The Winners and the Losers…………..
Thank you to all of those that joined in the fun at the HRC Christmas Party……….. and of course those taking part in this years The Great Hinckley Running Club Bake off.
With last years master cake maker, Ben Masser, off enjoying himself on the ski slopes it left the door open for a another to be crown Hinckley Running Clubs master ‘Cake Maker’
Last years ‘wooden spoon’ winners Jon Strong and Gordon Lansburgh once again entered the fray but bolstered their team with the inclusion of Mike Daniels, so last years ‘Disastrous Duo’ became ‘The Three Stooges’. Entering the competition with ‘Robin Artois’ there was high hopes that this year they could once again walk away with the wooden spoon.
It became a family affair as The Three Stooges threw the gauntlet down to their better halves. Not ones to shy away from the challenge the ultra competitive and so very serious Sally Henderson, Sarah Garford and Gemma Daniels entered with ‘OTT’, certain in the knowledge that they win given event organise Sarah Garford had decided to remove some of the instructions prior to posting out to all competitors so it would make it more challenging, especially for The Three Stooges!
Hoping to maintain the winning streak for the younger members of the running club, Bethan Padbury’s ‘Tall Holly’ cake was sure to challenge for top spot. There were a few worried faces when Bethan was seen entering with her cake and it is rumoured that one member of The Three Stooges commented surely she could not be as good a cake baker as she is a runner.
New member to the running club, Rebecca Gould, did not know what she had let herself in for when she entered with ‘Sunken Snowstorm’. Nobody had warned her how ultra competitive this would be but also how critical our judges Ros Clayton and Dave Burton could be.
The last entry, ‘Tinned Surprise’ came from Chris Limmer. Having posted pictures of himself in his Man Bib preparing his cake he was trying to psych out his competition with reverse psychology by declaring ‘he didn’t fancy his chances’ as he is a ‘baking chuckle brother’.
This years challenge was a ‘Boiled Tea Fruit Cake’ that was to be decorated with Holly and Berries…………………..
It was now down to our judges to savour the delights in front of them. Marks were to be awarded for decoration and taste with Dave quite happy to consider bonus points based upon the number of drinks each competitor bought him. After much laughter, screwed up faces, raised eyebrows, looks of surprise, scribbling of notes, pointing, agreement and disagreement their decision had been made.
It was now that Rebecca was to come to realise how critical and cutting our judges could be with comments like ‘Dense’ and ‘Like the Sahara… a bit dry’ …….. but to her relief she got away light (judges were warned to go easy as she was a new member and was quite a good runner…………)
This year we saw plenty of controversy as the results were announced with The Three Stooges devastated and claiming underhand tactics and some bribery as the ‘Wooden Spoon’ was awarded to Chris Limmer for his ‘Tinned Surprise’.
So who was to take the 2015 title and have the bragging rights of being Hinckley Running Clubs Master Baker.
With accolades of ‘brilliant decoration’, ‘Crumbly and Moist’ and even ‘Perfect’ (I did ask several times for verification of this last comment) this years winning cake was …………………. ‘Robin Artois’.
So the ‘Disastrous Duo’ with the inclusion of Mike Daniels became ‘The Three Stooges’ and went from losers to winners with Mike claiming full responsibility for their success…………..
As part of their winning speech, Mike thanked “Google” and threw the challenge down to last years winner, Ben Masser, to come along next year and see if he is good enough to take on The Three Stooges.