Thank you

As a final note on this Blog we are writing to say thank you to everyone for their help in staging the Edgehill games, and to all those that took part.  Many venues generously gave us the use of their facilities for free and that combined with the grants we had (totaling £2,400) from various sources meant that we could keep entry costs low and in some cases free.  

We have had a lot of support for the games from across the area with many different villages competing.  In all we had about 1000 entrants and over 150 referees/judges/caterers across all the events and many more that came to watch and support.  Please do read through the results posted on this blog as we think the entries capture some of the fun that people had in the various competitions.

The aims of the games were to have some fun, to make some new friendships, strengthen old friendships and raise some money for sport relief.  We wanted to do something that would help bring local communities together and we are pleased to say that with the support of many people and organisations we think we achieved all of our goals.  We have just finalised the accounts and we are pleased to say that even though we kept entry fees low we managed to raise over £1,200 for Sport Relief.

We have been asked to run many of the events again and we are exploring how and when we can do that, but we hope to stage the next full blown Edgehill Games in 2016.  Hope you can join us. 

Thanks again for all your support.

Final awards at the after games party at Kineton Sports and Social Club 15th July 2012

We had a great evening to celebrate the end of the games at KSSC.  Going into the final day Kineton had a clear lead, but with around 12 medals to be won in the last events the competition for 2nd and 3rd was wide open.


With runners travelling from all over to compete, the results of the half marathon did not change the positions on the medals table.  However the competitors in the Children's Cycling challenge and the Fun Run were nearly all local and this took mad the final results far from certain.


At the start of the day Tysoe were lying in 4th place with 4 gold medals behind Radway in 3rd with 6 golds, Ratley in 2nd with 8 golds and Kineton comfortably in first place with 19 Golds.  Tysoe took Gold and Silver in a hard fought Children's cycling challenge and in the fun run they took Gold again in the under 10's category to take their haul to 6 Gold Medals.

The Full medals table can be seen on 
http://www.edgehillbenefice.co.uk/default.asp?Id=89 

However, Radway hung on to their 3rd place position by virtue of the higher number of silver medals they had won.  









The final results were: 


First Place
Kineton.  The trophy was received by Chris Mills - Gold Medal winner in the raft race





Second Place
Ratley.  The trophy was received by Sue Backhouse and Owen Todd - Multiple Gold medal winners in the Battle of the clans and the Cyclo-sportive hill climb challenge

Third Place 

Radway.  The Trophy was received by Puffin Pocock - games organiser and competitor in several events



Well done to everyone that competed in the events and thank you to the huge team of people that helped to organise/marshal/referee/cater/support the events.


A big thank you to Pavilion for the music at the after games party, to Alan, Jane, Julian and Adrian for sorting out the bar and the BBQ and to KSSC for hosting us yet again!


We are currently sorting out the final finances for the games and hope to be able to publish the amount raised for sport relief shortly.

Re-posted as it disappeared from the blog :-)

Pony Games at the Radway Riding School, Monday 9^th July 2012

At last! A competition that wasn’t weather dependant thanks to the indoor arena at Radway. As the competition hotted up, the roof rang to the sound of scores of eager riders having a go at the races set up by Maggie Boswell and her team. The challenges of the bending race, the sock in the bucket, the stepping stones and the ride and run tested the riders to their limit as they were cheered on by the appreciative crowd.

In all, 44 riders entered. Some were representing their villages, but many remained independent, which presented the organisers with an interesting challenge as regards the team medal position at the end of the evening! In fact the result we came up with on the night has had to be adjusted, so apologies to all concerned.

Couple with that the fact that some names are almost illegible on the entry sheet as the staff juggled score cards and course building with ponies and riders. Please excuse any strange spellings of names!

In the under 8s

Bending Race	Gold, Hermione Walls from Kineton, Silver Cameron Mahler from Ratley, Bronze Ellie Underwood from Radway
Sock in a Bucket	Gold, Mikey McCauley from Ratley Silver Cameron Mahler from Ratley, Bronze Beth Kitchin
Stepping Stones	Gold Hermione Walls from Kineton, Silver Olivia Elford from Ratley Bronze Beth Kitchin
Ride and Run	Gold, Beth Kitchin Silver Ellie Underwood from Radway Bronze Eneko Kata

             

           

