A classic Sandstone for the millennium. A fine autumn day combining with some fine Cheshire goo made for long times and gritty performances. Simon Ellis’s 2 minute lead at Beeston had eroded to 1 minute at Rock Farm and at the A54 he was being hotly pursued by Peter Pickwell and Graham MacNeil. He did well to hold off the challenge and give Tattenhall Runners their first ever win in the race and, with strong runs by Ian Lancaster and Steve Hammond, their first ever Team prize; a pleasing days racing for a club which has supported this event for many years. The only record to go was the woman’s V40 in the A Race, Dawn Kenwright’s 2.24.43 improving on Sandra Owen’s 1998 time by 17 seconds. The B Race was also hard fought, Paul Lambert just getting ahead of Roger Wood after Rock Farm, but Philip Burden stayed clear to win by 2 minutes. First lady Suzanne Owen seems to be continuing a family tradition, being the daughter of Tattenhall’s Sandra Owen, a Sandstone veteran and former record-holder.

The future of the race will require careful consideration. Mark Hartell has already done quite a bit of work on the possibility of a circular route based on Bickerton and involving the 3 castles. However, strong views from local clubs have been expressed about finding a way of keeping to the present course, along with some offers of support. What we will do is register an event for 2001 to ensure that we can celebrate the quarter-century of the race by inflicting pain and exhaustion on you again next year, and publicise the date on the website as soon as possible. The Web and e-mail have become valuable tools in generating entries and information, so please continue to use them and let us know about any changed or additional addresses, or sites that would take race publicity.

website: www.deeside-orienteering-club.org.uk/sstrail/index.htm

e-mail: barry@delamere111.freeserve.co.uk

Whatever the shape of the race there is no doubt that it could not run without the goodwill of all the landowners and helpers who support us. The big organisations of Cheshire County Council, the National Trust, Forest Enterprise and English Heritage (Beeston Castle) all give their permissions for the route. Thanks are also due to individuals such as Dave Morris who removes the gates to get you off Bickerton Hill as quickly as possible, Mr Bennett who opened the Beeston car park especially for us, Mr Ryder who allows you all to stand knee deep in his mud at the B Race start and turns off his electric fences and the farmer at Fishers Green who also switched his fences off for you. Then there is the St John Ambulance waiting hopefully for trips and sprains and Raynet keeping an eye on the tailenders. Whatever Cheshire police decide to do about charging for their services, the officers who get you all over the main roads do a superb job with great good humour and work well with our marshals. Speaking of which….I know all you need to do is follow the yellow footprint markers, but I also know that half of you would end up in Derbyshire if it were not for the 50 or so Deesiders and friends who see you through the tricky bits. Special thanks to them and their finish and registration colleagues, and also to Andrew Williams for spending hours and hours developing the results programme which worked so smoothly, and to my wife Jill for dealing with entries and T-shirt production with such efficiency.

See you all next year, somewhere on the Sandstone Trail.

Barry Barnes (01606 888845)

Race Organiser

Deeside Orienteering Club