Report

Very many thanks to Sion Mathews for organising this event and for writing the report.

First round of the new season kicked off well on the evening of Thursday 12^th October 2023, starting and finishing in the Holland Arms Hotel in Pentre Berw. Lee Matthews and John Evans went and put the symbols out an hour ahead of the crews, whilst Sion Matthews and Endaf Davies signed everyone on and gave them their packs. Lee later went to fetch the symbols down and amazingly they were all still there. Big thank you also to Jamie Jones and John B Roberts for their assistance.
The route was divided into four sections. The rules were important on this event so some crews, although they found the symbols, wrote them down in the wrong section on the record sheet, or picked up the duds. Grid references were used along with some NAM’s (Not As Map) to define the 30-mile route.
Section 1: Nant yr Odyn direct to Llangaffo, starting off with a simple section to get the crews into the swing of things. Section 2 Tacla Taid to Dwyran, where the crews headed towards the back of Dwyran and then looped around to get through the housing estate in the middle. Section 3 Brynsiencyn West to Brynsiencyn East. A few tricky roads and junctions to navigate through, then a loop around to the other side of the village using the white near St Nidans Church where NAM 1 had crews driving around the big tree. Section 4 Bryn Celli Ddu to Hotel, more NAM’s in this section along with a couple of mapped tricky bits, heading toward Llanddaniel, Star, Lon Ceint, Gaerwen, then to the Finish.

Congratulations to the winners, Carey and Tom, who found all the symbols, but like every other crew wrote down the first symbol, which was a dud, being 100m before the start point of Section 1. This meant losing 2 points, and they ended on 80 points from a possible 82. We included this dud as a tricky decider to get a winner, but everyone got the 2-point deduction, making it irrelevant.
Second, Duncan and Kay, only missed one symbol, the first symbol on Section 2 despite going the correct way, finishing on 79 points. Third, Dion and Cory got the furthest cleanest tie on 78 points. They missed one of the three code boards in NAM 4 near the end in the Holland Arms Quarry entrance along with a tricky “3” in the grass verge near the “wheel in the wall” junction south of Llangaffo in Section 3. Fourth, Emyr and Aron on 78 also missed the “3” but were relegated to fourth place after missing a sneaky double ode board, one of which was in the opposite gateway to an obvious one, in the opening section.
Fifth, Lee and Sion got the furthest cleanest tie on 71 points. Their errors included writing down a B road dud on SS2 by the Dwyran hump backed bridge, and missing the housing estate loop in Star. Sixth, Jill and Paul, 71 points. Wrong plotted the depart of Section 2 and picked up the relevant off-route dud and missing the two on the correct route, costing them 5^th place. Seventh, Mark, Ella and Justin on 69 points picked up the Section 2 B road dud, in Section 3 missed a small loop on the outskirts of Brynseincyn, and on Section 4 missed the star village loop.

Eighth, Tomos, Caron and Wills were on 68 points, generally missing the sneaky ones along with a dud on the short way round of NAM3, the grass riangle on the Ceint road. Ninth, Iwan and Gabi ended on 66 points, by recording the Section 2 B road dud, failing to go around the tree on NAM1, missing a mapped white in his own village, and also got the dud on NAM3 near Ceint. Tenth, Yvonne and Winnie on 62 points, missed a lot early on due to poor visibility, along with a poorly navigator, got better as the event went on. Picked up the Section 3 dud on the B-road down to Sea Zoo, and missed the “8” on a Brynseincyn triangle. Eleventh, Kyle and Jacob got 60 points. On Section 3 they wrote a dud down along with missing some loops, including a mapped white in Llanddaniel Fab. Twelfth, Geraint and Cameron on 59 points. They missed a few along the route, Including the tree “Cymru M” Bonus symbol, the two symbols in the Section 4 Star loop and the two on the Gaerwen industrial estate NAM right at the end.
Results were fairly close as we chose a fairly simple route to start the series with, and will gradually get harder, as this event was aimed at beginners. The tall grass and soft ground at this time of year made the code boards a little harder to see than we would have liked, and maybe John was a little heavy handed with the hammer. Something for us organisers to think about going forward.
Thanks to the Holland Arms Hotel for hosting the start and finish. Thanks to Lee Matthews and John Evans on code boards set up. Jamie Jones and John B Roberts on Driving Standards duties, making sure everyone was driving appropriately, and Endaf Davies for signing-on.
Nice to see new faces coming into the sport as well as the regulars. The next round is the Brown Leaves Navigation Run on Map 115 Thursday 02/11/2023, more details at Brown Leaves Navigation Run

RESULTS

1. Carey Lindley/Tom Parkes; Polestar – 80 points.
2. Duncan Littler/Kay littler; Caddy – 79.
3. Dion Rowlands/Cory Thomas; Corolla – 78.1
4. Emyr Owen/Aron Jones; Mazda 6 – 78.
5. Lee Threadgold/Sion Jones; Peugeot RCZ – 71.1
6. Jill Clarke/Paul Clarke; Nissan Qashquai – 71
7. Mark Campbell/Ella Camobell/Justin Campbell; Ford Mondeo – 69.
8. Tomos Roberts/Caron Thomas/RhysWills; VW Polo – 68.
9. Iwan Evans/Gaby Tsantanis; Ford Focus ST – 66.
10. Yvonne Matthews/Winnie Chen; Nissan Micra – 62.
11. Kyle/Jacob; Renault Clio – 60.
12. Geraint Jones/Cameron; Suzuki Swift – 59.

Information

This will be the first in a series of Dusty Romer Navigation Runs organised by Sion Matthews. It is planned that there will be regular rounds through to March 2024 and dates will be published as soon as they are confirmed.
Navigation Runs are ideal for learning to plot a route and read a map, and provide good practice for anyone aspiring to compete in a road rally anytime soon.

The start venue is Holland Arms Hotel, Pentre Berw, Gaerwen LL60 6HY - Ordnance Survey map 114 (Anglesey/Ynys Môn), reference 472 723½. what3words location ///mailing.overused.thudded.
Sign on from 19.00 hours; route handouts at 19.30 hours. Finish for 22.30 hours at the Holland Arms Hotel.

You will require O.S. Map 114 plus the usual navigation aids of poti (or other illuminated means of reading the map), romer, pen/pencil, etc.

Drivers and navigators need a valid club membership. Renew or join at Membership Application