Fabulous prizes to be won by entering the 'Cavers' Competitions' at Hidden Earth

Pegasus

Administrator
Staff member
FABULOUS PRIZES TO BE WON worth ?1350+!!

UKC are proud to be supporting the 'Cavers' Competitions' this year at Hidden Earth.

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Every caver who enters any of the 'Cavers' Competitions' will receive a UKC raffle card and be in with a chance of winning one of the following prizes.  So why not have a go, test your caving skills and maybe win a great prize  ;)

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An IRATA Training Course worth ?700+ - thank you, SpanSet (y) (y)

Many cavers work in the Rope Access Industry - could this be your chance of a new career?  Already have your IRATA ticket, an ideal prize for that revalidation!  Or maybe you just want a week of excellent training to improve your rope and rescue skills  ;)

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https://www.spanset.com/

'SpanSet design, manufacture & supply Height Safety, Lifting & Load Control products at their custom built Cheshire plant. SpanSet products ensure the highest level of safety. We also train people how to use our equipment, safely.  We offer a wide range of Rope Access and Height related safety training courses including IRATA levels 1,2 and 3; Confined Spaces; Working at Height; Height Safety for Industry/Emergency Services/Military; Safe Lifting & Rigging; Load Control + much more.  Our modern, extensive training facility offers state of the art classrooms with multimedia touchscreens, excellent indoor rope access training area + various purpose built outdoor training structures'.


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1 x Rab Summit 600 down sleeping bag worth ?295 - thank you, Rab (y) (y)
https://rab.equipment/uk/summit-600

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2 x 1400 Peli Protector Cases worth ?99 each - thank you, Peli  (y)  (y)
https://peliproducts.co.uk/cases/1400-protector-case.html

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1 x HL60R rechargeable headlamp worth ?75 - thank you, Fenix  (y) (y)
http://www.myfenix.co.uk/fenix-hl60r-rechargeable-headlamp

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1 x 100m tackle sack worth ?60 - thank you, Warmbac (y) (y)
http://warmbac.com/listing_tacklebags.php

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2 x Buffs (one polar, for those colder caves) - worth ?43 - thank you, Buff  (y) (y)

Enter any (or all) of the following 'Cavers's Competitions' to collect your UKC cards, each with a unique raffle number.
Look out on the forum the week following Hidden Earth to see if your number/s are drawn!!

One card per caver per competition (except for the SRT Obstacle course, where each entrant will receive 2 cards - don't forget your SRT kit!!).

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SRT OBSTACLE COURSE (Womens + Mens) (SpanSet are donating 50m rope to the winner of both races) - fastest caver to complete the course wins.  Course will include passing rebelays, rope to rope transfer, passing knots etc. 

30M SPEED RACE (Mens + Womens) - who can prussik 30m in the fastest time??

KNOT TYING - fastest time to tie (neatly, time added for shoddy knots) a Fig 8, Fig 9, Bunny knot, Alpine butterfly and a double fishermans in the same length of rope.

LADDER ROLLING - fastest to roll a ladder (neatly - {wish I could enter, do love rolling a neat ladder  ;)} time added for untidy ladders)

TACKLE SACK STUFFING - fastest to stuff 50m SpanSet rope into a Warmbac 100m Tacklebag

Lots of opportunities for entering this year's UKC Hidden Earth Raffle - good luck!

UKC will have a stand at Hidden Earth, do come by and say hello  ;)








 

Badlad

Administrator
Staff member
Mark Wright will be running the rope comps as he has done for many years.  Thanks for your help setting this one up.  Got any tips you can share?
 

Mark Wright

Active member
There's certainly some excellent prizes on offer this year thanks to the efforts of Tim and Jane at UK Caving. 

The competitions will be run as usual by myself and Dave Cowley with Tom Chapman fresh from Tresviso joining us as he usually does when Hidden Earth is in the Mendips. He helps us northerners with the translations.

For those wanting to enter either of the SRT competitions you are welcome to use my Petzl Falcon Ascent harness fitted with the Secure chest harness and small new Croll and new Basic ascenders. There is also a right and left foot Pantin and a choice of Stop, Simple or a 5 bar Rack. You are of course welcome to use your own.

The Assault Course will include the passing of Knots and Re-Belays in both directions and a Rope to Rope Transfer. All the obstacles will be free hanging as they don't like moody footprints all over the gymnasium walls. It does make for some interesting and often very time consuming tangles though.

It's against the clock and the only conditions are that when removing your chest ascender you are protected with either a locked descender or cow's tail into the re-belay or knot safety loop and that you are seen touching all the anchor point strops. Every deviation from the rules incurs a 5 second penalty.

The 30m speed race is on a moving rope attached, via a roof mounted pulley, to a ground anchor made up of some weights and either Tom, Dave or my fat arses. 

