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St Ebba's TREC 2010

The St Ebba's TREC took place on 12 September 2010 in support of Epsom Riding for the Disabled Association, at Epsom RDA, St Ebba's Farm, Hook Road, Epsom, Surrey, KT19 8QW.

Tessa Baylis

Tessa Baylis and Lewis pass along the top of Six Mile Hill on the outward phase of the POR, just after collecting ticket no.2

St Ebba's TREC 2010 Results

Results are now available from the SE TREC website.


Photos from the St Ebba's TREC 2010

Photos were taken at check point 2 (L2/L3) (Walton Road), and on Six Mile Hill, with further photos taken at the Tattenham Enclosure available below. Attribution wrong? — please drop me an email. Emails of original photos available free on request (c.4-8MB).

The POR
1-2 3 3
1-2 Kay Kitson + Jack and Jill Perry + Desach Gem 3 Julie Bass + Bob O'the Bay 3 Julie Bass + Bob O'the Bay
4-5 6 7-8
4 Di Skippon + Cherie and Ali Large + Miss Molly 6 Julia Izzard + Jock Scotch Broth 7-8 Yvonne Duffy + Missed a Bit and Claire Haley + Danny
9 12-13 14-15
9 Gemma Slaven + Darcy 12-13 Kim Nairn + Delaney and Wendy Jeans + Eno 14-15 Clare Reynolds + Starlight Sylvester and Kate McMorris and Royal Magic
16 17-18 19
16 Caroline Barton + Nutmeg 17-18 Emily Dolby-Brown + Bert and Fizz Easton + Pharoah 19 Linda Hughes + Harry
20-21 22A 22B
20-21 Christina Sutton + Boris Bostick and Sally King + Malachite 22 Sarah Leggat + Patsy 22 Sarah Leggat + Patsy
23-24 25 26-27
23-24 Bob Cripps + Jupiter's Gold and Katie Holmes + Fenn 25 Sarah Wynn + Storm Child 26-27 Larissa Zell + Herbie and Chris Denniston + Millie
28 29-30 30
28 Carol Newman-Wing + Winni 29-30 Jackie Barker + Mr Rafferty and Diana MacLean + Murphy 30 Diana MacLean + Murphy
33 34 37
33 Jo Lee + Molly 34 Diana Stewart + Louis 37 Jo Cox + Murray
31-41 32-40 47
31-41 Veronica Crouch + Depp and Nicky Cameron + Tiggy 32-40 Caroline Dorey + Cloon Joker and Anne Rillie + Hayselden Juturna 47 Steve Moulton + Caraway Cocopop
47 48-49 50
47 Steve Moulton + Caraway Cocopop 48-49 Kathrine Lynn + Sir Frederick and Jane Holbrook + Tom 50 Ann Bennett + Hullabaloo
51 52 54
51 Jacqueline Sandford + Roisin 52 Kate Swindells + Errislannan Piper 54 Susan Walker + Harry
56 56-57 58-60
56 Tessa Baylis + Lewis 56-57 Tessa Baylis + Lewis and Nichola Peace + Ausdan Sularis 58-60 Liz Beddows + Polly and Jane Cook + Whisky Mac and Louise Palmer + Rasikh
59-60 61-64 62-63
59-60 Jane Cook + Whisky Mac and Louise Palmer + Rasikh 61-64 Caroline Bowers + Crocodile Rock and Lissy Ungaretti + Vordis From Oakfield 62-63 Eiddwen Fletcher + JD and Susannah Packer + Sonny's My Star
65 66 67
65 Cecilia Harrington + Kizzy 66 Sue Russell + Kior 67 Gail Brownrigg + Limelight
70-71 72
70-71 Mary MacKenzie + Sherbert Rose and Anne Burningham + Irish Jim 72 Julie Sadler + Just Tark

Some further photos were taken by Wing Bo Chan at the Tattenham Enclosure. If you'd like copies, please contact Bo at bo@epsomrda.org.uk

32-40 37 33
32-40 Caroline Dorey + Cloon Joker and Anne Rillie + Hayselden Juturna 37 Jo Cox + Murray 33 Jo Lee + Molly
31 3 4
31 Veronica Crouch + Depp 3 Julie Bass + Bob O'the Bay 4 Di Skippon + Cherie

St Ebba's BHS TREC report by Jenny Snowdon

Organising St Ebba's BHS TREC starts in around January/February time, deciding on the venue, what levels to hold, what kind of social event to host etc. etc.

