Calso Lucky 7's Race Report

 By Stuart Leng

It seemed a long time ago that all the furore had broken out about this year’s Calso Lucky 7’s and that now was the time for Gary to be judged as to whether he had designed a safe, testing and exciting format. The adverse publicity from the UKXTA had certainly provoked interest from all over the world, but it also provided Gary with all the advertising he could ever have wished for and a guaranteed full house.

Two local veterans contested the Women’s intermediate masters and Marion Eagles just edged out Christine Beedle by 450 points. Three local veterans took part in the men’s event with Geoff Miller a very comfortable winner from John Gordon and John Eagles.

There were 4 entrants in the women’s intermediate masters, with Carolyne Waywell picking up her second victory of the year with a great score of 47760 that would have given her second in the open. Jenny Davies-Hoare was only 2000 points behind in second with local Sarah Coatman third. 10 competitors lined up for the Intermediate Open, which was completely dominated by the brilliant new talent of Samantha Saunt, who top scored in every discipline except the Bike! This was an excellent category and eight girls were only separated by 6000 points. Jane Garner from Gorton denied Samantha top score on the bike. Emma Maggott and Rebecca Robert were separated by only 200 points in 6th and 5th respectively. Rebecca was surprisingly beaten by training partner Emily Lockhart, which should add a bit of spice to their training sessions over the next few weeks. Hayley Deighan just edged Emily for 3rd by a mere 410 points and Luton’s Nicola Humphrey made a welcome return to the medals by coming second with 46900 points. For a young lady of 18, in only her second competition, some of Samantha’s race statistics are just incredible. She completed 252 sit ups, the seventh best score in the whole competition, including the men. Her flat run of 1.72k was beaten by only 5 out of 23 men! She achieved 262 Bench Jumps, a score bettered only by the great man himself and her step up score of 226 was only bettered by Becky Ciel. To her Aunt and Uncle, Lance and Trudi Hawksworth , the sport owes you a massive thank you for bringing her to X-Training.

There were 7 competitiors in the Men’s Intermediate Masters, with only 720 points separating 3rd and 6th. Floyd Barrett looks a promising newcomer and local Mark Rudkins missed out on 3rd place to Simon Craft by a mere 220 points(6 reps). Calso’s Gary Wenbourne achieved his best ever result with 2nd place on 45860, just over a 1000 points behind Ian Johnson, who notched his first ever victory. There were 11 entrants in the Open, with 7 of them scoring over 47000 points. Pete Abraham finished 4th  for the second time this year, but had the satisfaction of securing the best run of 1.86k and the top score in the bench jumps of 210 in a total score of 50630. Calso’s Russell Stenning was an excellent 3rd and knocked out 303 sit ups, a score only

bettered by Andy Lett, Hywel Davies and Sarah Connolly. His final score of 53710 was 650 behind Jamie Fraser, who scored consistently all the way through and top-scored on the bike. Worcester’s Phil Rawle scored his second victory of the year with a great score of 55270 which was secured by two fantastic hits on the Bench and Shoulder Press.

There were again 6 women in the Open Masters and even 6th placed Valerie Ritchie top scored on the shoulder press with 173 reps. Chris Rayner was 4th  again just 1710 points behind Francis Walton, who followed up her 2nd place in the Ironwoman. Although she rarely competes, Mikki Skingsley was a comfortable second on 44620, just over 4000 points behind the winner Sue Regan-Watts. There were 10 competitors in the Open and it as good to see Jo Holloway and Phillipa Armitage competing again, although they found the going a little tough on the day. It was very competitive amongst the rest, although a little surprising to see Marie Mitchell in 8th after her performance at Ironwoman. Teresa Clixby-Smith just missed out on 50000 points by 1 rep and was only 440 points behind Sarah Deed, who put in her usual gutsy performance.  Wendy Terry repeated her 5th place at Ironwoman and has at last found some consistency to back up the talent we know is there. Hayley Powell bounced back after a disappointing Ironwoman  and with great scores on the run and step ups, secured 4th place with 51350 points. Trudi Hawksworth also returned to form and with her expected top scores on Bench and Shoulder Press secured 3rd place with 52910. A surprise 2nd place to many, but not her training partner Becky Ciel was Sarah Connolly. Her awesome score of 307 sit ups and 203/226 on Bench Jumps and Step Ups were the key to a great total of 53640. It was a shame that Kirsty Reid couldn’t be here to race Becky Ciel, but she would have faced a  tough task to beat her. Becky has been in great form these last 12 months and  although she only top-scored on Step Ups, she was strong on every discipline to win with a superb score of 56730.

Gary Nicholls comfortably won the Veterans event from Calso’s John Bennett, achieving good points on Bench and shoulder Press. There were 16 competitors in the Men’s Masters and the strength in depth was reiterated when Sylburn Miller came only 12th, but was thought of as a possible winner! It was great to see Mark Elliot and Phil Talbot competing and those who watched Ultrafit would not have been  surprised in the least to see Mark top score on Shoulder Press and have the 2nd best score on Bench Press. A surprise 5th was Paul Morton who top-scored in the Masters on The Run and Bench Jumps to achieve an excellent score of 53070. Nelson Anderson was top-scorer in the Masters on Bike and Step Ups and this helped to a best ever 4th placed finish on 53710. As expected, it was very tight for the top 3 places and Kirk Gibbons scored solidly all the way through to come 3rd with 55520. Gary Nicholas maintained his tremendous record at this event  to finish second on 56740 and was an agonising 170 points(5 reps) adrift of Andy Lett.  Andy’s prowess on Sit Ups was always going to be a factor and his 325 was the best score of the day. He fully deserved his first ever victory.

The top 7 masters would have finished 4th in the Open. It was good to see Jason King in action after his impact at UKXTA and free of injuries, he came an excellent 3rd, top-scoring on the Bike, heavily elsewhere to achieve 57020 points. Sam Orgee was a comfortable 2nd with 61230 and had the satisfaction of beating the great man on Shoulder Press and Step-Ups. Hywell just doesn’t have a weak discipline and slaughtered Sam on the bench and  sit ups, 265 v 200 and 304 v 210, which was the bulk of the deficit of 7780. Not quite the 70000 he had promised, but 69010 was damn close.

A great event that will be talked about for a  long time and rumour has it that the champ may be back on the scene later in the year. Sam- fill your boots while you can!