2020 English Open F3F
23 August 2020
Graham Hill at Whitesheet
English Open F3F
At last - a competition!! Entry this year was limited to twenty pilots, and the duration was cut to just a single day. But it was great to be back. The sense of normality even extended to the weather, with steady drizzle delaying the start by a couple of hours!
The competition
Flying took place on the NW ridge. The wind was quite crossed to start with, but it swung on to the slope during the first round. The lift was generally quite variable.
Eight rounds were completed. Round winners were Mark Treble (2), Mark Redsell, Mike Evans, Mike Shellim, John Phillips, Mark Passingham and Dave Rumble.
After the scores were totted up, John Phillips was declared the winner, with the two Marks in second and third place. John and Mark Redsell flew very consistently given the conditions, neither dropping below third for the whole day, while Mark Treble achieved fastest time with 40.69.
Final placings
1 J Phillips 6402.43 1000.00 2 M Redsell 6247.22 975.75 3 M Treble 6209.61 969.88 4 N Witchalls 6085.66 950.52 5 M Shellim 6038.82 943.20 6 G Mahoney 6008.79 938.51 7 D Rumble 5984.75 934.76 8 J Treble 5959.27 930.78 9 D Woods 5950.31 929.38 10 M Passingham 5944.44 928.46 11 A Burgoyne 5906.23 922.49 12 K Wood 5888.00 919.65 13 M Evans 5855.82 914.62 14 L Woods 5837.10 911.70 15 I Falconer 5789.53 904.27 16 T Livingstone 5748.32 897.83 17 B Hudson 5629.70 879.30 18 G Hill 5625.20 878.60 19 P Taylor 5452.02 851.55 20 I Mason 5428.32 847.85
Acknowledgements
Many thanks to Graeme Mahoney and Nigel Witchalls for organising a most enjoyable - and Covid-safe - event.
A special mention also to Stu Wallace, who was responsible for re-establishing the English Open in the F3F calendar, and who sadly was not able to attend this year. The event did however raise valuable funds for the charities Histio UK and Blood Cancer UK, in memory of Stu's son Tom.