St Ebba's TREC 2009
The St Ebba's TREC took place on 13 September 2009 in support of Epsom Riding for the Disabled Association, at Great Bookham Riding Centre.
Chris Paine with Barney and Lynn Davies with Ruby arrive at checkpoint 3 (North Lodge, Ranmore Common): after completing their grid references test
St Ebba's TREC 2009 Results
Results are available from the SE TREC website.
Photos from the St Ebba's TREC 2009
A few photos were taken at check point 3 (North Lodge, Ranmore Common), but sadly, I forgot to use the sports photo setting, so most action photos are blurred. Larger pixel files are available on request. Professional photographs from the PTV are available from Peter Cox Photography.
The POR |
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| Chris Paine + Barney and Lynn Davies + Ruby | Rose Jarvis + Otter and Nicki Woods + Laddie (not paired together) | Nicki Woods + Laddie and Julie Sadler + Tark |
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| Jane Cullis + Mabel | Jane Cullis + Mabel | Carol Dolby-Brown + Pharoah and Emily Dolby-Brown + Berti |
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| Helen Martin + Barley Venture and Mary Weston + Cathelyd Black Boy | Ali Large + Paramount and Di Skippon + Cherie | Gemma Slaven + Darcy |
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| Faye Davie + The Witch and Helen Ripley + Billabong | Faye Davie + The Witch and Helen Ripley + Billabong | Ann Bennett + Hullabaloo and Karen Eyre + Carrie |
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| Ann Bennett + Hullabaloo and Karen Eyre + Carrie | Karen Humphrey + Molly | Karen Humphrey + Molly |
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| Marie-Pierre Segui + Patches and Sharon Yardley + Splodge | Clare Lamb + Jessica | Emma Houslander + Bruno and Sarah Dolman + Hamish |
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| Kate Powell + Domino and Sonya Elnaschie + Bacardi | ||
St Ebba's BHS TREC report by Jenny Snowdon
From the Organiser's viewpoint
Times done, clipboards completed and with hopefully everything loaded on my van, Zoe White and I set off to collect my trailer at 9am on Saturday morning to start the course building of the PTV at Great Bookham Equestrian Centre in Bookham, Surrey.
While Zoe put some BHS TREC direction arrows around the local landscape, Phil Hammond and I set about transforming GBEC into a TREC venue.
We were soon joined by Zoe, Hugh Craddock our Traceur and also two competitors Nicki Woods and Julie Sadler. The course was built in record time and this year for the first time ever, we were finished in time for the official course walk!
Meanwhile the catering team of Toni and Ben Izard, Tasha and Mim O'Brien had arrived and set about preparing a delicious feast for us all that evening taking place after the course walk. The raffle raised £57 for the Brooke Hospital for Animals and Mary's quiz raised £50 for the BHS Welfare Department.
The following morning, I unlocked the gates at 6.30am to be followed shortly by Brian our caterer for the day who started preparing breakfast for lots of hungry Treccies and he also had bagged up lunches ready for the PTV judges by 8am — very impressive!
Pauline and Sue Byszewski, our Secretary and Scorer were safely ensconced in their hut and did a brilliant job between them through the day.
After the judges' briefing, the CoP and PTV started more or less on time at just after 8.30am. All the Level 3 horses were very fresh and most of them behaved like lunatics with the exception of Daniel Nolan's Tammy who scored 116 and showed us all how it should be done! This score was only topped by Ann Kinahan with T. Dainty Lady who scored 129, our top score of the day and Emma Houslander and Bruno, our only Junior rider, scoring 119.
The CoP was ridden downhill by the Levels 3 and 2 and uphill by the Level 1s and followed gentle curves reminiscent of a winding bridlepath in the woods. Scores were very varied with a lot of horses breaking pace or leaving the track. There were however some excellent scores throughout the day with first timer Rose Jarvis scoring 42 and Daniel Nolan scoring 49 in the Level 3, Wendy Jeans with 50 in the Level 2 and Katie Walding with 45, Jackie Barker with 41, Tessa Baylis with 44, Carol Newman-Wing with 43 and Deborah Catchpole with 40 in the Level 1. The CoP was kindly judged by John Adcock, Elaine Briggs and Sarah Reith.
