The weather forecast for the day was for a lot of rain, but Michelle was hopeful it would hold off till the evening.  She arrived intending to passenger for Michael who she met at the previous OST but he was not able to attend. Instead, Michelle was paired with Dean Hunt, who had won this event a few years ago. He was hopeful to win it again.
Dean didn’t need any help with navigating, Michelle just needed to hold on for the ride, but she still walked each course to know what to expect. The car was not the smoothest OST car Michelle has been in, but not the worst either, it had a block for keeping the tow rope contained in the passenger foot well so she rested her feet on that and was mindful not to let her knees interfere with the operation of the fiddle breaks.
Michelle arrived early to enjoy the complimentary breakfast that was expertly prepared by Jason, the OST super guru (sub-comittee chair and club Competition Secreary). Upon arrival, there were already 4 sections pegged close to each other for the morning session. They were mostly flat with a small waterway to navigate. Some sections had blackberry bushes but Michelle had remembered her gloves and was confident that she would be well protected. With the recent rain and the draw number for the car being mid pack, by the time Dean and Michelle were up for their turn the course had very little traction, Dean drove well but was not able to gain a full ten points for any section before lunch.
How your clothes look before and after trialling
During the lunch break Michelle met some spectators who were interested in participating. She was able to direct them to where they could buy a car and is hopeful they will come again.  A special spectator came to see some sections, it was the Austin 7 Club’s President. She arrived in a 1928 Austin 7 tourer. This has led to Michelle wanting to peg out an English trials course for next year and would like to see more vintage Austins out and having a turn.
After lunch, Michelle was pleased to see that the end of the day did not involve driving in the dam, though it would have helped wash some mud off. Â Some of the afternoon courses were in a large mud wallow, so it was very difficult to get traction. One course was abandoned as it was tricky to retrieve cars when they became stuck, so an existing course was re-pegged in a different way and Dean and Michelle were the first car to tackle it, there was a swampy section and the plan was to take the entry as wide as they could then drive as fast as they could in the hope of skimming over the mush, they got most of the way though before they needed to bounce and wiggle in their seats to maintain forward momentum, they were successful in keeping traction and completed the section for a score of ten.
The last section of the day was a test of Michelle’s nerves. It was on the dam wall and it is steep, Jason and Greg’s car had rolled over as they tackled marker 4 and thankfully both were ok. Dean and Michelle were one of the last cars to attempt that course, there was no other roll overs but Michelle knew Dean was keen to go the furthest, as they reached the tricky decent, Michelle tucked in tight next to Dean and hoped they wouldn’t go over. They managed to get the furthest of all competitors for that section.
Dean placed a respectable 3rd out of the 18 competitors, and the rain started just as the award presentations had finished.
