Judges Report 16 October 2020 Ashton
Firstly, I would like to thank Beck Harris for inviting me to judge her level 5 at Ashton. A lovely relaxed day saw some fabulous searching by all of the teams. Becky also kindly organised some lovely weather, so with the briefing done and reminders for safe searching we started the day.
As is the new normal the teams were split into two groups, four in the morning and five in the afternoon.
It is an interesting venue, being a Rugby club we were able to use their changing rooms and this is where the first search was staged. Three finds in this first search, the early hidden in a broken part of the seating turning out to be the one that was missed. However, there were no problems for Jan and jasmine, who aced this search, finding all three in a quick time of 63 seconds. Just beating the eventual winner Val And Brace and Emma and Danny into third.
The second search was outside, the path where supporters watch the matches under cover. Four items to find in this search, items hidden in a stack of plastic chairs, on a metal food counter, the bin and a small wooden hut. This of the three netted the best results, with virtually, everyone picking up their extra 10 bonus points. Super quick in this search was Kerry and Bobby, with Val and Brace not far behind.
The final search was the hall and annex room, with the final five finds. This was the more challenging search, but many still made it look simple. Two finds in the annex, were the skirting board and a speaker with the final three finds in the main room, being a large wooden table, behind a sign on the bar and a door. The sign and the door being the ones that caused the problems. Some teams getting caught be searching some chairs in the annex and not seeing the sign on the bar as an item to search. Again, first and second placed did amazingly well, Kerry and Bobby, just beating Val and Brace on time. Other performances of note were Jean and Nuala, and John & Skip finding the last item in the dying seconds.
The end of the three searches, the scores were as tight as they can be, Val and Brace just beating Kerry and Bobby with a few seconds difference.
Great performances & amazing planning by Becky making a very special day for the judge, thank you all.
Sue Gardner