Introduction

The penultimate event in the Grand Prix series took place at Fitness First Gorton on Saturday 20 October 2007. Criticised in some quarters for her declaration that the judging would be strict and issuing precise and detailed guidelines for each of the exercises, Francis Walton was quickly given the support of the whole X-Training community by filling the event at its maximum of 120, 5 weeks before the event. Unfortunately the event lost Will Whitmore and Nik Kandola to injury, and Jason King to mother and baby issues! Congratulations Jason from everyone at the event. In the end 113 competed, which considering the rugby and late withdrawals was a fantastic turnout.

The Junior Event

There were 4 entries in the junior event and Simon Craft, who was competing in the Intermediate event, was pleased to see son Adam take 3rd in 6:26. Oliver Regan-Watts kept up the family medal winning tradition by taking 2nd in 6:14, but was comfortably beaten by Sam Manning in 5:48.

Ladies Intermediate

There was a healthy 20 entries in the Ladie's Intermediate event and in race 2 Tracey Tsikai set a challenging time of 10:02 for the rest to beat. Late entrant Kim Thompson from the ever increasing Dragons Derby contingent did well to take 3rd in the masters with a time of 11:45 and in the next race Debra Saniga took 2nd with 10:49. Emma Maggott broke the 10 minute barrier with 9:54 and with a bit more self-belief, can start challenging for medals. Newcomer Mary Eve McNearney won the best performance award for her time of 10:03. Jenny Davis-Hoare took advantage of Carolyne Waywell's absence through injury with an easy victory in the Masters with a great time of 9:31. Emily Lockhart who was expected to challenge for medals had a nightmare on the Shoulder Press which left her in 8th. There was a great race between Hayley Deighan and local Penny Bunton, with Penny coming out on top to take 3rd place by 6 seconds in 9:05. Nicky Humphrey was right back to her best after a poor race at the Gauntlet and took 2nd in 9:01.  Sam Saunt was as impressive as ever in a comfortable victory in 8:37

Male Intermediate

A tougher course this year certainly slowed up the times for the 25 male Intermediate competitors. There were two new names on the medals in the Masters category with Stuart Gilbert taking 3rd in 14:35, just 6 seconds behind Dominic Boardman. The consistent Ian Johnson gained the narrowist of victories by 1 second. Lloyd Millichip who has been actively encouraging X-Training in his gym set a very impressive time of 12:49 to lay down the gauntlet for the last 6 competitors. Russell Stenning pushed hard but finished 4th in 13:27 to give Lloyd his first medal. The final race between Jamie Fraser and Stephen Mead was eagerly anticipated. Jamie was first off the rower and held the lead down the rest of the course, despite Steve's superb treadmill to win in 11:50, 22 seconds ahead of Steve.

Ladies Open

There were 17 entries in the Ladies Open/Masters. Terri Downs, who did a fantastic job all day manning the Registration desk put up a very brave effort to complete her first Open course in 34:09. In the second race Catherine Gardner who had travelled down from Edinburgh shocked some of the elite athletes with an unbelieveable time of 21:43 and we were even checking her Splits to ensure that a mistake hadn't been made! In race 4, Valerie Ritchie set a solid time of 26:31, which was to ultimately give her 2nd place in the Masters. I expected this course to suit Mikki Skingsley, but she was a disappointing 3rd in 27:11 and in her race was left in the wake of Linda Walsh, who had her best ever race to finish 7th in 23:58. A little more improvement and she could be pushing for medals. Sue-Regan Watts had a really close tussle with Marie Mitchell before pulling away on the run to take 1st In the Masters in 23:08, 30 seconds ahead of Marie. Suffering from a heavy cold, Becky Ciel raced Sarah Deed in the penultimate race and as always gave everything to secure 2nd in 21:26. Sarah was 22 seconds behind to tie with Cathy Gardner for Third. Kirst Read wasn't quite as dominant as last year, but also suffering from a cold was a comfortable winner in 20;41.

Mens Open

There were 42 competitors in the Mens Open/Masters and due to other commitments. Kirk Gibbons and Sam Orgee raced first. Sam recorded his first win here in his first comp last year and flew the early part of the course before the strict judging on the Shoulders slowed him down. He ran the Treadmill all the way at 13.5kph to record a time of 18:40-would it be quick enough to beat Ben Stroud? Kirk was as solid and reliable as ever and had no problems with the stricter judging to record 19:28. Simon Bellinger raced early and posted a useful 22:33 and Andy Ashurst set a solid time of 22:54 in the Masters along with Farouk Vawda who did 22:36. Gary Nicholls won the Vets easily in 22:56 ahead of Simon Cox and Gary Yates. Steve Grundy won the best performance award for his excellent time of 21:37, which gave him his best placing in 5th. Martin Carter and Adrian Berry had a gigantic tussle to finish 6th and 7th respectively in 21:46 and 21:57. Paul Morton amazing run gave him a great time of 20:24 to finish 3rd in the masters and he was beaten by 8 seconds by Les Barrow, who performed well at an earlier event and finished 2nd here. Ben Stroud had imposed himself at the top level with his 3rd place at a earlier event and really fancied his chances  here. He beat Steve Dowse by a minute in their race, but found the going hard on the shoulders and run to record a time of 21:!1 which gave him 4th in the Open. The scheduled last race between defending champion Gary Nicholas and Andy Lett was a cracker throughout and Andy proved the stronger with atime of 20:03 to finish 2nd in the Masters. He has been in a rich vein of form and Gary was unlucky to finish 4th in 20:37 just 13 seconds behind Paul, but was the 6th fastest overall. Due to arriving late, the final race was between Steve Oxlade and Cai Britton. Cai, who we hadn't seen on the X/T scene for nearly 4 years, had really bulked up and hammered through the early part of the course, but he too, struggled on the last two stations. His time of 21:02 did give him 3rd in the Open and 7th fastest overall.

Conclusion

The event was a great tribute to Francis Walton, who was determined to put on a top quality event. She was given fantastic help by Rahat Perveen and Terri Downs as well as all the staff and members at Gorton, who like all of us hold her in such high regard.

There were the usual few moans and groans, but I believe that we moved the sport significantly forward in our aim to achieve consistency and good quality exercising, although there still needs to be a change in the marker that we use for the Shoulder Press.

There was no egg on Francis's face as she very positively achieved what she set out to do on the DB MAX forum. The event was certainly challenging, but there many fantastic races.

Onwards to Southampton, where Ty will put on his usual superb event and the final Grand Prix placings will be decided.