Sark Pub Bike Race a Help for Heroes fund-raiser
EACH year, as Christmas approaches, I make tongue-in-cheek comments about what I call the Sark Challenge – a mythical exercise which involves stopping at every business in The Avenue that has a running bar and then getting home in one piece and being able to stand unaided.
EACH year, as Christmas approaches, I make tongue-in-cheek comments about what I call the Sark Challenge – a mythical exercise which involves stopping at every business in The Avenue that has a running bar and then getting home in one piece and being able to stand unaided.
I've had to spell out that my comments are very much tongue-in-cheek because unfortunately there are those who – either mischievously or because they know no better – take every word I write literally. Either that or we're not on the same humour wavelength.
That said, the challenge I'm about to write about is very real and involved 34 cyclists, very many pints of beer and at least a couple of extremely upset stomachs, both en route and at the finish.
I'm referring to last Sunday's resurrection of the Sark Pub Bike Race, which was last held more than a decade ago and which involves sinking a pint – halves for ladies – at each stage of the race.
The start was at the Bel Air, with stops at Stocks Hotel, the site of the old Beauregard Hotel and the Island Hall, with the finish at the Mermaid, where the clock didn't stop until the final pint was downed.
I have no idea what mileage was involved but the winner, Glenn Williams, finished in 17 minutes 14 seconds, followed by Charles Carre and Rodney Lalor, with Vicki Rang the first woman home, followed by sisters (and tandem riders) Frankie Carre and Sabrina Burlseton.
The oldest rider, Paul Burgess, completed the course in 21 minutes exactly, which wasn't bad for a 52-year-old. The riders and their supporters raised a tidy little sum for the Help for Heroes charity and the organisers expressed their thanks to everyone involved.
It really could only happen in Sark.
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The second phase of the prestigious Artists for Nature Foundation jubilee project is taking place in Sark this week with a number of internationally-renowned wildlife and landscape artists working at various locations around the island.
Foundation artists were in Sark in May, along with the organisation's filmmaker Hans Rademakers, and the final results of all their work will be produced and launched in the spring of next year.
The project's book – a selection of about 160 pages of the best of all the artists' images – will be available in hardback for about £40, but a limited deluxe edition of 100 leather-bound books, numbered and signed by contributors, will retail at around £240.
I've heard a few moans and groans about the financial help given to this project by Chief Pleas – an extremely short-sighted view, in my opinion. The sort of welcome publicity an exercise like this generates simply cannot be purchased and the word-of-mouth recommendations by those who buy or read what promises to be a quite outstanding book will be paying dividends for many years to come.
Instead of carping, the critics should be congratulating Rosanne Guille and everyone else involved for carrying through what was at the outset an extremely ambitious venture.
It seems that the police are no further advanced in establishing who carried out a recent series of break-ins – which hopefully might mean that whoever carried them out has left the island along with their ill-gotten gains.
However, it's clear that many people need both advice and reassurance and to this end, Guernsey Police crime reduction adviser Andy Goodall will be in Sark and addressing a public meeting at the Island Hall on Wednesday at 6pm.
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I won't write again about the Sark Belle and its free trip for residents until after the event. Each time I mention it, the trip – and open viewing in the harbour – gets postponed.
* The email address for comment is fallesark@sark.net.