Paring down on your equipment might help on this one, particularly after a heavy Saturday night. No need for descenders or cow's tails.

It can feel bit weird going down when you should be going up, especially when the lower/ prussik rhythm goes out of sequence and we have to lower you down a bit quick before you hit the pulley at the top. I've donated a Beal 50m x 8mm rope and Petzl T Shirt for both the male and female winners.

Ladder coiling is one of my favourites. I was brought up on ladders and learned early on how to coil them neatly. The TSG made their own when I joined in the early 80's. PB Smith would give you a proper telling off if they weren't coiled neat and tidy. There is a 5 second penalty for every misplaced rung or wire.

Tackle bag stuffing might sound easy but pulling 50m of rope back out again through a carabiner means you have to stuff it very neatly to avoid tangles. A hoody or Buff should help prevent burning your neck as you feed the rope into the bag over your shoulder. The winner gets the tackle bag.

And finally knot tying.

Tie a Fig 8 on bight, Fig 9 on bight, Bunny knot, Alpine Butterfly and Double Fisherman's in a 4m length of new 11mm Mammut.

Badlad failed to mention,

Behind your back. There's no looking. The clock stops when you throw the rope on the floor.

Again there will be a 5 second penalty for every incorrectly dressed and/or set knot. Practice this one before you come. You can only just get them all in with loops large enough to attach a carabiner.

As the current champion of the two above events, I will be keeping a close eye on the times. 

Other time penalties for, e.g. safety issues, may be applied to competitors at the discretion of the event adjudicator.

The competitions will be running throughout the weekend unless there's a lecture that all 3 of us want to see, Tresviso being one of them. Entry closes at a strict 2pm on Sunday as I have to get the results in for the closing AV to be finished.

Don't leave it until the last minute to enter as there might be a queue and you could miss out on some of these fabulous prizes.

There's a maximum of 3 x timed entries per person for each of the competitions.

If you don't fancy pitting yourself against the clock then just pop in anytime for a practice. There will be plenty of people able to lend a hand in refining your technique.

If you are thinking of buying a new harness from the trade hall then feel free to come over and give it a comfort test before you buy.

Good luck to everyone with all the competitions and have a good Hidden Earth 2018.

Mark
 

beardedboy

Member
I've been to many Hidden Earths and I must say this is the first time that I have partaken in the competitions, and having just read Mark's comment on the knot tying, I am especially proud to have beaten his time!

There was a really good buzz around that corner of the hall, with plenty of people coming to learn something new as well as compete. I must admit that I believe that this was due in no small part to Pegasus' encouragement and the raffle tickets being handed to all competitors.

I really felt that the because anyone entering received a raffle ticket to be in the running for some great prizes meant that the taking part counted almost as much as being the fastest, which encouraged many more people just to give it a go. This turned the corner into more of a knowledge sharing area rather than somewhere to just watch hard cavers pushing themselves to the point of collapse, encouraging a real caving ethos IMHO!

So I just wanted to post to say thanks to all involved, and hope this format continues. I may even bring my SRT kit next year!
 
Well said beardedboy.

It was also the first time I have entered any of the SRT competitions, for exactly the same reasons, so the new format definitely seems to be working.
 

Mark Wright

Active member
The new competitions format certainly worked well this year. With 49 male and 26 female participants (75) over the weekend we more than doubled our usual numbers.

With some of the regulars not in attendance this year it was really good to see so many new faces pitting themselves against the clock with everybody watching their every move. Special thanks must go to Frank Pearson for setting the first, very respectable time to beat on the obstacle course and congratulations to Kieran Appadoo and Jo White for being the eventual winners.

There was an excellent turnout for the 30m speed race. Congratulations to Mike Butcher and Emma Battensby for taking the 1st prizes and a special congratulations to Emma for knocking 4 seconds off Mike's time.

The knot tying proved very popular with most choosing to do it sitting down on the floor. When you stand up, all the previously tied knots dangle out of the way instead of getting tangled up in the next one you tie. All the best times were standing. Good effort to Will Stewart for knocking nearly 1.5 seconds off my time and taking 1st prize. I'll see you (Will) next year for a re-match.

Ladder Coiling. Where to start.

With 40 participants standards were, well, on the whole, diabolical. Every club hut should have a ladder in the common room and coiling it neatly three times should be part of the membership initiation.

Luckily last years winner, Pete Hall, was on hand to show the crowd how to offer up 3 excellent examples of text book ladder coiling but unfortunately not quick enough to take this years prize.

His efforts were being watched very carefully from the sidelines and with the help of previous ladder coiling champion Simon Richardson offering demonstrations, we had people who had never even seen an electron ladder turning out some quite acceptable examples of coiling.

