Gillian arrived on Thursday and on Friday morning Roy went out with her to show her a few of BP's sights. I was feeling a bit sick, so I didn't go. The minibus arrived even before 2pm and after a slightly fraught trip in the rush hour we got to the airport a little bit late. Carol, Barbara and Nigel were already waiting and we made tracks towards Kiskoros. It got rather foggy and dark towards the end of the trip, but with Roy driving all was well. Except I was sick (thankfully into a prepared bucket) in the back of the bus. This was not a good sign as Roy had gastric flu earlier in the week and now it looked as if I got it.
Once at the Hotel we met up with Nick, Sarah Jane, Elizabeth and John, who then joined the crowd (minus me) for dinner at one of Kiskoros's rustic eateries. I managed to be sick once more in the night, but otherwise got a few hours of shuteye.
Next morning - after no breakfast for me - we all went to the event. The day was mild, the juniper as fierce as I remembered, the courses excellent and it looked as if everybody had a good day. Even I had a reasonable run on a completely empty stomach and no sustenance for over 24 hours. Ildi only beat me by 2 and half minutes. In the meantime Roy joined the sicklist as he managed to turn his ankle outside the restaurant the night before and was by now seriously hobbling.
We went back to the same restaurant in the evening where we all had a lovely meal. I only had half a bowl of soup, but that was more than the night before. The unexpected 30% discount of the night before unfortunately did not reappear, but we still had good value and nice food in a lovely atmosphere.
Sunday dawned a bit colder and there was a promise of easier courses. The sicklist grew further with John having severe toothache which needed early attention. After some painkillers he decided that the dentist can wait, but he didn't dare to compete. The rest then valiantly went out for the second time to wrestle with the juniper.
While most of our group had good courses, the two W60 ladies had a really raw deal. We had a rubbish, idiotic insult of a course, that was barely adquate for a 14 year old on a 2 year old map and which I am going to complain about. I finished about 3 minutes down on Ildi, so I finished 2nd overall. Considering my general state of health + the gastric flu, that was an excellent result.
Of the rest of the group Nick was also second in M21, Elizabeth 2nd in W21, Carol 3rd in W50. Barbara had definitely had her money's worth, but finally turned up just after the launch of the search party (Nigel and Gillian). Amazingly she was very happy, in fact on a high after she doggedly struggled through and did not let the juniper beat her.
Sunday's dinner was taken in a fish restaurant up country, which proved a gem of a find. The group photo above is of the 6 of us there as the younger contingent left straight after the event. The earlier photos are of Nick flogging CompassSport and Carol being pleased with her 3rd place.
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