ShUOC brave Brighton

 Intrepid explorers journeyed their way down to "that London" to compete in the annual Jan Kjellstrom (JK) competition... what else would you do on an Easter Weekend?! 
The first day took place on the campus of Brunel University for the Sprint. The opportunity to use the SI Air, a contact less dibber, added to the excitement.    
The elite men's course was a 2.7km straight line route. The top ten was filled with SPOOK and ShUOC members with Kris Jones and Ralph Street in 1st and 2nd, Jonny Crickmore in 5th,  Willy Garner in 7th and Dane Blomquist in 9th. 
ShUOC really represented in the M21E class with Adam Potter (11th), Matthew Elkington (18th), Olly Williams (25th), Nicholas Barber (34th), Alex Moore (40th), Edward Lawrence (60th), Adam Walker (73rd) and Tom Entwistle (75th). 

In the Men's M20E class Nathan Lawson started off his successful weekend by finishing 2nd, with James Mellor finishing in 25th, Stephen Elkington in 29th and Alex Bett (33rd) overall.  

Alice Rigby flew round the W20 elite and finished 2nd, a mere 1 second behind the winner.Katie Blacford also race W20E finishing 14th. Meanwhile in the W21E Tamsin Moran narrowly missed a top ten position finishing 12th over all. Honorary aussie member and commentators worst nightmare,  Aislinn Prendergast finished 18th, Hannah Bradley (32nd) and Katherine Bett (47th). 

Some lucky ShUOCer's were then driven home or to comfortable hospitality establishments with soft bedding and food paid for by their parents. However, a lucky 8 drove on to Brighton to stay in what one trip adviser review called a Gulag. After a nights "sleep" in a bunk bunkbedded, curtainless dormitory shared with  various hen parties they were ready to take on the middle distance. 
Alice Rigby again competed in the W20E and managed to run for less distance than she did during the sprint. She added to her brilliant result of the previous day by finishing 4th overall. 
Aislinn, Tamsin and Hannah again raced in the W21E over 5km placing 18th, 21st and 31st respectively. 
Katherine Bett ran the W21L course and finished 14th overall. 
Nathan Lawson continued his streak of brilliance and finished 3rd on M20E, with James Mellor placing 24th overall, only 13 minutes down on the leader.
 Stephen Elkington ran M20S this day and came in in 3rd position on the 3km long course. 
The Men's M21E was again led by SPOOK members; Ralph Street (1st) and Kris Jones (3rd). Dane Blomquist narrowly missed a top ten position finishing 11th. Unfortunately he didn't manage to miss a log leaving him with a substantial bruise and sadly unable to race for the rest of the weekend. 
Matthew Elkington place in the top 20, finishing 17th overall, Adam Potter (25th), Olly Williams (40th), Nic Barber (41st), Alex Moore (56th), Edward Lawrence (71st), Adam Walker (77th) and Tom Entwistle (79th). 

A trip to Brighton Beach, a weatherspoons and another "good" nights sleep later and if all our members would make it out of the rhododendrons.
 Nathan Lawson decided he quite liked placing in the top 3 and finished 3rd again over the 12.4km course, James Mellor also finished within the top 20. 
Stephen Elkington again ran M20S, however this time he won! in a time of 52:19. 
Adam Walker finished in the top 10 (8th) on the M21S, beating off future brother in law Thomas Butt. Tom Entwistle ran M21L of 14.4km distance and found that jelly babies can be life savers (24th).
 The M21E consisted of 17.7km climb and 390m climb. SPOOK showed the course what they were made of with Ralph Street and Kris Jones finishing 2nd and 3rd prospectively. Matthew Elkington finished an impressive 16th, only 16 minutes behind the leaders. Adam Potter was only shortly behind in 19th, Nic Barber (25th), Alex Moore (48th) and Edward Lawrence (54th). 


On W20E Alice finished in 6th overall, only 2 minutes behind 1st, proving just how competitive this age category was over the weekend.
Katherine Bett again competed in W21L, finishing 15th overall.  
Tamsin Moran had an amazing race on the 11.9km W21E giving her a finishing position of 14th. Aislinn came in just behind in 18th and Hannah Bradley in 25th. 

On the 4th and final day came the relays. ShUOC entered 4.6 teams in the Men's Trophy and 1 team in the Women's trophy, 
The Women, ShUOC Pop Tarts (Alice Rigby, Hannah Bradley and Tamsin Moran) finished 6th overall. Aislinn ran for SYO and came home with a trophy after winning! 
Following injuries from sticks and punctured lungs the ShUOC men's teams faced some reorganisation. 
Men of Steel (Nathan Lawson, Adam Potter, Matthew Elkington) finished 6th
Dashing for Dashley (Olly Williams, Alex Moore and Nic Barber) 13th 
ShUOC C-men (James Mellor, Joe Thomas, Edward Lawrence) 26th 
ShUOC morning glory (Alex Bett, Katie Blackford, Stephen Elkington) 30th 
Rivelin Rascals lacked a 3rd member but Egil Morast and Tom Entwistle placed 23rd and 33rd on their legs. 

HUGE congratulations to Nathan Lawson and Alice Rigby for placing 3rd and 5th overall in the competition.

Photos taken from Will Heap, Wendy Carlyle and Rob Lines 
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