My part in the actual organisation is actually very small although vital as my main task is to recruit and place all the judges and also to organise the social event. It also falls to me to do most of the admin — which means lots and lots and lots of photocopying and making up clipboards!

I think that the most time consuming role is that of the traceur or route setter (no chance, Ed). We are very fortunate indeed to have Hugh Craddock as our traceur and he does a wonderful job of devising devious routes for everyone! Joy Taylor, our TD, Laurie Smith, one of our judges and also placer of tickets and I have had great fun checking Hugh's routes out and perhaps making the odd suggestion. Hugh has been tirelessly changing the routes every few days to accommodate our wishes!

The CoP and PTV were dreamt up by Zoe White who also did a cracking job of looking after all the CoP, PTV and Map Room judges on the actual day. Zoe lives about an hour away from the venue and also has her own horse in DIY, so it is appreciated that she gave up her time to do this job for us.

A job which gets no limelight and an awful lot of flak is that of the Secretary. Pauline Humphries has been the secretary of this event for some years now and says that nothing that TRECcies do can surprise her anymore! Pauline not only sorts out the entries and acknowledges every single entry as it arrives but also sorts out the rosettes and sends them out with the help of Health and Safety person Elaine Briggs the day after the results have been agreed.

To this end, I must thank Sue Byszewski for her efforts to ensure that all the CoP and PTV results were input accurately on the day, so that Joy and I only needed to input the POR results on Monday and make sure that everything looked ok.

So on to TREC week — on Wednesday, Pauline and I arranged everyone's times, trying to pay particular attention to competitors' special requests! Then Pauline e-mailed them to everyone. This always produces a few e-mails back with people requesting changes.

On Thursday, I completed the clipboards and then on Friday I did the food shopping for the social, arriving at my schoolfriend Toni Izard's house by 6pm with my mum Renate Konn in tow. Toni's husband Ben was also helping out.

The Friday evening is always one of my favourite times of the TREC competition as although we all work hard to prepare the food, we also have great fun, great conversations and the vino is generally flowing quite freely (that always helps!!) (Are you sure? Ed.). Home by 12.30am, check a few e-mails and reply to them and bed by 1.30am.

Saturday morning up at 6.30am, a bit bleary eyed, gather my personal bits and pieces together for a weekend away, load up my poor old van with flags, flowers, clipboards, my stuff and any other PTV paraphernalia I could find! Collect my trailer at 8.30am and sort Max the loan horse out for the weekend and hit the road at 9.30am, stopping off en route to put out direction arrows.

Reaching the RDA at 10am, I found Stella Milne, Chairperson of Epsom RDA struggling away on her own to get the PTV equipment out to the fields, although Mark from the RDA was zooming around with the tractor and trailer poo picking out as he went — that place always looks so nice and well kept and I should think that an awful lot of hard work goes into keeping it that way. Once he had finished that, he was zooming around the landscape with bits of PTV equipment and so all Zoe, Hugh and I had to do (all?? Ed) was rearrange the bits into obstacles, put on flags and numbers and sprinkle a bit of flour and paint around.

The course walk started promptly at 5pm while we were still working on the CoP. Meanwhile Jeremy Burrows, creator of the In the Dark Treasure Hunt to be held later that evening was setting that up and Toni, Ben, Renate and Anita Thomas from East Anglia TREC had arrived to complete the cooking and prepare for the Social Evening.

By 6.30pm everyone had arrived for the Social and had had a glass of bucks fizz and were settling down to a good meal of pork and stilton casserole which was lovely, or hazelnut and courgette bake, which was also excellent (Joy and I had some on Monday evening when we were doing the scoring) or lasagne (not bad — my first attempt at making lasagne, had some on Sunday night after I got home). This was followed by profiteroles or lemon meringue pie both of which were delicious! Many thanks to Toni, Ben, Renate and Anita for a first rate meal! We were then greatly entertained by Peter Falconer and his piano and didgeridoo. He had us all singing and dancing away. Peter is available for functions. If you want to book him, his e-mail is peterfalconerATgmail.com (remember to substitute the '@'). Later Jeremy split us all up into teams of 2, 3 or 4 for the In the Dark Treasure Hunt and everyone came back with smiles on their faces.

