2nd at Hike and Bike

Area 9 Hike and Bike returned to Castleton YHA at the end of April, with 26 teams from within and outside Area 9 competing to win one of the three competitions. The competition began on Saturday morning with the hike, which Ray Dance assured the organisers that was 'no more than 18 miles', which ended up being about 21 miles even after the organisers took 2 miles out of the start. As in previous years, teams had to get to checkpoints within a specified time period and would lose points if they took longer than the time period. A total of 400 points could be won from the Hike, and a further 200 points could be gained from the games that took place at the bases - the much loved and vomited bushtucker trial (taking spoons out of wallpaper paste, saw dust and maggots), dingbats, jenga and a water challenge.

The Hike was a tough one this year - mainly due to the mileage - and the last weary walker got back to the YHA for 7pm, but a free beer at the end made up for it.

Sunday morning came, and the bike took place around Ladybower and Derwent Water. As in previous years, there were 4 checkpoints to achieve, each with a number of points to be achieved, with the furthest away winning the most. Along the way, there were a number of questions that they could answer to win more points, with the maximum total being 400 points.

Most teams got back within the 2.5 hours timelimit ready for the prize giving. The maximum score that could be achieved was 1000 points across the weekend.

The main competition was unfortunately not won by an Area 9 Round Table (its only ever been won by Ossett and Horbury!), but Frodsham were worthy winners, scoring 869 points.

The plate competition, which is the Europa league of Hike and Bike, was won by Hull Wyke on 708 points. The plate competition is designed for those teams who started Sunday being more than 60 points away from the highest scoring team on the hike, as its not realistic for them to win the main competition.

The Area 9 trophy was left to be presented.. Ossett and Horbury were gunning to win it for the third year in a row, but in the end, Paul Manning's Halifax team won with 821, compared to Ossett's 740 points, and Batley a creditable third on 708 points.