Toddbrook/Combs win Leigh & Lowton S2S Race at the third attempt!
by Richard Catchpole 19 Jun 22:51 NZST
15 June 2024
Sunrise spectacle during the 2024 Leigh & Lowton S2S Event © L&LSC
They did it! After coming a close second to Leigh & Lowton in the last 2 events, Toddbrook/Combs claimed overall victory in the 2024 S2S event. Pushed hard by new entrants West Lancs they came from behind to clinch the win in the last few hours with some outstanding performances.
The S2S is a team event held annually in June at Leigh & Lowton SC in GPs, Ents and Fireflys starting at sunrise (4.40am) and finishing at sunset (9.40pm). We had a perfect sunrise to reward those who got up early to do the first shift of the day.
The Sparrow's Fart Trophy for the first lap was taken by Toddbrook/Combs but it was the Enterprise from LLSC/Southwell that took the lead in the initial hours of the race, taking out a good lead on the chasing pack of GPs, with the LLSC ladies in the mix too.
By breakfast time West Lancs had woken up in their GP to take that trophy and by 10.00 they had taken the lead overall on corrected time, hotly pursued by the GP of Toddbrook/Combs.
However, It would be the Midlands SC GP14 team who would claim the next two trophies - Cowboy Time and Midday Madness, whilst the LLSC Masters team got going to take on 3rd place overall in the building breeze (27 knots recorded by the OOD at one stage). This was assisted by the LLSC/Southwell team cooling off with a quick swim - it wasn't really the weather for swimming!
West Lancs kept a ¼ lap lead for next few hours with some give and take against the Toddbrook/Combs team. However, everything was going to change with the ace team of Alex Bowden and Emma Robertson from Toddbrook/Combs storming into the lead over a very swift few laps, including picking up the Ladies Trophy.
Midland Enterprise team picked up the Junior Fastest Lap and their GP team the Master Fastest Lap a little later on.
But it was the Toddbrook/Combs team in full flow who picked up the last 2 trophies of the day, Bar's Open and the new Lightning Trophy (in honour of the Lightning storm that stopped the racing last year at 7.00pm) and claim the overall victory.
West Lancs had put up a good fight but did not manage to keep up with Toddbrook/Combs' pace in the last 1/3 of the race, while the LLSC Masters team sailed consistently through the day to finish in 3rd.
Big congratulations have to go to the LLSC junior team who sailed all day in a battling performance in conditions that were at times very hard to handle - an excellent performance.
Overall, a great day's racing in varied conditions and well done to the OOD team for putting on a great spectacle once again. Everyone was exhausted but there was still time for some partying, including a few that saw the sun rise again the following morning!
A note for your diaries - next year's event will be on Saturday 14th June, any other clubs willing to come and take on the challenge?
1st - Toddbrook/Combs GP14
2nd - West Lancs GP14
3rd - LLSC Masters GP14
4th - LLSC/Southwell Ent
5th - Midland SC GP14
Full results can be found here.