Kiplingcotes Derby - The start Traditional Cache
Busy Lissy Bunch: Sadly time to go - due to other interests we no longer have time for maintaining these caches. Thanks to all who have enjoyed our caches and written lovely logs.
Kiplingcotes Derby - The start
Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions
in our disclaimer.
A simple cache and dash at a historic location.
The Kiplingcotes derby is the oldest and longest flat race in Britain havng been run every year since 1519. It was started as a test between local squires to see who horse was fittest after the winter and is run on the third Thursday in March. When adverse weather has stopped competitors from arriving it has been known for local farmers to walk their cart horses along the route to kep the race going for if it is ever not run one year then it must never be run again.
Unusually the second placed horse can win more than the winner as the winner gets £50 and the second gets the sum of the entry fees.
Riders must enter by 11am and must weigh at least 10 stone without the saddle (Mrs BL rode in her heaviest jacket with lead weights in the pockets - but that was years ago!!). The rules are read and the riders then hack to this start along the racecourse which being along dirt tracks and road verges is a gruelling race for horse and rider.
The horses start by the stone at this location which is actually a fundamental benchmark used in surveying. The term benchmark originates from the chiseled horizontal marks that surveyors made in stone structures, into which an angle-iron could be placed to form a "bench" for a leveling rod, thus ensuring that a leveling rod could be accurately repositioned in the same place in future. These marks were usually indicated with a chiseled arrow below the horizontal line.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Qverpgyl bccbfvgr - purfg urvtug
Treasures
You'll collect a digital Treasure from one of these collections when you find and log this geocache:
Loading Treasures