8 – 14s          

Bending Race	Gold, Alice Hoyle from Kineton Silver Emelia Fletcher Bronze Katherine Lavery
Sock in a Bucket	Gold, Lindsay Jarvis from Ratley Silver Mollie Perkins Bronze Mollie Fletcher
Stepping Stones	Gold, Gemma Hotchkiss from Radway Silver Cassie Senn from Radway Bronze Katherine Lavery
Ride and Run	Gold, Ollie Walls from Kineton Silver Emelia Fletcher Bronze Lindsay Jarvis from Ratley

Over 14s

Bending Race	Gold, Flora Zwolinski from Ratley Silver Ruth Todd from Ratley Bronze Celia Thomas from Kineton
Sock in a Bucket	Gold, Rebecca Crummett from Radway Silver Sue Marshall from Kineton Bronze  Shannon French
Stepping Stones	Gold, Rebecca Crummett from Radway Silver Sue Marshall from Kineton Bronze Flora Zwolinski from Ratley
Ride and Run	Gold, Rebecca Crummett from Radway Silver Alison Riley from Ratley Bronze Ruth Todd from Ratley

To determine the final position of the teams, scores for each race were awarded as follows:

1^st place 4 points, 2^nd place 3 points, 3^rd place 2 points. This gave final team positions of

1^st place to Ratley with 33 points

2^nd place to Radway with 24 points

3^rd place to Kineton 2

4^th place to Kineton 1

Well done to everyone who took part, and a huge thank you to Maggie Boswell and the hard-working team at the Riding School for laying on such a great event. The barbecue in aid of the Air Ambulance was very welcome and sustained both riders and spectators as the evening went on. And we shouldn’t forget to thank the wonderful ponies who did their best for their riders and obviously enjoyed it as much as anyone!

Results of the Half Marathon, Fun Run and Cycling Challenge on Sunday 15th July at Compton Verney

For the second day running the weather was particularly good to us. Unusually for this summer it dry and warm enough so that the marshals and spectators could enjoy the event, but not too hot that it caused any problems for the runners in the half marathon.

Alongside the Half Marathon there were two other competitions for our younger athletes the Cycling Challenge and the Fun Run.  We don't have full details of all of all the winners below, so please email edgehill.games@gmail.com if we have got your details wrong/incomplete.
(More photo's will be added to this page as they are available).

Cycling challenge

This proved to be a big hit with people queuing up to take part.  The standard of the entries was high as our young competitors rode their bikes around the course as slowly as they could.

One family from Tysoe took the honours in this event with first and second place going to Luke & Candice Simmonds. 

The final results were:

Gold medalist, Luke Simmonds representing Tysoe

Silver Medalist, Candice Simmonds representing Tysoe

Bronze Medalist, Willow representing Kineton

Fun Run

People of all ages joined in the fun run around one of the big fields in Compton Verney.  The runners set off at a pace that would make Usain Bolt look as though he was standing still!  There was some confusion over the different medal categories, so in the end we just had 2 sets of medals to be won, the under 10's and the over 10's.

In the under 10's race Luke Simmonds showed his all round athletic ability by winning his second Gold medal of the day, Poppy Butler took the silver and Caleb Spriggs the bronze.  In the over 10's Mikey Redmile sprinted home to take the Gold, Emily Hutsby took the Silver and Tom Penson the Bronze.

The final Results were:

Under 10's

Gold Medalist, Luke Simmonds representing Tysoe

Silver Medalist, Poppy Butler

Bronze Medalist, Caleb Spriggs

Over 10's

Gold Medalist, Mikey Redmile representing Kineton

Silver Medalist, Emily Hustby

Bronze Medalist, Tom Penson representing Kineton

Half Marathon

With the good weather spectators were out in numbers to cheer the 130 runners on their way.  St Peter's Church in Kineton organised an open air service and extra water point to encourage the athletes as they negotiated the final few miles and the challenge of Pittern Hill - which after ten miles a number of us found an absolute killer! 

Over 130 runners finished the race with the first person home, Emerson Comstock, clocking a time of just 1 hour 17 minutes and 51 seconds.

We were fortunate to have both Local MP Jeremy Wright and the Chair of Stratford District Council, Neville Beemer, come along to close the games and to present the final medals to the competitors.

The Final Results were:

 

Men's event

Gold Medalist, Emerson Combstock

Silver Medalist, Iain Jennings

Bronze Medalist, Jonathon Ashley

Women's event

Gold Medalist, Kate Wright

Silver Medalist, Joanna Hartley

Bronze Medalist,  Heather Carson

There were also Gold, Silver and Bronze Medals for the winning men and women of the each of the age categories.  Simon Penson (Kineton) missed out by only 17 seconds on a Bronze Medal in the over 40's category. 