The following morning, Jeremy treated me to a full cooked breakfast at 7am, which went down a treat — thank you Jeremy! Catherine Kirk (later to be seen in the map room) and I added a few goodies to the judges' lunches which had been kindly donated by Waitrose and then Zoe, Joy and I met up with the CoP and PTV judges for their briefing at 8am. The first competitor went out on the CoP, a hairpin shaped affair, at 8.30am. Zoe is writing a full report on the CoP and PTV, so I won't dwell on it too much. Suffice to say that all the judges and helpers were fantastic as usual and really pulled together to keep everything on time and running smoothly even when there were one or two hiccups!

I would personally like to thank the following people for a great job, very well done:

I do hope that I haven't missed anyone off, if I have it is not intentional. Looking forward to seeing you all next year if not before.

Next year — same weekend, hopefully different format — I hope that we will be running a two day National Qualifier — more to follow on that one!

Kinds regards and thanks again

Jenny

St Ebba's BHS TREC PTV and CoP report by Zoe White

Well, after a year of planning and meetings, the St Ebba's Epsom TREC weekend was here! Saturday was set up day and as I arrived at St Ebba's a few spots of rain started to fall. The forecast was good so I was not too perturbed. Jenny, Hugh and I began to set out the venue ready for the arrival of the campers and corrallers and of course the competition.

Fortunately our biggest obstacles, the bridge and gate, were in situ, so two down, 14 to go. Earlier in the year, we had held a Versatile TREC Horse competition here and there were two trees in the way of our intended Control of Paces course. Out of this inconvenience was born Jenny's idea for the one-handed figure of eight. The trees are now in full growth and for the taller competitors this obstacle included ducking the branches as well! This made up the first three obstacles: 1 the gate, 2 the figure of eight, 3 the gate. Jenny Homes was our starter and made sure we ran pretty much on time and also judged the bridge. Jilly Moss judged the gate with most competitors either scoring very high or very low. The one-handed figure of eight was judged by Jane Cullis who also judged the next obstacle number 4 being the rein back with flowers. Entering into the largest paddock, number 5 the ridden corridor doubled up to become the led corridor number 7 and required some quick manoeuvres from judge Ros Dixon. Between these was obstacle 6, the S-bend which has suffered permanent damage and may have to be retired from competition. Judge Cindy Wood did all she could to save it but a newer, younger model will have to replace it. Number 8 was mount from the block and judged by Caroline Holsten who did a great job despite having a cold. The maypole, number 9 judged by Mim O'Brien, caused a few issues as the rope appeared to have a life of it own and did not want to behave. The low branches number 10 was strategically placed so as to give a shorter straight approach to pick up the chosen gait. Ali Houslander and Geoff Pearce were scoring this obstacle and Ali was a great assistance with first aid when we had two partnerships part company at the jumps. Thankfully, all riders and horses are OK. Owing to a shortage of straw bales, the path crossing (number 11) was made of some bales of shavings for the Level 3s which became quite shiny in the sun. These were changed as part of course changes to hay bales for the level 1s and 2s by judge Jenny Pearce. Obstacle number 12 was the bending poles for all levels and then the jump, number 13, to be completed by level 1s and 2s. Karen Dwyer was judging this. Level 3s were to go straight on to the tape gate (number 13 L3, 14 for L1 and L2) and simulated ditch (number 14 L3, 15 for L1 and L2) judged by Di Cribbs. Finally all levels were to negotiate the roadworks with various parts begged and borrowed from various sources and finished off with a mini digger kindly lent by a local contractor. Judge Jeremy Burrows scored this obstacle and saw all competitors through the finish. Number 16 for Level 3 was a sizeable log out on the POR.

The Control of Paces was the shape of a hair pin having been marked out using my car with Hugh Craddock in hot pursuit with the measuring wheel using the full 150m length track. The grass was fairly long and quite slippery in places. Graham Clack, Bronwen Barton and Jill Hawken oversaw the scoring for this and it was not without mishaps

St Ebba's BHS TREC POR report by Hugh Craddock

Links in the report below are to photographs on the geograph.org.uk website.

