Gibbs still the ACE at Cannock
Rob / 22.04.2002
There was a touch of déjà vu about the first ACE Race of the 2002 season. It was back at Cannock Chase, the same venue as the last race in 2001, and once again Tom Gibbs was the winner of the male solo category, but he had to fight hard for it.
After a 6 week lay off from running through injury he was pushed all the way by Brendan Bolland, with Marc Laithwaite not far behind. Without a few navigational errors from Laithwaite and the fact Bolland had never had the pleasure of steering an inflatable canoe it might have been different, but it’s all round skill and experience that counts.
The standard was equally high in the other classes, probably the best at an ACE Race ever. In female solos last year’s series winner Annette Morris was beaten by Liz Cowell, but in the female pairs Linda Collison & Cherie Fryer stayed well ahead. David Fryer and Kim Collison couldn’t quite do the same though, finishing second in the male pairs behind Andy Smith and Howard Lowe.
The mixed pairs was one of the closest races, but in the end Helen Jackson and Andy Scaife came out ahead, while in the teams category (now for teams of 4) it was The North Face who limped to victory at high speed! Two of the team, Paul McCarty and Keith Byrne had just returned from the Red Bull Northern Exposure, where McCarty was pulled off the course due to illness. (He’d only started eating again the day before this race!) Ju Panter struggled with a leg injury for the whole of day 2, but with lots of towing they still managed to stay well clear of The Putney Speedos. They won with 1851 points, much better than Team The North Farce, who lived up to their billing with 585 points!We’ll have a full race report and lots of pictures very soon.
The full results will be on the ACE Races site by Tuesday.