The PTV course was also set out on a hill and was gently undulating. The Low Branches were the first obstacle. They were set out on the flat, close to the warm up area and were judged by Phil Hammond and Jenny who was also our Starter. This led to a narrow bridle gate where only seven 10s were scored all day! This was judged by Jilly Moss and later by Wendy Neath. The Rein Back was the first obstacle to be situated on the hill with horses having to back up uphill. Only 3 competitors scored the full 10 points here and they were Alison Adcock in her first attempt at Level 3, Linda Hughes and Caroline Barton both in the Level 1 classes. The Reinback was kindly judged by Diana Stewart who had been on the waiting list.
Down the hill to Immobility where our horses were distracted by GBEC liveries pinging and galloping about! This was followed by Nearside Mount from the Ground which was set with a slight advantage on one side. These were kindly judged by Ali Houslander who was also one of our First Aiders.
The Bending was next on a slight incline up. This rode well with most completing in trot although there were quite a few successful canters. This was judged by Cindy Wood, Christine Dier and Gail Brownrigg. Levels 1 and 2 then had to negotiate a tiger trap (Level 2) or log pile (Level 1) before tackling the Led Corridor — Level 3 missed out the jump and just did the Led Corridor. Points proved difficult to come by at this obstacle which was kindly judged by Christine Dier as was the jump.
Offside Mount from a Block was also a difficult one to gain points on as the horses tend to step sideways out of the corridor. Interesting to note that it was the Level 1s that scored most of the points here. The obstacle was kindly judged by Debbie Craddock.
First time judge Pam McMillen judged the S Bend and later the Ridden Incline Down for Levels 2 and 1 while her friend Christianne from Wales judged the Ridden Incline Up for Level 3.
A footbridge was next for Level 3 followed by the Corridor which was ridden downhill. Most competitors negotiated this successfully in trot. These two were judged by Di Cripps.
Levels 2 and 1 rode the Corridor uphill, bridge and Ridden Incline Down.
Then a fast stretch and over a jump followed by Ridden Step Up judged by Steph Jacobs and Caroline Holsten. The Level 3s then had a solid upright made out of telegraph poles with a drop on the landing side before moving on to the final obstacle for all which was the Maypole judged by Verena Tomlinson. Only four competitors managed this in canter and they were Carol Dolby-Brown, Di Skippon, Julia Izzard and Daniel Nolan.
All in all, the day was very nearly perfect and my very grateful thanks go to all the people behind the scenes who once again gave up their time to make this day special for all of us. I haven't done the accounts yet, but I think that we will be able to give the RDA around £2000 which is the best that we have ever done for them so a huge that you to everyone for coming and being a part of it all.
In particular, I would like to thank Pauline Humphries, our Secretary, who every year is driven demented by us all, in particular by me and my demands!
Zoe White our fantastic PTV Co-ordinator who designed a great course and worked her socks off for us all to be able to give the judges comfort breaks and get hot drinks round to everyone in were very stressful circumstances, trying to keep the whole ship running to time.
Phil Hammond who not only helped course build, but also judged all day and masterminded the great clear up afterwards.
Hugh Craddock who designed fabulous POR routes with just enough deviousness and finally Joy Taylor who also helped with the design and checked all the routes thoroughly and who, like me had several late nights making sure that everything was perfect.
Last but not least and I hate to finish on a bad note but Ali Houslander, Zoe and I had to spend a couple of hours clearing up droppings and piles of hay from the parking areas, a task that we would rather not have done, so next time you go to an event, please spare a thought for the organisers and clear up behind you before you leave.
Anyway that's enough from me.
Looking forward to seeing you all again next year when we hope to be at Epsom RDA again with the POR running from Epsom Downs.
Kind regards
Jenny
St Ebba's BHS TREC POR report by Jenny Snowdon and Hugh Craddock
The Equipment Check was done by Kathy Heybourne, Harriet Trefusis and Ray while the Map Room was ably looked after by Karen Dier, Renate Konn and Paul.
Confusion reigned from the outset with the POR with two routes leading out from the venue! There was a manned ticket at the exit from GBEC judged by James O'Brien and three individuals and six pairs got caught out by this. Moral: have confidence in what you have drawn on your maps!
Thanks here go to Katie Holmes for keeping traffic and horses apart!
