BRITSPIN is billed as the UK Spinning Marathon. 2020 was its third year and it was not going to let a 'little thing' like COVID19 get in the way of spinners challenging themselves. Unlike other events that 'went online' this year, this event (for most participants) has always been online, primarily on the knitting/crochet/spinning/weaving platform Ravelry). Most Britspin teams do not meet up and some may not even be spinning on the same continent. The motivation is for spinners to challenge themselves (there are a variety of ways we can do this). They also raise money for charity (this year's charity was the RNLI) and dedicate days at a time to spinning and having fun. Some teams are more serious about this than others.
This year the 'local' team set the bar exceedingly high. Krys (who was a member of the Stratford upon Avon guild's Over The Rainbow BRITSPIN team) suggested a very special mascot. Barney belongs to a friend and was rescued by the RNLI. Krys is a wonderful spinning teacher but its not clear that Barney did rise completely to the challenge of learning to spin. At least we hope that he appreciates the work in spinning and the £700+ raised by this team for RNLI funds this year. You can still donate to the BRITSPIN RNLI appeal here if you wish.
Members of spin spun sisters have taken part in BRITSPIN since its first year and usually spin in public over the four main days (only Anna, the team captain, managed to do COVID-secure public spinning this time). Another change for 2020 was a variation in the event categories which allowed for 'free treadlers' to challenge themselves as individual entries. Liz and I opted for this, while Anna (captain), Ruth, Jo, Diane, Krys, Eve (and our newest member Sara) took part in the Over the Rainbow team and several gave star performances. Overall, even though some spin spun sister stepped back in 2020 for various reasons, even more of us than usual took part and had fun.
The guild team did particularly well, taking 2nd place overall in the National event and spinning a mind-boggling 67 breeds of sheep fleece to get there. The stats and the silver cup are on display at the guild website. I took a very undeserved Bronze medal for distance spinning in the freetreadling group. (Just over 1500m which is very short, but distance was not what I was challenging myself on).
For those not familiar with spinners and their sense of humour there is another spinning/sporting annual event (the Tour de Fleece) which you may want to check out. Yes, it takes place during the similarly named cycling event.