Devon Relays
Close tussle between QO teams
Kings Tor: 360 degrees
Credit:
Steven Vacher, Flikr
Captain for the day Chris Philip set up our three teams to be quite equal and so competitive with each other to see who could claim club "bragging rights"! His vision was rewarded with a tight finish between two of those teams... Results
King's Tor
Credit: Steven Vacher
A thoroughbred stallion and a Dartmoor pony
The Byfoot Trophy- the Beast of Dartmoor's paw print in plaster of Paris
The prize-giving: BOK Halletts with the Byfoot trophy
Credit: Devon OC website
On high-ish ground overlooking the open moorland, the assembly area acted as a superb natural grandstand. Runners zipped around in the distance like ants, coming into view dramatically as they struggled up the hill to the finish.
Two of these were the last leg runners for QO Vadis and Status QO, Andy Rimes and Pete Shirvington respectively. Pete chased down Andy to the finish and when QO To Go's Chris Philip emerged hot on Pete's heels, it appeared as if Chris had balanced the teams out right... unfortunately Chris was not his team's last runner though!
This relay offered two trophies for the price of one: non-handicapped times qualified teams towards the summer series league and the Team trophy, while handicapped times qualified them for Devon's quirky-looking Byfoot trophy.
Unsurprisingly, Bristol OK, who have dominated this season's relays, again filled the top two positions in both competitions, although host club Devon were a very close third. Our teams Status QO and QO Vadis were 4th and 5th respectively, also in both contests. Though the fact Vadis crossed the finish line first meant that they should have been 4th in the handicap race, which was supposed to be a 'first past the post' affair.
It has become apparent since that the final scores were based on the total of all the relay legs as timed electronically. So two possible explanations: either Status QO must have been taking longer rests in between their legs or there was an admin error in attributing times to certain legs.
Half the 14 teams mispunched. This included some very strong teams like Wessex Raiders and Kerno's A team. It also included Chris Philips own QO to Go team. Kerno Kings would have finished second without the mispunch.
About the winners
In the week that Compass Sport magazine calculated that Bristol OK's Clive Hallett was joint second best orienteer in Britain, his family team won both the Team Trophy and Byfoot trophy at Kings Tor. Anyone who saw Clive seemingly glide over the boggiest bit of the terrain will understand how he's rated so highly, in a ranking system that takes age and gender into account.
Event page on Devon OC website
The QO teams
| Tem / position | Teams (captains in bold) |
| QO Vadis / 5th | Spencer Modica, Andy Rimes, Steve Robertson |
| Status QO / 4th | Jeff Pakes, Pete Shirvington, Rosie Wych |
| QO to GO / dsq | Jim Mallinson, Chris Philip, Angela Modica |