No . 134 The Trusty Servant
Old memories are revived , freshly accentuated by new ones . Cricket Week is a special Wykehamical tradition . Long may it thrive .
Golf ( or perhaps Tolling , Ed .) TQG Hawkings ( G , 76-81 ) writes : Given Winchester ’ s recent history as a distinguished running school I wondered if the Trusty Servant might be interested to hear about my latest golfing exploit :
Last weekend I competed in the British Speedgolf Open at the Springs Resort and Golf Club just outside Oxford . The competition was two rounds and one ’ s score is the addition of one ’ s time in minutes to the number of shots in one ’ s round . The course was set up at 6,100 yds , par 72 . In both rounds I managed to go round in 79 shots , the first in 54 mins and the second in 52 mins , giving me aggregate scores of 133 and 131 . This was good enough to come 9th overall and first in the not very extensive Senior section .
Of greater interest is the performance of Rob Hogan who won the competition . His first round was a 79 in 36 mins and second round an almost unbelievable 75 ( i . e . 3 over par ) in 34 mins . His total of 109 for the second round is one of the lowest ever . His technique involved having a special belt to which he can attach two clubs in a way that he can swing with the clubs still attached . Thus he is able to play with three clubs , a driver , a 7 iron and a wedge . He putts with the wedge and is very good at it . As impressive was the performance of Jamie Taylor-Caldwell , who I believe is a top athlete . He had a poor first round so in the second round played with just one club and went all out for speed . He got round in 29mins and 32 secs which is the fastest round ever in a Speedgolf Championship . These results give one something to think about as one grinds out a 5 hr round in the Monthly Medal !
Tolling The dry summer , and a switch from the depths of December to September , turned the 2022 annual Alumni Race from its usual leg-sapping trudge to a high-speed canter around Wimbledon Common . But if the conditions were benign , the competition was as fierce as ever . The switch of date led to a smaller OWTC squad than previous years , but six OWs ran superbly ( see photograph above ). James Hoad ( Coll , 05-10 ) deserves special mention for coming third overall , continuing a long run of impressive performances in this race , which he has won in the past . A few weeks later , he ran the London Marathon in 2:25 off , as he put it , “ no training ” – a very classy performance . At the more senior end of the vet categories , Richard Cocksedge ( D , 70-74 ) came second in the V65s . The team organiser , Craig Lightbody ( Coll , 83-88 ) and Alexander Feltham ( G , 15-20 ) joined James to form the scoring four . Peter Bunn ( Coll , 68-73 ), fresh from
OWTC 2022
an Odyssean journey up from the west country , completed the team . David Jenkins ( C , 60-65 ) deserves special mention and thanks for his tireless and adroit organisation of yet another successful iteration of this wonderful event . A pint or two were enjoyed in the evening rays at the Telegraph in Putney . Even for cross country mud larks , running in September has its charms .
Next race in our calendar will be the annual cross country match against the school , OEs and others on Saturday , 18 th March . Please contact Anthony Doolittle on tony _ doolittle @ hotmail . com if you would like to run or be added to the mailing list .
For an update on the OW Winchester Football festival , please see Win Coll Soc News .
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