Somerset Scythe Festival 2017 Championships

I’m just home after an extended trip to the Somerset Scythe Festival 2017 which is always one of the highlights of the summer. I’ll publish a few posts with various photos from the weekend but first, here are this years champions.
The competition has become increasingly open in the last few years which adds to the excitement of the day. A lot can depend on which plot you draw and tactics play an important part these days. 2017 was undeniably the year for George Montague who mowed his 5x5m plot in an incredible 40 seconds. Second place went to Kevin Austin, who raised the cup last year, with an impressive time of 1 min. It’s always great to see the cameraderie in the men’s competition is as strong as their drive to win.

Andi Rickard took the women’s cup and, in the process, 3rd place overall with an amazing performance. Beth Tilston, pictured here mowing while Kevin watches, took second place with Ruth Pullan moving up into third place. I’ve now lost count of how many times Andi’s won, who will ever beat her?

This year the Quality Cup was taken by Richard Brown who, as well as being an excellent scythesman, is a very knowledgeable botanist and works for Emorsgate wildflower seed company. He has been racing in the scythe competition for over a decade now and was justifiably pleased with his award

You’ll have noticed that there are barely any photos of the champions in action. Make sure you’re here for the next post is all I’ll say.i