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HRCR Jogle 2021
Competitor Report - Phil Robbins

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Firstly I would like to say a huge thanks to Crow and my fellow route setters for a very enjoyable Jogle.

I first got interested in motorsport when I went with a couple of mates to watch the RAC Rally go through the Forest of Dean around 1970. A few years later I bought my first Mk 1 Escort RS2000 and started road rallying. I sold that and bought a Mk 2 RS2000 in 1978 and managed to win a couple of rallies before I retired when they banned Targa Timing and all selective events that predominated in the Cotswolds ceased. I still have the RS to this day only coming out on sunny summer days.

My first foray into the world of Tabletop Rallying was in 1981 when I entered The Pathfinder Rally run by Cheltenham Motor Club of which I was a member. I had done a couple of 12 car rallies so thought the navigation would be the same type of thing. How wrong I was, think I only managed about half of the 27 sections and so finished up near the bottom of the results. Fast forward 40 years and here I am still putting my brain through the mangle to solve the multitude ways to define a route on a map.

So, on to Jogle. I started off with the first few sections cleaned OK but things went downhill on the rest of the first set of 25 legs. I made a few mistakes by overthinking the navigation and missing some shorter routes. I had a couple of discussions with Crow on legality of a couple of roads used but of course lost the argument. I was disappointed with my 5th place on this set so was determined to do better on the rest. Favourite section was leg 17 and least favourite leg 22.

Legs 25 to 50 went much better and I managed to top the leader board. I spent much more time checking and rechecking before submitting and it seemed to pay off. Favourite leg 50 and least favourite legs 37 & 47.

Legs 51 to 75 saw my only maximum score of the rally on the road rally of leg 71. I found on this set that I was getting more and more nervous of submitting my routes and would take up to 2 hours to convince myself that I was ready to go with the plotted routes and submit. Favourite section was leg 60 and least favourite obviously leg 71.

Legs 76 to 100 were a bit nerve racking as by this time I had an idea that a good result was possible so even more checking and rechecking before hitting the dreaded submit button. Submit paranoia was now setting in big time and I would hover over the button then think, no, just one more recheck. This happened sometimes as many as 6 times until I finally hit the button. Favourite leg was 81 and least favourite leg 82.

I enjoy the more intricate type of section and the longer the better. I dislike the real time rallies especially the plot and bash sections where decisions have to be made quickly and my old brain just doesn't work fast enough.
I spent far too much time on Jogle but coming out on top more than made up for the jobs around the house that didn't get done. I enjoyed Jogle immensely and I am already looking forward to the Championship Series later in the year.

I really enjoy compiling legs for everyone's 'enjoyment' but it does get a bit nerve racking when you receive the email "I think I have found a shorter route". Panic then sets in until you look at the 'new' route and find that hopefully a mistake has been made and the master is after all correct.

I am intending to set some routecards for the next Championship rounds if Crow wants me to and it would be nice to see a few new setters to lighten his load.

Phil Robbins