The first round of the UK Nationals was at Bath 28 & 29 May 1999. The weather gods had some surprises for those involved.

International Field!

This event included individual and pairs quad as well as team. The turnout was a little disappointing with three individuals, one pair and four teams. However one of the individuals was Steve Matchett from South Africa, so the event was international. It was also good to see two new teams, Vortex from Portsmouth and local Bath team Flame.

The plan was to run the precision Saturday morning and the Ballets in the afternoon leaving Sunday for general recreation, relaxation and entertaining the crowd.

The Storm of the Century stops play

Unfortunately mother nature had other ideas. The precision was held in blustery winds between 6 and 18 mph tumbling over trees. However, black clouds on the other side of the valley were looking very ominous. A pilots meeting for Ballet was arranged for early afternoon. By this time the clouds on the other side of the valley were closer and not only boiling but producing regular lightening streaks.

Within minutes of the end of the pilots meeting we all hurriedly retreated to the safety of our cars as the storm hit. What a storm it was! Two nearby radio mast were regularly being hit by lightening and the rain was torrential. The arena fencing was struck at least once! By 4:30 the rain had virtually stopped but there was still thunder rolling around and it was decided to postpone the ballet for safety reasons. This was unfortunate for two reasons. First, Vortex were unable to get back for Sunday and, as might be expected, within half an hour or so the clouds had broken. A mega team was put together to entertain the crowd that was left and he enjoyed it!!

Another Day Dawns

Competitors and judges gathered the following morning. Conditions were damp with a gusty wind in low cloud. The field was small so the ballets were over well before lunch. This left time for a league style individual two line precision competition whilst the main results were being calculated.

Crosslines Win!

The team competition resulted in a win by Crosslines just pipping Punchline at the post. The results are below and the results for the other disciplines can be found at www.netspaces.com.(May '99)

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You can find the full results at the STACK UK site at Netspaces.com/stack