The Pylon Trophy 25th March

Conditions: 8 mph End of Morgan’s Ridge

Having arrived at the top of the slope we were greeted by well clad and multi layered fellow club members Steve Clutterbuck and Graham Tolhurst. Although this is mid spring with summer not to far away (as ever the optimist), we might as well still have been in the d epths of winter as far as the weather was concerned, with heavy clouds and a chill factor nearing Siberian proportions (Well perhaps that was a bit of an exaggeration, but I seem to be feeling the cold a lot more the older I get. Gone are the days of flying in a bum freezer jacket and with the sleet and snow stinging my eyes just to get as much stick time as possible, and loving every minute of it.) Anyway with models rigged a and flag poles slung under arm we made for the trek across to the North end of Morgan’ s. Conditions were far from ideal but after a trimming flight and a quick reccy with my trusty Eliminator SR to find the best position to set up the course, the flags were sighted and we were ready to begin.

With only six pilots assembled we made the decision to run the pylon comp as a ‘one up at a time event’ F3F style. Although Lynda and I had come up with a fantastic (even if we do say so ourselves) pilot selecting matrix system, there just wasn’t enough pilots to allow it to work. (Come on fellow members, club comps are so much fun and the best way to hone your skills).

We managed to get 4 rounds completed in the somewhat trying conditions, with quite a mixture of models present. Looking at the scores, you will notice that all pilots concerned flew their particular model to the best of the models ability with very consistent times. You may also note that Graham was improving with every flight. Our only junior member Jack Cubitt, flew particularly well securing 3rd place when you take into account that he unfortunately damaged his Mini Dragon whilst landing after his first flight and so (not having flown it before and under strict pressure not to break it), borrowed my Eliminator for the rest of the comp. Lynda battled away flying a very smooth course with her Bad Girl Wild Thing and Pete squeezed good times out of his Predator foamy, whilst Steve competed furiously with his slippery Banana.

Thanks to all competitors for great racing and for helping to run the comp as we were all kept franticly busy with flagging and timing.