It was a wet and windy day the last Bank holiday Monday in May, that took us to
Gloucestershire for event 7!
Tetbury to be precise, a small village north of Bath where once a roaring Wool
trade ran!
This event was steeped in tradition! 400 or so years ago when the wool trade was
rife, the young lads of the village would challenge each other to race from a pub
at one end of the street 300 yds to another pub at the other end! The winner would
get a date with a young lady of his choice. The race was also made harder by the
woolsacks being 60lbs (27kgs) and the street being a 1 in 4 hill! (that's very steep).
Today the tradition is kept up, although the winner sadly no longer gets a date
with the girl of his choice! People come from all corners to sample the market in
the town and to line the pavement of said street and watch the days competitors
struggle up the hill!
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| The band at the top of the hill |
After watching a few kids races in junior relays, sully and i were called to the
start line! Not really sure what to expect we apprehensively made our way down
the slope! On 3 the klaxon went and we were off pitted against a small Australian
and a machine of a Welshman! Having said that it was fairly level pegging For the
first 100 yds, but then the hill kicked in i started to drop back immediately but
sully pushed on! As we got to 50 yds from the finish the Welshman bottled it and
dropped his sack! Giving sully the chance to catch him and take second dipping
at the line in an admirable 1:08! I then stumbled over in 4th with a 1:15!
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| relieved to have finished |
You can watch a video of us too here: Woolsack Race Vid
A great event for number 7 and a great day i would recommend to anyone!
Thanks to those who came to watch including my Dad and especially Mattress
who tried to take part but was cruelly denied by some slight administration error!
(blessing in disguise that Matthew!)
So onto event 8, the 3 peaks challenge! Bring It On!
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