Round Six 2013

24^th, 25^th and 26^th August at the Cheshire Game Fair

Arena Boarding

This was the second of a three day event for the season and yet another main Arena Boarding event to the disappointment of some of the teams who miss the Drag Race. Unfortunately it has fallen victim to the success of the Arena Boarding and is only set to return when four heats of racing can be held in one day. 

It was a good turnout with seven teams attending and only Designated Drinkers missing from the line-up. Their absence could only be accredited to the trials of a long season performing with the Extreme Demo and Joust team of the Independent Horse. So Laura White and horse Fern stayed at home for a well-deserved break while Chris Kirk, boarder for the Drinkers, stepped in as a referee. He replaced Laura Adair who broke her leg in the mid-season interim when practising with Dead Pigeon. Laura instead was keeping a watchful eye on the proceedings from the sound box, in the role of a fourth official. 

For the most part, this was a weekend dictated by the arena conditions which changed quite dramatically over the course of the three days and made for some very exciting boarding. 

Day One found the arena with long lush grass which was also wet from the previous night’s rain. Most competitors feared that the Bank Holiday would bring showers so they hit the course at great speed, expecting the conditions only to get worse.

The layout of the arena caused the corner before the diagonal straight to be closer to a hair pin turn than a tightening bend and this, along with the slippery ground conditions, caught several teams out on their first run. The first three teams crashed out before Ihorse managed to be the first to complete the circuit.

The team which really stood out on Day One, however, who seemingly came from nowhere, was Norfolk ‘n’ Good (well yes, okay, they came from Norfolk…). This time around, they were not only fast but they also recorded a very respectable speed when rider Christy Webb and horse Alfie found that all important fifth gear. Their boarder, Allan Hare, was riding with a confidence to rival Tom Kilroy’s pure commitment to the board around the corners of the course. When asked what had changed in the team, they put all their success down to their training, but the missing link seemed to be Alan’s new Trampa board which was custom built to his weight and height. 

On the morning of Day Two, the arena was probably at its best for grip, however some of the other acts who were also using the arena were starting to dig ruts in the already tricky corner before the diagonal of course ‘A’. 

In the afternoon, the course was switched to course ‘B’ and seeing as the arena was completely dried out and somewhat scrubbed from the previous 63 races, all of a sudden there was no grip in the arena at all. Board riders struggled to understand why the arena had changed so dramatically in just a couple of hours and this lead to the highest number of crashes from a single heat of racing that we had ever seen and certainly went down in our history.

Allan Hare, who had boarded so well the day before, was also racing with Bucks Fizz, as well as Norfolk ‘n’ Good, and crashed on every race. Allan racked up total of six wipe-out style crashes. He was noticeably shaken, slightly injured and was struggling to adapt to the new course conditions. Ross Towner, not to be left out, also had a massive fall with team Ambush. By the end of the second round of races, less than half of the teams had completed the course. Whilst you might think the ever-expectant crowd which lined the arena would be getting restless with the lack of teams finishing the course, in fact the opposite was true. The high number of crashes only fuelled the blood-thirsty crowd into a frenzy as the board riders took on the notoriety of being gladiator-like. The crowd’s general opinion started to turn into “if they make it great, if they fall, well that’s great viewing too.”

Day Three and the grip in the arena was only going to get worse, with 84 races already run on it and another 42 to go. The track had now become visibly tricky as the right hand turn of ‘hog-roast corner’ had been so abused by the Izuzu D-max, making it muddy, slippery and rutted. This, coupled with the competitive edge of teams trying to shave seconds off their time, was the cause of at least four big crashes; one from Tom Kilroy , two from Allan Hare and massive one from Ross Towner who took out a speaker and its stand on his way into the crash barriers. 

At this point, Daniel Fowler-Prime replaced Allan from Bucks Fizz and even though it was an unlikely pairing, they worked very well together and all of a sudden the team were scoring times in the mid-forties with the fastest teams of the weekend. This is a combination that could clearly do very well in the future. 

When all was said and done, after 126 races, there was little surprise left in store which was that Kauldren, the combination of the little superstar pony, Jack, and board rider Tom Kilroy had once again won with a 1.27 second lead on Dead Pigeon and Do or Die were only 1.33 seconds behind them. 

This result, however, raised a question about the rules, in particular when racing for two teams you can only record points for your designated team. But given that Tom Kilroy had spent the majority of the year racing with both Do or Die and Kauldren, he had consistently knocked himself down the score board and could very well beat himself out of the championship win, which he was likely to lose to Ross Towner.

So, what of Norfolk ‘n’ Good? Well, after this weekend especially, you have to take this team seriously as they came fourth behind Do or Die by only 0.01 of a second. If this team carry on the way they have this weekend, they will be very competitive for next year and would really open the field up to the championship.

Just behind them was Bucks Fizz with only 0.95 seconds difference. However, it is worth noting that Bucks Fizz’s time on course ‘A’ was 4 seconds slower than course ‘B’ with Daniel Fowler-Prime as their boarder. It will be interesting to see this pairing race together for a full weekend.

Then just 3.5 seconds behind Bucks Fizz was Ambush with Kirsty Kirby and the mighty horse Batman romping in to 6th position. Then over a second behind them was Ihorse, taking the wooden spoon in 7th place. Ihorse, who really have had a terrible season, will be looking to take the rest of the events to continue to train their new horse Apache and give him experience in the competing arena.

It will always be the case that a new horse will have an effect on the team’s performance, but the team itself has been inconsistent anyway, considering they have had four separate horse riders, including Laura White who was absent this weekend, in only six rounds of competition. The failure to gel is hardly surprising especially with Apache being the stubborn kind of horse to put more effort into not doing something rather than actually doing it. 

What of the Championship? Well if there will be a fight, it can only be between the top three. We have Do or Die on 29 points, only one point behind Dead Pigeon who are on 30. However, out in front, the season leaders since day one, the mighty Kauldren, who have only dropped 1 point over all of the competitions they have entered. This amazing team have had superb year so far, kicking ass and taking care of business.

So here we are, the penultimate event of what has been the most successful Horseboarding Championships to date. Team Kauldren, who have donned the top of the leader board all season and have a 5 point cushion, will not be attending the next event in Sandringham, which will leave the door wide open for a major upset in the rankings.

Dead Pigeon, who are currently sitting in 2nd position, are keen to take the lead. Rumour has it, they will be entering two teams to maximise their chances.

Do or Die who are currently sharing 2nd place, have also pulled out of this event which will add to the drama for the final positions going into the final round at Wiltshire. Norfolk ‘n’ Good, who have come on tremendously over the last few events, will be looking to show the other teams that experience does not always win over skill. Lastly, Bucks Fizz still have the chance to get a decent time recorded after a turbulent season.

All that, alongside two new teams joining the pits, it looks as though the season and the Championships will come down to the last race in the last heat on the last day. Stay tuned people, this is going to be an epic display of determination, endurance and commitment from all teams.