This year's POR began again at the Tattenham enclosure on Epsom Downs, a short box ride from the PTV venue at St Ebba's RDA, by kind agreement of the Epsom and Walton Downs Conservators and Epsom Racecourse. The check point was ably staffed by Trevor Brown and Carol Dolby Brown. Level 2 and 3 competitors had already encountered a surprise in the map room at St Ebba's: level 2 were required to transcribe a large scale, 1:10,000 master-map showing the route on Epsom Downs (and lacking contours), and level 3 used the same master-map, but had to draw the route on the usual 1:25,000 map.

On leaving the enclosure, all riders completed a circuit of the Epsom Downs golf course. They crossed Tattenham Corner Road and followed the hack ride left to the roundabout outside the grand stands, crossed over Grand Stand Road, and turned right along the hack ride parallel with, but below, that road, with fine views over the whole of London (with Wembley Stadium visible in the distance). A 1km ride along here brought them to Buckles Gap roundabout. Four pairs and two individuals were tempted away from the mapped route by the golf course crossing about 80m short of the roundabout, and perhaps by a bad ticket just visible in the bushes beyond: surprisingly, those erring included two level 3 pairs and a level 3 individual, but presumably they did not have sufficient confidence in their transcription of the large scale master map onto their own 1:25,000 maps? At Buckles Gap, riders crossed back over Grand Stand Road, and shortly after, opposite a post, over Old London Road, and headed south along the broad grassy swathe between Old London Road and the Downs Wood estate. Here, the majority of riders at all levels followed the main path and cut across through a belt of trees too early to see the first ticket planted a little further along: a majority of riders at levels 1 and 2 missed this, as did two level 3 pairs and an individual. Although difficult to detect, the map clearly marked the trees as an old hedge line, and riders needed to maintain their course on the east side as long as possible (even by the end of the day, the correct route showed little sign of trampling by horses!). Riders crossed Tattenham Crescent and passed in front of the Tattenham Corner pub to arrive at the equestrian crossing of Tattenham Corner Road. Crossing the road here brought riders on to the racing part of the downs. All riders joined Old London Road to cross the finishing straight of the racecourse, before taking different routes according to the levels.

Level 1 riders continued on the hack ride on the inside of the racecourse as it rounds Tattenham Corner, before cutting across in front of the car park to rejoin the road between a couple of marker posts. A ticket manned by Ri Levett here caught out about half the level 1 pairs (but only one individual competitor), who failed to pass through the gap, and remained on the wrong side of the hedge bordering the road. Level 1s then crossed the back of the racecourse and entered onto the Triangle.

Ticket on sand track

Ticket and bicycle on the sand track

Here, some careful map work was needed to identify the concealed exit on the far side of the Triangle to pick up (with Level 2 riders) the sand track through Warren Woods before briefly joining bridleway 127. About half of competitors (at both levels 1 and 2, but no level 2 individuals) missed the ticket on the sand track (see photo left), riding instead along the top of Six Mile Hill (not a hack ride!) — yet the route on the map was clearly through a wood, not alongside one!
Afternoon ride

It was also easy to miss the short detour off the bridleway to use the afternoon ride along the top of Six Mile Hill further down (with good views across to Walton on the Hill), and another ticket (see photo, right).

Only three level 1 pairs and two level 2 pairs, and one individual level 2, missed this second ticket (though some pairs missed both, leaving the sunshine on the top of Six Mile Hill just at the point when they should have been entering it).

Level 1 and 2 riders then descended to the top of Langley Bottom Copse, and the 'fiveways junction' (six if you count the Mac track), where many riders spent much time deciding which of four possible routes forward was the correct one, and so to the check point at the foot of the Sheep Walk (still on bridleway 127), presided over by Pat and John Cooper. No competitors were wrong routed in, so all that time deliberating at 'fiveways' must have paid off!

