrong-routed.
After leaving checkpoint 2, all riders continued via Woodcock Corner (again) round to Ashtead Common. Level 2s needed to spot the concessionary ride linking bridleway 33 to Epsom Gap. Although the map appeared to show some interesting variations between the route to be followed and the paths marked on the map, the marked routes on Ashtead were in fact only one of a handful of tracks available to riders, as nearly all other paths are closed off with brush fences.
Crossing the Leatherhead Road again near the Star Inn, riders continued up to checkpoint 3 at d'Abernon Chase Cottage inside Prince's Coverts. Some riders thought they had only reached World's End, roughly on the border between the two Ordnance Survey maps, and started to go wrong immediately after leaving the check point. With a few exceptions, nearly all riders had navigational difficulties somewhere in the Coverts. The woods, owned and made available to the Balanced TREC by the Crown Estate, are a maze of rides and tracks, many of them seldom used by riders or walkers, and careful map reading is required. Moreover, some parts of the Coverts have been closed off with deer fencing to protect young trees, and the fences are not marked on the map. Level 1s were required to follow a relatively straightforward route to the last checkpoint at the exit back into Byhurst Farm, although only one pair managed to complete this section in under par time (25 minutes) — and that pair also missed the ticket! Level 2s were routed via a particularly demanding route, requiring exceptionally careful map-reading to pick up a minor path through the trees off the westerly spinal ride. A remarkably large proportion of riders managed to spot this, while a few others followed parallel routes and entered checkpoint 4 from the wrong direction.
A bearings test followed for level 2As, while those following the level 2 route, and those on the bearings test resorting to opening their maps, arrived at checkpoint 5 via a different and rather more obvious route. The final section took riders over Fairoak Lane and across Great Oaks and fields near Barwell Farm by permission of Daphne Barker and the Barwell Trustees, then via Claygate and Claygate Common returning to Byhurst Farm via the outward route. Level 2As were required to identify six grid references, and report on what they found at each site. The correct answers were: 1) burnt-out car 2) a bearing of between 210 and 225 degrees 3) four blue arrows on the bridle guide post 4) Carrots 5) Elizabeth II (the reign in which the post box was inaugurated) 6) Oak Cottage (those who recorded Keeper's Cottage were a few grid reference points out).
Congratulations to everyone who took part: the standard of map-reading was really very high given the difficulties of route-finding, and so far as we know, everyone made it back before dusk!
Hugh
Enquiries about Balanced TREC 2005 to email: trec@craddocks.co.uk
Results and report on the Mid Surrey BHS TREC 2014, Barwell BHS TREC 2013, the Swanworth Farm BHS TREC 2012, Barwell Court Farm BHS TREC 2011, and the St Ebba's TRECs: 2010, 2009, 2008, 2006
Page last updated: 25 November 2021