Women's 35-45 year old

Gold Medalist, Sheila Barbour

Silver Medalist, Hannah Carey

Bronze Medalist, Isobel Gillott

Men's 40-50 year old

Gold Medalist, Alan Barnes

Silver Medalist, Steve Green

Bronze Medalist, Cliff Richards

Women's 45-55 year old

Gold Medalist, Anne Easton

Silver Medalist, Kate Evans

Bronze Medalist,Sue Jewell

Men's 50-60 year old

Gold Medalist, Marc Scriven

Silver Medalist, Christopher McDonnell

Bronze Medalist, Clive Griffiths

Women's 55-65 year old

Gold Medalist, Lyn McDonnell

Men's 60-70 year old

Gold Medalist, Graham Williams

Silver Medalist, Philip Brennan

Women's 65+ year old

Gold Medalist, Marion Thorpe

Men's 70+

Gold Medalist, Graham Patton (in a time of 1 hour 32 mins and 32 seconds!)

Well done to everyone that took part in all the events on the day. A huge thank you to Threshold Events, Compton Verney for organising and hosting the event.  Also to all the marshals and games organizers that helped out in so many ways to make the event a success.  

Thanks also to all those that turned out at Compton Verney and throughout the route to support the runners, as one of them I can confirm just how much it helped to have that applause and encouragement.

The Results of the Countryside Triathlon at the Shotteswell Fête July 14^th 2012 

The rain held off and the sun shone briefly as Olympians from the surrounding area gathered at Shotteswell to contest some of the last medals of the Games.

The attractions at the Fête included plants, books, cakes and tombolas, as well as a very tall man and a collie with a passion for herding ducks. However, the keenest competition was around the end of the field where wellies were wanged, skittles bowled and bales tossed with fervour.

The trick with the welly was all in the letting go. At times the stall holders would have been wise to wear protective gear as wellies flew through the air in all directions except the target.

The ancient wooden balls at the skittle alley were worn with age and were far from spherical, which all added to the unpredictability and the fun.

Bale pitchers were given coaching before the bar was raised and the bales soared into the air. Again the knack was in the flick of the wrist and the bending of the knees.

In the end, the honour of Shotteswell was well and truly upheld by the villagers. A clean sweep of the medals for both men and women was only averted by one brave player from Sibford Ferris. 

The final results were as follows:

Women

Gold, Becky Shardlow from Shotteswell

Silver, Jonquil Sabin from Sibford Ferris

Bronze, Christina Nygaard from Shotteswell

Men

Gold, Ewan Gill from Shotteswell

Silver, David Verinder from Shotteswell

Bronze, Alan Reilly from Shotteswell

As with all our events, thanks are due to everyone who took part, and especially to those who organised the Triathlon and made it happen on the day. Huge fun was had by all, and we wonder why there isn’t a Countryside Triathlon in the London Games.

Results of the Golfing Challenge at Warmington on the 30^th June 2012

Thanks to the work of a great team of groundspeople the green at Warmington was transformed into a course to rival St Andrews.  Top golfers from around the world couldn't make it, but some keen golfers from the local area took on the challenge to see who would emerge as the Edgehill Games Champion.

The champions were decided by their combined scores across three disciplines

• Putting
• Chipping golf balls at a target
• Chipping tennis balls at tyres – another sport to watch out for in future Olympics!

It was a close fought competition with each of the teams showing strengths in different areas.  Nick Gunn reached a record score on the chipping at the target which helped to secure him the individual Gold for the men, but great consistency across the team meant that Warmington brought home the team Gold.

The juniors present also had a go and all received a medal for their display of excellent golfing skills

The winners were:

Men’s Event

Gold Medal

Nick Gunn representing Kineton

Silver Medal

Jim Saxton representing Kineton

Bronze Medal

Graham Squires representing Warmington

Women’s Event

Gold Medal

Jennie Boyle representing Warmington

Silver Medal

Edwina Iwanek representing Kineton

Bronze Medal

Ann Saxton representing Kineton

Team Event

Gold Medal

Warmington (Jennie Boyle, Graham Squires, Chris Huggins and Tristan Bullworthy)

Silver medal

Kineton Men (Alan Woodall, Richard Iwanek, Nick Gunn & Jim Saxton)

Bronze Medal

Kineton Ladies plus 1 (Ann Saxton, Edwina Iwanek, Sheila Woodall & Barry Jackson)

Well done to everyone that took part and a huge thank you to Jennie Boyle for organising the event and to the referees who ably and fairly controlled the play at the different elements.  Thank you also to the groundspeople for their work in transforming the village green.