Reverting to the crossing of the racecourse, Level 2 and 3 riders turned right across the Hill shortly after crossing the finishing straight, and, in the absence of any paths, were challenged to traverse the Hill, preferably on a bearing, to pick up a rough surfaced track just over the brow of the slope to descend to a check point on Walton Road staffed by your reporter and traceur and Sarah Constantine. (For a view of the checkpoint on Derby Day, see here: the checkpoint is in the dip ahead. Click on the link below the photo to see the same view without the crowds.) This was particularly challenging as the building marked on the map, the former Totaliser Board, has been completely removed! Four pairs, and three individuals, were wrong routed in because they did not approach along the whole of the visible track.

Towards the lone tree

Level 2 riders continued straight across the bank on the other side of Walton Road, and (if they'd got their map-reading right) aimed for the lone tree ahead (see photo), where they turned right and then left to pick up the Valley track to the bottom of Beech Wood.

They then followed a grassy track towards the far end of the racecourse (the starting point for the Derby, and 2,420 metres from the finish line), before turning slightly left, uphill, between two overgrown baulks (these mark the route of the original alignment of the racecourse, abandoned in the nineteenth century because the initial climb out of the valley was too steep and loathed by trainers and jockeys alike: level 2 riders had an opportunity to empathise).

The old racecourse

Three pairs and four solos turned too early or too late, missed a ticket here (just visible in photo, right), and so couldn't go home to report that they had 'ridden [part of] the [old] Derby course'. At the top of the baulk, opposite the crossing into Downs House, there was a dogleg (with hindsight, this might have been smoothed out, as some riders were spotted debating exactly how far they needed to displace along the dogleg). They then had a brief opportunity for a canter up the last part of the slope to meet and turn right along Walton Road, over the racecourse, and continue along the road to the Triangle. A careful orientation across the Triangle brought them to the sand track into Warren Woods, to join the Level 1 route.

Level 3 riders began their bearings test at the Walton Road check point. Many set off in an unpromising direction, too far south of the correct bearing, whereas, in common with level 2 riders, they should have aimed for the lone tree ahead (bearings are usually orientated on some identifiable feature, although it must be said this principle cannot be relied upon elsewhere). It's possible that competitors' compasses were distracted by the check point judge's car parked nearby: but riders need to be aware that substantial metal objects can affect magnetic bearings, and if unsure, recheck bearings a little further on. Level 3 riders also dropped down to the Valley track, then followed the recently reopened hack ride through Beech Wood, and the afternoon ride just on the south side of the fibre-sand track. A right turn along the eastern boundary of Langley Vale village, and a carefully measured turn left onto a path through Warren Wood, brought them out at the Triangle. Here, a bearing across the Triangle took them to and along Walton Road, to drop down Six Mile Hill to the sand track and bridleway 66 at the bottom. Level 3 riders had a choice to use either the sand or the hard track (it being impractical to distinguish the two paths five metres apart!), before a short drop at the end onto bridleway 33 and Pat and John Cooper's check point at the foot of Sheep Walk. All level 3 pairs completed the bearings successfully, one pair within the allotted time, but a level 3 individual arrived by the wrong route.

All riders here continued up Sheep Walk, which is maintained by local racing yards for use by horses in training, to emerge onto (a different) Walton Road, a quiet lane towards Headley village. After passing under the M25, riders turned right along the sandy Headley Park Lane between horse pastures, to reach and cross Tilley Lane, and continue along diverted bridleway 514 through the woods at Headley Court.

Level 1 riders again parted company here, continuing north along the horse margin beside Tilley Lane under the M25, to pick up bridleway 119 to Thirty Acres Barn (some riders had difficulty identifying the point at which to turn off bridleway 514, just short of the motorway). They turned right along Shepherds Walk, to reach a check point at the crossing of Headley Road staffed by Laurie Smith and Graham: a handful of pairs, and half of the solo level 1s, were wrong routed into the checkpoint, failing to notice that their route employed a horse margin either side of Headley Road, rather than crossing it at the junction. They continued down into Langley Vale along the margin constructed for the use of horses in training (but now a bridleway available to all). A right turn along bridleway 33 towards Langley Vale Farm, and then a permissive path above it, brought them back onto the downs, at the 'fiveways' junction where they had wrestled with the map perhaps an hour earlier, and an opportunity, if there was any energy left, for a good canter along the sand track, before ascending Six Mile Hill along Walton Road to reach the final check point via a new path through the woods at the top, in the care of Pam Burch and John MacLean, and later Stella Milne and Monica Daniels. A handful of level 1 pairs, but no individuals, were wrong-routed here, arriving across the Triangle instead.

