The annual Midsummer Working Test was held on
Saturday 28th June 2008, at Cinder Hill, Horsted Keynes by
kind permission of Rory Clarke, and in conjunction with
the Countryside Alliance.

Despite a cloudy start the sun soon broke through and the weather
turned out to be glorious – warm, sunny with a pleasant breeze.
Once again this ‘funday’ proved extremely popular with a record entry
of 101 runners for the main ‘Working Test Competition’ – 33 ‘Open’,
35 ‘Novice’ and 33 ‘Pre-Novice’. Judges for the day were Pauline Lucas,
Mark Lucas, Sheila Pomfrett-Wade, Bryan Kent and David Breach.

The ‘Working Test Competition’ consisted of 5 ‘tests’ with variations for
‘Open’, ‘Novice’ and ‘Pre-Novice’ categories. Test 1 for the ‘Open’ was
an ‘unseen’ through some cover and across a pond (‘mark’ on the far
bank for ‘Novice’; ‘mark’ into the water for ‘Pre-Novice’). Test 2 for the
‘Open’ was a double ‘unseen’ up a track (‘mark’ followed by an ‘unseen’
for ‘Novice’; a single ‘mark’ for ‘Pre-Novice’). Test 3 was a ‘mark’ into a
field up a track and over a jump (shorter distances for ‘Novice’ and
‘Pre–Novice’). Test 4 was a long ‘mark’ up a sloping field (shorter
distances for ‘Novice’ and ‘Pre–Novice’). Test 5 for the ‘Open’ was an
‘unseen’ in cover over a jump and across water (‘mark’ on the far bank
for ‘Novice’; ‘mark’ into the water over a jump for ‘Pre-Novice’).

Every opportunity was given for everyone to ‘achieve’ in some way or
another and the Judges were able to offer advice and assistance to
those who were ‘first time’ competitors.

Award winners, Judges, Rory Clarke and Kit Roundell

Apart from the ‘Working Test Competition’ there were also several
other ‘scurries’ – a ‘Jumping Lane’, ‘Dog and Gun’, ‘Jumping Rabbit’,
‘Double Mark’ and ‘Hunt-Up’. As always these proved not only to
be great fun but also very competitive as points gained here were
added to those for the ‘working tests’ resulting in a total for the
Victor Ludorum awards.