The route then continued down Admirals Road (a byway). The L3s had an aerial photograph to follow which took them over to Fetcham Downs before returning to Bookham Wood where they rejoined the L1 and L2 route: just one L3 individual rider missed a ticket here hidden in the woods on Fetcham Downs on a path selected by the TD and so obscure that even your traceur still doesn't know where it was. All three levels took bridleway 63 along the south side of Bookham Wood, before threading their way along the narrow path past Bridleways Equestrian Centre and sharply down through Chapel Wood to the bottom of Bagden Hill and Bagden Farm, where a checkpoint judged by Pat and John Cooper from Lincolnshire was cunningly placed around the back of the barn, riders having to ride through a disused and historic farmyard and around the back to locate the checkpoint. About half of the individual L1 pairs missed this checkpoint, but only a couple of L1 pairs and none of the L2s and L3s, proving that two pairs of eyes are better than one, and that L2 riders were particularly sharp-eyed this year.
L3s had Grid References to plot, while L2s and L1s had more simple routes to follow and a few tickets to find. For the L3s, five grid references were distributed across the entire width and breadth of Ranmore Common, and riders were given a map of horse rides on the common to assist in planning their route. Only one L3 pair (who shall remain nameless) was apparently tempted to miss out a visit to the telephone kiosk marked on the map 4km away on Stonyrock Lane on the basis that the answer to the question, 'List the public services which can be found here?' was too obvious to demand a visit (the correct answer was 'a letter box'): now would we really have set such an easy question?
| What is the name and number given to this junction (of the public bridleway and the NT bridleway)? | TQ14705167 | Long Bottom 32 |
| List the public services which can be found here? | TQ12445099 | A letter box NOT a public telephone |
| What traffic is prohibited from using this byway? | TQ13235038 | Motor vehicles and horse drawn vehicles NOT all vehicles |
| What is the name of the NT field here which is south of the car park? | TQ14175036 | Steers Field |
| How many poles are there across the junction of the path with the road (on the east side of the road)? | TQ15005128 | 6 |
| This last grid reference was not given in the test, but was derived from the following instructions (the distances are calculated from trigonometry, so they must be right!): | To calculate GR5, draw a line between the centre of the conventional symbol representing the youth hostel at Tanner's Hatch and the centre of the conventional symbol representing Ranmore church. Mark off a point 568m along the line from Ranmore church. Draw a line at this point at right angles (i.e. at an angle of 90 degrees) to the first line, in the approximate direction of Westhumble. GR5 is 737m along this line. | |
| Finish | TQ15045066 | North Lodge, Denbies Estate |
L1s took a more direct route north from Bagden Farm climbing out of Dorking Wood and dropping down to Ranmore Common Road, before climbing again up towards Denbies Farm along paths by kind permission of the Denbies estate. L2s had a relentless climb up towards Denbies Hillside car park along bridleway 103, emerging at Rose Cottage. Here, despite the hard 110m climb, L2s needed some careful map reading to circle round the south side of the Old Post Office, and pick up a ticket (two individuals and one pair missed this) before joining the main ride west alongside Ranmore Common Road and past the church.
The next checkpoint was near to Denbies vineyard at North Lodge. This was judged by Hugh Craddock our traceur and Joan Hattersley, while the vet check was judged by Ed Lea, whose partner, Anna Weston was assisting the Horsehero film crew about our event and TREC in general. Most riders right-routed into the checkpoint, but three individual L1s and two pairs were penalised because they rode up the concrete road from Denbies Farm, instead of on the grass ride, while several L1s missed the checkpoint altogether (probably turning right too early and riding along the bridleway which emerges opposite the church).
The routes split up here with the L1s enjoying a fast section following the rides on either side of Ranmore Common Road. A ticket behind the pond just beyond Fox Lane caught out more than half of all L1s, with many following the more obvious track crossing Ranmore Common Road too late to see the ticket. L1s soon arrived at the checkpoint at the top of Hole Hill judged by Jim and Caroline Bowers (although a handful missed it altogether) before negotiating some woodland on the north side of Ranmore Common Road. Here, all but one L1 rider missed a ticket in the labrynth of paths and rides, before turning north towards Yew Tree Farm and Polesden Lacey.
