By Helen Harkness
A small band of Spadeadam MC members made their way to a hill in an undisclosed location (behind my house) to do battle in the 2018 Soap Box derby. We had 4 soapboxes and 6 competitors ready to face “The Hill”. Graham Petry and Lewis Hodgson as Juniors. Philip Hodgson, Barry Lindsay, Nigel Harkness and myself as seniors.
First run, Barry decided to set the standard at 59 seconds, next was Graham on 1.02. as he had no brothers to battle he’d decided that beating his Uncle Barry was the day’s goal! Nigel was next on 1.03 and as my goal was to beat Nigel, my run of 1.06 wasn’t looking good! Lewis and Phil brought a new soapbox with them, it looked a beast of a box, with far more weight than the rest of us. However, on Lewis’ first run that weight was a bit too much and the soapbox wasn’t particularly steerable. He took a spill and unfortunately had to cut his day short with a trip to A&E. His dad then decided to have a go and did make the first corner (just) and got a 1.06.
Next run, Barry was once again in the lead with 58 seconds, I was next with 1 minute flat, Graham just behind on 1.01. Nigel was behind him on 1.03 and then Phil on 1.06 again. That was to be the last run for the “Green Goddess” as on its next trip down the hill, the steering broke, luckily that time it was the only thing!
