Pedal Cars is over for another year, what an amazing weekend it turned out to be.
It didn’t get off to the best of starts when the minibus broke down at 5 o’clock just as we were about to leave. We managed to get one hired thanks to the AA man that had tried to fix the school one, he phoned around for us and found one in Ramsgate, he was a nice man, a very very nice man. We arrived at Thriftwood (not Walton Firs) at 8pm and stepped out to hear the leaves crunching beneath our feet. Upon closer inspection everything was covered in a thick frost and it was only 8pm!! think we were in for a cold one. After diner we pitched the tents, even this had issues. First the generator wouldn’t start so we turn to the gas lamps, two of these appeared to have been damaged in transit so we only had the one to start off with with. Then we found that one of the new tents (only delivered on Wednesday) appeared to have the 4 man inner but only a 3 man outer that stopped about a foot short of the floor. Eventually managed to get the generator running and get some lights on which helped. Next up hot water. We put the Burco on (large thing of hot water) and decided to put the kettle on a small stove to help speed things up. This was working great until the gas froze! Eventually the Burco heated up and it was hot drinks, hot water bottles filled and bed. Someone did point out that it was Friday the 13th.
After a good nights sleep (apart from two owls having a conversation across our site at 3am and Gadgets snoring, allegedly!) we were up at 7am and greeted by a crisp frosty morning. It was off to breakfast ready to start racing at 9am for one of our teams. Three out of our four teams started with the Endurance Race which is probably the hardest of the 9 events. They went one after the other on the first morning which meant the track was frozen so it was some what easier than it was for the girls at 12:30 on Sunday, it also meant it was out of the way early. After 4 or 5 events on day one it finishes with a party, large inflatables, a disco and a firework display. Those that didn’t want to go to the party built a fire to stay warm before it was time for hot drinks and water bottles again. Owls were back at 3:30am but there were no complaints about Gadgets snoring this time.
In between the remaining 4 or 5 events on Sunday it was pack up and get the trailer loaded ready to leave at the end of the day. Before the results are given out they have the final few races. One is the Pursuit Finals which Ryan and Lewis just missed out on.
After a few placings in the individual results for Ryan and Rhys it came to the final team results and this year we are proud to say that Team Charlie’s took 1st place.
A huge well done to all our teams: Final results are in and out of 90 teams
Team Alpha: Lewis, Sam, Charlotte and Lucy – 17th
Team Bravo: Seamus, Ryan, Tom and Aidan – 81st
Team Charlie’s: Ryan, Rhys, Cameron and Joseph – 1st
Team Delta: Charley-Ann, Lauren, Megan and Geena – 58th (just missed all girls team award, won by team in 53rd)
A huge thank you to Rikki and Kaa from Cubs that came along so we could keep our 4 teams entered (the rules say a leader for every team, not that you would notice from some of the others that take part).
We would also like to thank Chief and his team form 11th Broadstairs. It was their first year at pedal cars and they came a brilliant 10th, so a huge well done to Chief, Robert, Toby, Charlotte and Poppy. It was great to share the site, chat around the fire and all support each other.
As always this is a great event thanks to Colin and the team at Thrifwood so a huge thank you to you all, see in 2013.
As well as a load of cameras, this year we also had a video camera and managed to get a handle bar mount just before leaving. Along with various clips of the Pursuit and Track races we managed to mount the camera on the handle bars during six of the Endurance Races and rather than just point it forward so you see the track we aimed it at the Scouts faces. The video starts a bit dark as they had the sun behind them but once they turn it clears up so you can relive the joy and pain of the race in full HD. Tom, Aidan, Lucy, Charlotte, Lewis and Sam you have been warned. You may think that during the race the camera slipped, it didn’t, it was the Scouts that slipped lower and lower. We have not upload all the video as some of it is a bit rough, it was dark and under floodlights but as with the pictures we will put it all on a disk for you.
No Scouts were harmed in the making of the videos (well, maybe a little bit!)
Click here for Endurance Race video’s
Click here for Pursuit and Track Race video’s
We have not put pictures of every Scout doing every event up there are just too many pictures. We will put them all on a disk for you.
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