L2s and L3s wound round the top of Denbies vineyard on bridleway 107, before turning off on a private Denbies estate path leading out into the Denbies carriage drive. This took riders underneath Ranmore Common Road (Denbies' Victorian owners did not want their visitors to have to mingle with the hoi polloi on the public road) and onto a long descent towards Landbarn Farm to enjoy magnificent views at the top of the scarp slope over Westcott and Dorking. This section of route followed the westerly carriage drive to Denbies House (one of three), now largely in the ownership of the National Trust, and formerly constructed to provide an evenly graded ascent from the Guildford Road at Westcott, for horse-drawn carriages.
On reaching Hole Hill Lane (byway 110), L3s (having accumulated around 9km on the grid references test alone) turned sharp right and climbed back up the scarp slope on the byway and found Jim and Caroline's checkpoint checkpoint at the top of the lane (although one L3 individual missed it) before following a slightly more complex route than the L1s back to Polesden Lacey.
This took them round the car park at the west end of Ranmore Common, before challenging riders to find a narrow and overgrown ride (see photo right) heading east to bring them back out on Ranmore Common Road opposite the checkpoint left only minutes earlier.
Two L3 individuals and two pairs missed both tickets placed here: one to check whether riders avoided the more obvious turn into the car park, and one to check use of the overgrown ride: surprising mistakes, given L3s' generally excellent performance on the rest of the ride. Shortly after, both L1s and L3s headed north towards Yewtree Farm along bridleway 100.
From Hole Hill, the L2s continued west on a long loop through Abinger Roughs and Hackhurst Downs. Very soon, they needed to turn left off the main track below the scarp through an awkward and unmarked gate into a field, underneath the railway line (via a far from obvious bridge) and out to Coomb Farm. They then resumed a westward direction, with some good going alongside Deerleap Wood, and onwards to Abinger Roughs where they met their next checkpoint near the Wilberforce Memorial judged by Ros Dixon and Laurie Smith. Two L2 individuals missed both this and the following checkpoint, having presumably opted for a shorter route.
L2s then climbed back up the scarp slope past New Barn Farm on bridleway 10 and navigated their way through woodland in Old Simms Copse.
Riders needed to be sharp-eyed to spot this former ride (see photo right) which diverged left from the public bridleway, and which of course carried a ticket: four of the seven L2 individuals and three of the 12 pairs missed this one, so 'could do better'! Turning right at a narrow gap and continuing briefly along the Drove Road, and then northwards along some wet paths towards and along Sheepwalk Lane, then Crocknorth Road, the drive to the Old Malthouse and Long Wood, riders emerged into a vast bowling alley of a field at Hazel Bucket, owned by the National Trust, and had a potentially fast 700m to the penultimate checkpoint judged by Dom and Karen McGuigan at the junction with Critten Lane.
L2 riders turned left, and at the top of White Hill, needed to turn off right on to the parallel footpath 591 (actually the continuation of Critten Lane before Beech Avenue was adopted as the replacement public road in the nineteenth century, and now the subject of a claim for a public bridleway). Another ticket was to be found here: two individuals missed this one (sadly riding on a rather dangerous stretch of road), before turning right through a field gate to cross Colin Sandford's land north of Stars Wood (again, by kind permission) to emerge opposite High Barn. They finally dropped down to Hogden Bottom (the bridleway down from High Barn was much improved by the county council last year), crossed the byway, and rejoined the route for L1 and L3 at Yewtree Farm. Here, riders at all three levels headed north on a causeway across the valley and up past Polesden Lacey House passing under the ornamental bridge, before finishing at North Lodge, Polesden Lacey at the junction with Polesden Road and meeting either Joy Taylor, our wonderful TD, Jenny or Jeff Ridge from Epsom RDA to be given a participation rosette sponsored once again by BGI Electrical Ltd.
Distances: L1 covered 11.4km, L2 22.9km and L3 an estimated 23.9km (not including the distance from the last checkpoint back to GBEC, which is just under 1km). L1s and L3s had (or should have had) no significant riding on public tarred roads, and L2s had only about 600m of road riding.
Jenny and Hugh
Competition enquiries to Jenny Snowdon, tel: 07958 407594 email: jenny.snowdon@btopenworld.com
Enquiries about this page to Hugh Craddock, 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, the St Ebba's TRECs 2010, 2008, 2006 and Balanced TREC 2005
Page last updated: 1 April 2014