SPORTING EVENTS OF THE MONTH

SPORTING EVENTS OF THE MONTH.

THE A.C.U. SPORTING TRIAL. Amusing Day in the Derbyshire Hills.

BUXTON seems to be near enough to Manchester to suffer from the latter’s chronic rainfall, and the start of the A.C.U. Sporting Trial was not granted any reprieve by the watery powers. The immediate effect of the rain was twofold—firstly, the schedule speed of the trial was (quite unnecessarily) dropped from 20 m.p.h. to 18 m.p.h., and secondly the fairly dry surface of Blackermill Hill, at the start, was transformed to something which looked dry, but which in reality was sufficiently slimy to trap the unwary—i.e., about three quarters of the five dozen starters.

Among the best climbs must be mentioned George Rowley (A. J .5.), W. Hillas (Ariel), R. Moore-Dutton (Douglas), V. Jolliffe (Panthette), Miss Fay Taylour (A. J.S.) and E. K. Langton (Scott). After ” Blacker” competitors were treated to some miles of grass and “three ply” in a steady drizzle of rain, which rendered some of the descents and all the ascents decidedly tricky for those without a superabundance of tyre tread. The second hill, Dow Low, wound upwards interminably over grass, grease and rocky outcrops but possessed no real gradient, nevertheless several riders found it too much for them. The next fifteen miles included several sections of comparatively fast road, at least three easy watersplashes and two of the milder obseived hills. Given no trouble there was no particular difficulty about a 20 m.p.h. average, so that having only 18 m.p.h. to perform, many riders found time in hand. The weather had by now brightened

up but Cow Low Hill was still sufficiently damp to defeat all but two, so far as clean climbs were concerned. This hill, the last of the morning circuit consisted of several hairpin bends on turf, with patches of rock here and there, once again wheelspin causing all the trouble. The only two clean climbs were made by H. Dixon (Rudge) and W. M. Mason (Scott), but praiseworthy attempts, nearly crowned with success, were made by W. Hillas (Ariel), Fay Taylour (A. J.S.) and 0. Langton (Scott). Thenceforward the course lay over comparatively easy roads (and tracks) to the finish, on the heights opposite Blackermill.

Competitors were required to walk down a grassy track with innumerable hairpin corners to cottages near the morning starting point, where sandwiches, beer and other food was provided. It was a pity that this track was not included in the trial, but the rain had rendered the descent dangerous in the eyes of the organisers. However, the hill was climbable as our representative was “given a lift” by A. B. Bourne, on one of the new 3-speed Panther’s, who made a perfectly clean and very impressive climb in spite of the extra bulk on the carrier !

In continuous bright sunshine and with only two easy observed hills the afternoon circuit was child’s play and we fear the secret check must have caught several riders ahead of time. Covered in the reverse direction the circuit seemed much easier than before, though the boulders on High Wheeldon hill caused some footing and one or two failures, chiefly on the part of the overexuberant. During the afternoon W. Hillas (Ariel), who had performed very creditably on all observed sections, broke his driving chain twice in rapid succession, thus spoiling his otherwise excellent score and his chance of an award.

The finish was at the foot of Blackermill Hill which was then dry and therefore fairly easy to descend. Reviewing the machines at the finish, the usual array of bent and missing footrests were observed while many exhaust systems had suffered severely. In the wilder

ness we also observed a Rex-Acme completely abandoned, while elsewhere a rider was seen gloomily surveying his A.J.S. which seemed to have” come apart”! The results were as follows :—

MOTOR CYCLE TO THE VALUE OF £75 (for best performance by a private owner).—W. M. Mason (596 Scott).

THE SPORTING TRIAL TROPHY (for best performance by a trade rider).—C. J. Marsden (249 Dunelt).

SPORTING TRIAL SOUVENIRS.—F. J. Moore (495 James), L. Crisp (349 Humber), W. F. Bicknell (344 Royal Enfield).

THE SPORTING TRIAL CENTRE TROPHY.—Yorkshire Centre A team—O. Langton (498 Scott), W. M. Mason (596 Scott), E. K. Kangton (596 Scott).

Out of 63 entries, 33 others finished the course.