Results of the Tour-de-Edgehill Cyclosportive on Sunday 17^th June 2012

The sun was out (well most of the time) as 100 intrepid cyclists of all ages set out from Radway village green to tackle the 20 mile and 40 mile courses.  There was the odd shower of rain, but the biggest hazard the cyclists faced was the exhaust fumes as a multitude of ancient motorbikes were also out on the roads for the Banbury run.  The youngest entrant, Harriet Ward, was only 6 years old!  She completed the 40 mile route with the added handicap of having to do all the work on the back of her dad’s tandem!

The cyclists and bikers managed to follow their respective route without too much confusion thanks to the excellent work of the race marshals. The excellent refreshment stalls en-route ensured that the cyclists didn’t pass out from lack of nutrition and BBQ at the end of the ride was much appreciated by all.

A hill climb challenge decided the medal positions for the event and the final results are below.  The team event was decided by adding together the three fastest times of the individuals on the teams.

Men’s event

Gold Medallist was Richard Simkiss representing Kenilworth

Silver Medallist was Joshua Cooper representing Little Bourton

Bronze Medallist was Alex Macrae representing Wellesbourne

Women’s event

Gold Medallist was Emma Bexton representing Stratford

Silver Medallist was Skerry  Crummett representing Radway

Bronze Medallist was Cath Mansel representing Kineton

Junior’s event (U14)

Gold Medallist was Owen Todd representing Ratley

Silver Medallist was Luke Simmonds representing Tysoe

Bronze Medallist was Hal Pearson representing Pillerton Hersey

Team event

Gold Medallists were Team Kineton High School (Joshua Cooper, Shaun Price, Colin Naismith and Hal Pearson)

Silver Medallists were Stratford Upon Avon Athletics Club (Graham Black, Emma Bexson, James Deacon and Alison Speechly)

Bronze Medallists were Mill Street Blues of Kineton (Chris Gibbons, Graham Robinson, Sue Houlson, Giles Canning and Douglas Doherty)

Well done to everyone that took part and a huge thank you to Jason and Denise Lester for all their hard work in organising the route, recruiting all the helpers and marshals needed and for an excellent BBQ and refreshments afterwards.  Thank you also to Threshold Events, to all those that provided food and to all the marshals that made the event possible.

Results of the Wii Mario Kart challenge at St Peter's Church on Sunday 24th June 2012

Whilst teddies risked life and limb (well just limb really) outside the church another group of highly tuned athletes gathered inside the church for the Wii Mario Kart Challenge.  After months (or even years) of dedicated training in the run up to this event everyone knew that the next 2 hours would decide who would emerge as the Edgehill Games Champion.


Whilst the outside event had problems with the weather, the inside event had technology problems and instead of being able to run the event on three Wii consoles it was reduced to two (one running the tournament and the other running the fastest lap challenge).


In the tournament 16 teams competed in four heats for a place in the semi-finals with the 8 highest scoring teams from across all groups going through.  The 4 highest scoring teams from the Semi-finals went through to the final.


The levels of focus and concentration were intense and it was a hard fought contest but in the end the finalists were Magnificence, The Green Farm End Gooseberries, LozBaz and a young pair of drivers all the way from Butlers Marston, Georgie and Ben Malcolm.


Over the four races in the final the lead changed hands several times with rainbow road proving to be particularly challenging.  It was a close fought contest but in the end the results of the tournament were:


Joint Gold Medal winners
  Georgie & Ben Malcolm 
       representing Butlers Marston and 
  Ollie Bamber and Matt Jolly
  (The Green Farm End Goosberries) 
       representing Kineton


Bronze Medal Winners
   LozBaz - Laura Jackson and her dad Barry
        representing Kineton


In the fastest lap challenge was a closely fought battle with only five seconds separating the top places. William James took the Bronze medal, just 2 seconds faster was Ollie Bamber with the Silver, but 3 seconds faster still was John McClelland who won the Gold Medal for Kineton and flew the flag for older lovers of Wii Mario Kart.