Level 2s and 3s turned left before the M25 along bridleway 114a parallel to the motorway (noisy or what?), reaching the T-junction with Pebble Lane (byway 118). This is the Roman Road Stane Street, and riders now took up a predictably straight alignment south-west for 1.5 km towards Mickleham Downs, before turning left onto bridleway 511 and out into the parking area at Mill Way. A short section along the horse margin beside Mill Way, and along Langley Lane (byway 545) brought competitors to the delightful Tumber Street (which, despite the name, is a quiet minor road), and out to Leech Lane at Tot Hill, and another check point at the foot of Crabtree Lane opposite. This check point, staffed by Peter and Joan Hatterlsey with Barbara, was also the vet check for level 3s where Jenny Snowdon took charge. Unsurprisingly, all managed to find the checkpoint by the correct route.

Level 2s skirted the perimeter of Headley Heath, but only the most careful study of the map showed that the main path is not bridleway 496a, which adheres to the perimeter fence, and here there was another ticket: two pairs, and all but one individual, missed the ticket (riders should have noticed that the gate, a little beyond the ticket, was next to another bridle gate a few metres to the left, which marks the course of the public bridleway). An obscure path parallel to bridleway 495, also marked with a ticket, led riders out on to Leech Lane: riders were sharper here, and all managed to find it. Riders were required to turn right, cross Headley Common Road, and continue through Heath Farm, by special and kind permission of Mr and Mrs Mike Scarry. Riders then turned right onto bridleway 506, under the M25 and past the site of Mid-Surrey Pony Club field (currently the subject of a bid to raise the purchase price of £480,000), to reach the top of Hurst Road near the junction with Ebbisham Lane. Here, they rejoined returning Level 3 competitors to follow bridleway 33 for a long descent to Nohome Farm at the foot of the downs, where they joined the Level 1 return route along the sand track to Walton Road.

From the Crabtree Lane check point, Level 3 riders began a grid references test, with a questionnaire requiring visits to five features on Headley Heath common. The best route was estimated at 3,778 metres, and the answers to the grid references can be found in the POR Excel workbook. All riders completed the grid references successfully, with the exception of one wrong answer, although all but one pair were a little over time.

The check point for Level 3 riders completing the grid references was at the cricket ground car park on Headley Common Road, attended by Jane Sanders and WingBo Chan. Riders then set off towards Tye Lane (bridleway 494), but our level 3s were now firing on all cylinders, and none dropped their guard and picked up a bad ticket by using the permissive path past White Lodge just after the check point. A further ticket was available in Queen's Wood, where two bridleways branch off to the north-east to reach Frith Park Farm, so that those who took the first obvious turning would have missed the ticket — but again, none did so! A crossing over the M25 on Sturts Lane followed, before joining Chequers Lane and identifying the permissive path along the west side of Walton Heath sandwiched between the Dorking Road and footpath 97 (which is blocked to horse riders). This took in a fallen tree, to be jumped as a PTV obstacle, and emerged (after several minor crossing tracks) onto Deans Lane outside the entrance to Walton Heath Golf Club. Riders continued up Deans Lane, passing some fine houses, to reach Banstead Heath just outside the Blue Ball pub. A short dog-leg on the edge of the Heath was called for here, but not ticketed, before riding past Mere Pond, and turning down Sandlands Road, and out onto Ebbisham Lane, to rejoin the Level 2 route at the top of Hurst Road.

All riders arrived at the final check point near the bridleway 127 crossing of the back of the racecourse, before continuing back to the car park via Old London Road.

Distances: L1 covered 11.9km, L2 19.9km and L3 an estimated 25.6km (not including the distance from the last checkpoint back to the car park, which is just under 1km). L1s had 700m of public tarred road, L2 1,400m, L3 about 2,750m.

For those who are still trying to work out where that missed ticket was located, download the POR Excel workbook, showing details of distances, bearings, grid references and tickets.



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, 2009, 2008, 2006 and Balanced TREC 2005

Page last updated: 1 April 2014

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