VTTA National '25' re-run

Colin writes about his 2nd place (40-50 age group) in the VTTA National '25'
Despite torrential rain in Central England in the previous couple of days, the re-run of the VTTA National 25(cancelled from May Bank Holiday due to.....bad weather!) it took place on Sunday in Oxford. I had the previous days Coventry CC 25 cancelled due to 'standing water' so i was not hope full as i travelled down on the Saturday. At six in the morning i had to wade through knee deep water to get to my car on the outskirts of Clanfield, staying with friends i had spent two hours the previous day helping to bale out a neighbours house. I was lucky the next village of Bampton had been under four feet of water and 1000 houses had no electricity. Even though the nearby town of Abingdon was cut off the event went ahead on the A420 from Cumnoor to Faringdon, I was an early starter after trying to warm up from my early morning paddle the day was bright and just a hint of wind. There were lots of DNS's which probably accounted for my 7th overall on scratch with 57.28(5th if you exclude the non Vets) and second in my age category (40-50)only missing out by 46 sec to the winner Joe Murray of Hinckley CRC. Phil Bull was the overall winner and winner of the 50-60 age category with 55.45, 78 year old Dennis Milsom romped away with the Standard award with a +24.30 to my poultry +11.03 (for 20th)