Gold Medal Winner
   John McClelland in 2 mins 45:05 seconds 
        representing Kineton

Silver Medal Winner
   Ollie Bamber in 2 mins 48:28 seconds 
        representing Kineton


Bronze Medal Winner
   William James in 2 mins 50:80 seconds 
         representing Kineton


Well done to everyone who took part.  Thank you to the team from St Peter's that organised the event and  to everyone that loaned us Wii's and games so that it could take place. 

Results of the Teddy Bear Parachuting at St Peter's Kineton on Sunday 24th June

Crowds gathered at St Peter's Church on Sunday 24th to watch with bated breath as 50 fearless stunt teddies from around the area competed to see who could stay aloft the longest and who could land closest to the target.

One by one the teddies were winched up the church tower and, after a quick safety brief, launched over the edge of the parapet.  It is a credit to the bravery of the teddies that despite some very dubious parachute designs not a single one showed any sign of fear.

Despite one or two very rapid descents the first aid team only had to deal with minor cuts and abrasions which just goes to show how hardy rural teddies can be.

On the whole the weather was good, but there were couple of very heavy showers when the parachutists had to retreat to the church.  There was some concern that the sudden influx of people might interrupt the concentration of the Mario-Karters, but such was the concentration of those professionals that many of them were not even aware of the extra 100 folk that had just rushed into the building (more on that in the next blog post).

After some high quality demonstrations of sporting ability the results were:

Slowest Descent

Gold Medalist:

Soft Thing (owner Tilly Knight) representing Kineton (13.25s)

Silver Medalist

Underteddy (owner Underwood) representing Radway (12.45s)

Bronze Medalist

GoBo (owner Louie Towns) representing Kineton (11.9s)

Nearest the Target

Gold Medalist

Hedgie (owner Charlotte Gibbons) representing Kineton

Silver Medalist

Tiny (owner Georgie Mountford) representing Butlers Marston

Bronze Medalist - showing his all round skill across the disciplines

GoBo  (owner Louie Towns) representing Kineton

Well done to all the teddies and their owners.  A huge thank you to the team from St Peter's who ran this event, especially to Alex & Nick Gunn for organizing it and launching the teddies, Phil Ingle for his commentary and judging and Chris Mills for his amazing BBQ skills.

The performance of the Rainbow Choir at the Ratley Fete 23rd June 2012

The Rainbow Choir was put together from people of all ages across the Edgehill Benefice to perform for the games opening ceremony at Upton House on 29th April.  An original number was written and the choir practiced hard for that and two other numbers to be sung on the day.  Unfortunately due to the extreme weather on that day the event had to be cancelled.  


After all the hard work that had gone into composing and practicing we wanted to give the choir a chance to perform and Ratley Fete kindly allowed them to come and sing the pieces they had prepared as a celebration of the games.  


Competing against strong winds the choir sang beautifully and had enthusiastic support from the people that gathered to listen. They sang three numbers:

1. 'Sing' is by Gary Barlow and Andrew Lloyd Webber
2. "We're Going for Gold' (Lyrics below) written by Shona Walton (lyrics) and Robert Hanstock (music) especially for the games
3. We Are The Champions by Queen

Well done to everyone involved you were fantastic!

Thank you to all of you for your hard work, to Shona and Robert for their work in writing/composing the song and to Shona (again) and Lisa for all their work with the choir.  Thank you also to Ratley Fete for allowing us to perform at the fete.

Lyrics for We’re going for gold

We're going for gold

Flames of friendship we hold

None too young, none too old

Edgehill’s going for gold.

There’s loads of us from Kineton, and Ratley and Shotteswell

With mums and dads and grans and kids - there’s room for all, somehow.

There are teenagers, veterans and even little tots swell

With pride as on the podium they take the winner’s bow.

We're going for gold

Flames of friendship we hold

None too young, none too old

Edgehill’s going for gold.

There’s swimming, athletics and burly men with ropes

We’re entering from Warmington and Combrook and Radway.

There’s stuff on bikes and rafts and karts and rowing indoor boats -

If we can’t do it the right way, then we’ll do it the mad way!

We're going for gold

Flames of friendship we hold

None too young, none too old

Edgehill’s going for gold.

We’re taking the Olympic themes of peace, fun and fair play

For villagers to make new friends and share these noble aims.

We’re being competitive in a neighbourly way

And we’re doing it for Sport Relief, it’s called The Edgehill Games!

It’s called The Edgehill Games.

We're going for gold

Flames of friendship we hold

None too young, none too old

Edgehill’s going for gold.

Going for gold!

We're going for gold!