Ten ‘Gladiators’ assembled at the Aqua Walkintonia ‘arena’ ready for the challenges of the day. The course for todays ‘game’ was proposed by Gregorius Scaevus, having been influenced by the rainy forecast of gloom and doom, he suggested keeping it short and local with a refreshment stop at Lacus Risbianus. The group was joined by a potential new ‘gladiator’ Andros Vindicta. At the ‘drop of the flag’, the ‘chariots’ set off up Northgate onto Manorhouse Lane at a leisurely pace led initially by Carolina Virudis, opting for her ‘two horse chariot’ instead of her previous ‘three horse chariot’.
On reaching the memorial pond the ‘charioteers’ swung round to the right onto Wold road towards Walkington Heads road. The pace began to pick up with Pugvax Navalis and Mateus Maximus hitting the front supported by Heathra Bellatrix on the undulating terrain leading into North Newbald.
After regrouping, the ‘charioteers’ continued to South Newbald and through to Hotham with Heathra Bellatrix setting the pace before turning towards North Cave. With the wind now coming from behind, the pace picked up another ‘notch’ as Colinus Draco dragged the ‘charioteers’ past the Carcer Humerensis and into South Cave. The ‘course’ then took the ‘competitors’ through Ellerker into Elloughton. At this point we waved ‘goodbye’ to Carolina Virudis as she took her ‘horses’ back to the ‘stable’ in Brough while the ‘course’ continued into the hills.
The hill of ‘choice’ on this occasion was Welton dale. Leading the way was Heathra Bellatrix along with Michaelius Nocturnus. Unfortunately for them, they missed the Dale Road turn off and rode blithely on until a yell of “Hold your horses” from behind brought them back on track. The hard work soon began as we hit the High Road with a 5% climb. Approaching the top, Pugvax Navalis having set a PB, heard the ‘whinny’ of ‘horses’ closing from behind. Drawing up alongside was Gramus Ferrum hardly breaking sweat while posting the best time of the day.
With the ‘warm up’ over, it was time for the longer but shallower climb up Welton Dale.
The climbing was not complete when the slope started to ’tilt’ downhill to the Elloughton Dale exit but continued upwards again before a final roller-coaster to Riplingham. Spurring his ‘horses’ on for this final segment, the best time of the day was set by Ricardus Brutus closely followed by Heathra Bellatrix and Michaelius Nocturnus. While regrouping at Riplingham, ‘discussion’ was held regarding the cafe stop and the route while bearing in mind the weather forecast. Gregorius Scaevus decided “unanimously” that we should forgo the Lacus Risbianus in favour of the Skidbia Ventorum.
Following the hard work of climbing from Elloughton, the ‘charioteers’ were overjoyed with the prospect of the long ‘charge’ downhill to Raywell followed by a flat wind assisted sprint along Raywell road. Making the most of their Maximus Gluteus, Michaelius Nocturnus, Gregorius Scaevus, Gramus Ferrum, Colinus Draco and Stefanus Potens raced wheel to wheel like gladiatorial sprinters at the Giro.
The sun shone bright as we pulled into the cafe, so opted to dine al fresco, however by the time we were ready to leave, the clouds were gathering and the wind had picked up so there was no hanging about and we set off for the shortest route home.