Marking was difficult as the 5 second penalty for every out of place rung or wire would have taken half an hour to examine. Some went for just rolling it up any-old-how and accepting every rung and wire penalty. After taking everything into consideration the judges decided Christine Grossart should take the prize, so congratulations Christine.

I'll bring some different rung spacing ladders and some thinner wired ladders next year as I'm sure Simon and Pete will be on hand to help people master their technique.

And finally tackle bag stuffing.

The rules were clear and simple. You can prepare the rope into a pile ready for feeding into the bag. That doesn't mean you can spend 3 minutes flaking the full 50m into a small bundle that you can then pick up with both hands and stuff straight into the bag as soon as the whistle blows. Those times were disallowed.

With 50 participants this was the most popular event and the winning time is the one on the video by yours truly. All the quickest times were done over the shoulder and having a good collar on your shirt or jumper will ensure you don't have to keep adjusting the position of your body as you try to share the rope burn pain over a larger area of your neck. That's what causes the rope to flip off your shoulder and cost you valuable seconds. Taking your watch and other jewellery off and making sure hoody drawcords or the hoods themselves don't end up in the bag as well as the rope will help shave off more of those valuable seconds.

I did spend many years packing 200m ropes into tackle bags 8 times a day so had a lot of practice. Thats all it is though, practice. I'll be there to defend the title next year. My prize for this event has been donated, as always, to CHECC.

Eligibility for the overall prize was open to anyone participating in all 5 events and after taking account of the various times of the 9 eligible participants, the winner was Jo White.

Dave Cowley, Tom Chapman and I were asked to judge the new Scurion Tiger award and we all agreed that due to Jo's commitment and performance in the events, not to mention her other commitments to the caving world, she should also be crowned this years Scurion Tiger.

So its a double congratulations to Jo.

A big thank you has to go to Pegasus and Badlad for coming up with the idea and to all the sponsors they managed to get onboard. Obviously a big thank you to Tom and Dave for giving up their time for the weekend. I don't think either of them saw any lectures, we were that busy.

The biggest thank you has to go to the 75 who entered and the many more who came along and egged them on from the sidelines or joined Simon in his ladder coiling workshop.

It's not the winning, its the taking part that's important.

See you all next year, 

Mark
World Champion Tackle Bag Stuffer



 

Pegasus

Administrator
Staff member
beardedboy said:
I've been to many Hidden Earths and I must say this is the first time that I have partaken in the competitions, and having just read Mark's comment on the knot tying, I am especially proud to have beaten his time!

There was a really good buzz around that corner of the hall, with plenty of people coming to learn something new as well as compete. I must admit that I believe that this was due in no small part to Pegasus' encouragement and the raffle tickets being handed to all competitors.

I really felt that the because anyone entering received a raffle ticket to be in the running for some great prizes meant that the taking part counted almost as much as being the fastest, which encouraged many more people just to give it a go. This turned the corner into more of a knowledge sharing area rather than somewhere to just watch hard cavers pushing themselves to the point of collapse, encouraging a real caving ethos IMHO!

So I just wanted to post to say thanks to all involved, and hope this format continues. I may even bring my SRT kit next year!

That's made my day, thank you  ;)

When we came up with raffle idea for this year, I had hoped it would encourage more to take part so great to read your comments above.  What I hadn't realised was how much younger cavers were fascinated by it all so we're planning to cater better for them in 2019, also lots of cavers were learning - knot tying (myself included), ladder rolling (just love a beautifully rolled ladder  ;)) and tips for rope work (Mark, Tom and Dave know their stuff and were constantly helping folks) etc.  Looking forward to 2019 already and hoping even more cavers will take part  :D
 

Mark Wright

Active member
Sorry Mary, my mistake, now i've put my glasses on I can see you were second to last.

10 more seconds would have done it.

Mark
 

Mark Wright

Active member
not_a_climber said:
What about the obstacle course!?

(Not that I'm holding my breath)

30m Speed Race

Emma Battensby: 1:28.80

Mike Butcher: 1:32.86

Obstacle Course

Kieran Appadoo: 3:20.36

Jo White: 4:21.06

Knot Tying

Will Stewart: 1:39.73

Tackle Bag Stuffing

Mark Wright: 0:32.70

Ladder Coiling

Christine Grosart: Time N/A

Mark

 
 

Pegasus

Administrator
Staff member
Wow, all the prizes were claimed first time round - no need to redraw  ;)

Great to know cavers are looking at the forum to check their numbers.

We'll get your prizes to you as soon as we can and I'll hopefully post some photos of the winners with their prizes soon.

Thanks again to every single caver who helped with the UKC Cavers' Competition raffle, looking forward to next year already  ;)

Cheers, Pegasus
 
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