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London to Brighton Run ’07
Account of the day
3.00am & the alarm clock sounds. Having managed
to grab a precious few hour’s sleep I bounced out
of bed full of excitement in anticipation of the day
ahead. After a quick bit of brekkie & bath I woke
the rest of the household who were less than enamoured
at my high spirits. Eventually I got them moving &
we met up with the rest of the club who were cruising
up from Eastbourne at 4.30.
Neil led the way along our customary
route through some lovely country lanes (I prefer
this to doing the proper run). Paul did a quick detour
after remembering he had left his ticket at home,
but soon caught us up. Various forms of wildlife entertained
us in their efforts to escape our wheels & we
made it to Crystal Palace soon after 6.
Within minutes we had set our BBQ’s
up on the wall & EDMC smoke signals could soon
be seen, along with the wafting smell of bacon &
sausages.
Dave appeared a while later &
not too happy as the sidewalk had only just made it.
After a failed attempt to get it going with Gary’s
battery, a small band of mechanics went to investigate
& found the problem to be a faulty wire. Dave
then left to get to Brighton early to join his Mk1
on the Miniworld stand.
Alan & a few college mates had
camped overnight & were at the front of the queue.
While they were making their way to Brighton, the
rest of us had to wait our turn.
We finally left Crystal Palace at
about 9am & soon were split up by traffic lights
& roundabouts. Eventually, we all made it down
to Madeira Drive to meet up with those who were sensible
enough to opt for a lie-in & set up our club stand.
Josie’s hard work transforming our humble gazebo into
Gypsy Jim’s fortune telling tent really paid off.
Gypsy Jim him/herself kicked off our EDMC cross-dressing
theme * soon, most had changed into their eye-catching
outfits. The mini’s on the stand looked great with
their moustaches, eyes & handkerchiefs on their
“heads”. Thank you Tony for your artwork. Hank looked
particularly good as a huge sandcastle!
The fun & games in the main arena
started early afternoon with the soapbox challenge.
Team EDMC were Daz (minus high heels for this event),
Josie & Tom. They each took turns in pushing &
riding in our superb deckchair based go-kart. The
sight of Daz trying to run in a dress drew a lot of
laughs from the crowds of onlookers. Though they finished
the course in good time, it was not enough to take
a prize. Well done though to Gaz, Paul & Daz for
their great creation!
Next up was the pit-stop challenge.
Team “Nut Breakers” made up of Josie, Alex, Shirley
& Myself huddled together for a final team talk
by Josie & a quick confidence boost. The boys;
Paul, Dave, Daz (still in a dress) & Alan looked
cool, calm & collected. The organisers went through
the rules & instructions before we were allowed
to climb aboard our “Bini’s”.
A screech of tyres by Josie we were
off. We all rushed to get our equipment & were
soon down to work. The boys were like a well oiled
machine & soon had the job done in about 4 minutes!
Meanwhile, the girls were struggling with their locking
wheel nuts, but cheered on by team coach Jim &
a large crowd of admirers, we too, finally finished
in a time of 8 minutes. Once we had caught our breath,
we were informed by the organisers that no other teams
had appeared to challenge us. After a search for the
missing teams & much discussion as to whether
we should go head-to-head again, another team was
found. Our brave boys went into battle again &
this time finished in a very good time of 3:47minutes.
As no further teams were willing to risk the chance
of being beaten by a bunch of girlies, the competition
was closed & our team of boys were declared the
winners!
Tired & hungry, we made our way
wearily back to the club stand to change into more
suitable clothes & then headed off for a late
lunch.
Other club members had taken advantage
of the trade stands & numerous purchases were
made, while some just enjoyed the sunshine & lounging
by the club stand.
Later in the afternoon we made our
way to the Miniworld stand ready for the prize giving.
Eventually the announcement came for the winners of
the pit-stop challenge so Dave, Paul & Daz made
their way to the stage to collect their trophy from
Monty & have their photo taken…hopefully for the
magazine. They then rushed off to collect the spoils
of war - 4 jacks, 4 wheel braces & 4 torque wrenches.
A very happy, but tired, gang of
members set about dismantling the stand & packing
everything away & London 2 Brighton 2007 drew
to a close.
Thank you to everyone who took part
& helped with the team events & the making
of the club stand. I hope you had as good a day as
I did!
[Reported by Rachel]
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