Ladies and gentlemen welcome to this months running of the Hutton Cranswick Hurdles. It was touch and go whether todays meet would go ahead, however the early morning rain fizzled out leaving the course wet but rideable. It’s approaching 10am and the jockeys and their mounts are assembling at the start line by the Light Dragoon in Etton. Hold on, here’s one jockey arriving with his head almost hanging on his mounts head. Looks like Iain. “Well that was ***** hard going” he said in some sort of Anglo Saxon vernacular referring to the head wind he faced on the way to the start.
And they’re off! Raymond makes a quick getaway for an early lead as the riders approach the first hurdle in the climb up to Holme-on-the-Wolds. Luckily the wind is slightly behind and all the riders make it safely over.
Rounding the next turn, the riders were faced with an adverse wind heading along the ‘back straight’ towards the Goodmanham road hurdle where the riders can build up momentum on the slight downhill before trying to maintain the impetus for the short climb that follows. Once all the riders were safely over the obstacle they arrived at the Middleton-on-the-Wolds turn.
It was not long before the riders were confronted by the next few hurdles on the way to North Dalton. Finally, on reaching the ‘top end of the course’, with a following wind there was a bunch sprint along the main road to Bainton. It was here that the ‘chase’ came to a brief halt as the riders (except for Kamikaze Matty) had to wait for a break in the constant stream of traffic before crossing the A164.
The ‘chase’ then continued along the Neswick straight to Southburn leading the riders to Hutton Balk and the final dash to Hutton Cranswick Farm Shop where the riders were ‘fed and watered’ ready for the return leg.
After a short break, it was time to face the head winds on the way home. While the main bunch took the Bracken route, Michael and Colin however decided to take their mounts a different way home through Skerne and Wansford. There was no hiding from the wind as the riders set off along the initial section of Burnbutts lane. Fortunately it was not long before they found some shelter with the hedgerows.
Heading down Bracken lane the ‘chase’ was exposed once again but at least this section was downhill eventually leading along Mere lane before facing the next ‘hurdle’ of South Dalton Ramp. There was then a brief respite as the riders returned to Etton almost freewheeling with the wind on our backs to the penultimate ‘hurdle’ Etton ramp. The riders then all ‘bunched’ together along the Cherry Burton ‘straight’ girding their loins ready for the final challenge. You could almost hear the strains of Frank Sinatra 🎶and now the end is near, it’s time to face the final hurdle 🎶 😁 Yes it’s everyone’s favourite “Grannies Hump” not a difficult climb in the scheme of things but as usual it comes just when the legs are getting tired.
The ‘course’ was rather damp and quite muddy in places but at least the riders stayed dry with the sun trying to poke through the clouds towards the end. Another very enjoyable day out…. though I suppose I’ll have to clean my mount before the next outing.