For the second year running the “Scalextric Challenge”, was held at Electric Tracks in Spalding, Lincs. Afterwards, everyone went for a meal at the Blue Bell Pub in nearby Whaplode St Catherine, and then most camped over. The event was attended by members of not only our own area (Anglia & South-East) but also Midlands, North Thames & Chiltern, and Southern Areas as well.
Some arrived on Friday evening, camping in the pub beer garden after a Chinese buffet in the restaurant, and some late night chatting and chilling. Breakfast on both days was at the Farm Cafe on the A17, where some geocaching also took place with a race going on to see who could get to the cache first – sneaking out of the cafe whilst others weren’t looking (we’re just off to the toilet….we’re not looking for the cache….) was a tactic employed by some. Then a relaxed day in Spalding (more geocaching by the sneaky ones!) before heading back to the pub to meet the rest of the arrivals and we managed to turn tent erecting into a spectator sport, shouting helpful advice at useful intervals…
Off to the racing then, and the shout “no running” could be heard several times but its difficult not to! A sample of the cakes on offer at the snack bar kept us sustained during the racing, obviously to good effect for some! We first raced 8 tracks, recorded total number of lapse and were then split into two tables to fight out the final placings.
The trophies for the race results were handed out as follows:
1st – Iain Parkes (Fareham & Gosport)
2nd – Dave Taylor (Kings Lynn)
3rd – Tracy Thorne (Dunstable)
Basically once again a small, but extremely fun, weekend which seemed to bring out a very competitive streak in some…! The food, the beer and the relaxed atmosphere seemed even better this year than last, and the brief non-guided tour of brewery at the pub as we were packing up on Sunday was interesting too, even if we were left to our own devices to work out what it was all about. Dawn P even managed to find a pink beer barrel! This is one that will certainly be on the calendar again for next year, although maybe earlier in the year to avoid the rather chilly camping conditions (army surplus jumper over pyjamas for sleeping, and added dr martens for my “early morning heading to the loo “fashion!). I can’t wait to do it all over again!
Oh, and I nearly forgot to mention, although I didn’t take a trophy I was over the moon to actually get joint first score, and I hadn’t been practising, honest!
Photos to follow.
Christine T