The Exmoor Beastie sponsored by Exmoor Ales
by Dave Stockton 25 Mar 2014 15:36 GMT
23 March 2014
The strength and direction of wind enabled the Beast of Exmoor to swipe his paws across the narrower parts of Wimbleball Lake to knock down the competitors in the annual Exmoor Beastie pursuit race.
At the 11 o'clock briefing the race officer for the day Gordon Keyworth warned the thirty eight competitors that the already testing conditions were due to get livelier for the start of the race at twelve.
The spine of Wimbleball lake is from the north to the south and the north-westerly direction of the wind ensured that large gusts with some wicked changes in direction were encountered by all competitors on the first leg of the three hours.
Val Millward in a Challenger started early and made the best of the conditions to establish a commanding lead which the rest of the fleet were going to find it difficult to close. When the K1 fleet, fresh from their open meeting the previous day, started it was Simon Hawkes who managed to quickly break free from the pack and was in hot pursuit of the leaders.
Later on the Phantoms started with their national champion Andy Couch deciding to give the rest of the fleet a ten minute start due to some gear failure, with Ian Horlock in a Contender starting around the same time. Andy and Ian started to pick off the rest of the fleet with the two of them swapping places throughout the race.
Simon Hawes managed to overtake Val Millward in the last twenty minutes and stretched out into the lead. With Andy and Ian closing quickly on Simon the maroon want up signalling the end of the race leaving Simon first, Andy second and Ian third.
Thanks go to Exmoor Ales for sponsoring the event and supplying some fine liquid prizes and to Gordon Keyworth and his team for running the day.