On Saturday 22nd September DCUK returned to Select Security Stadium in Widnes for the 6th year for the 39th British Drum Corps Championships. Having had one of the best summers for decades the weather was threatening to make this a damp affair and whilst during a few of the performances a small amount of rain fell it could have been much worse and most Corps got away with a dry performance.

The Open Class Preliminary contest, which would decide the order for the evening floodlit A Class & Open Class Finals, commenced at 1.30pm and the results were:

8th - The Pacemakers - 54.90
7th - Vikings - 61.35
6th - Revolution - 68.60
5th - East Coast Elite - 72.60
4th - Cadence - 74.25
3rd - Beeches - 76.55
2nd - THE COMPANY - 83.35
1st - Kidsgrove Scouts- 85.25

The timing of the break could not have been better as only a few minutes after the last prelims performance the rain decided it was time to appear but thankfully was long gone before the event restarted and we commenced our evening show with a SoundSport performance Thanks to Stafford Brigades for a very entertaining show and congratulations on obtaining a Bronze Award.

So with the floodlights on we commenced our Championships events.

With the audience numbers up slightly on last year we started with our Juniors Corps with all three Corps performing exceptionally complex shows for their ages but still extremely enjoyable and offering a great future. Concord AllStars took the crown for the 4th time with Thurrock Marching Brass retaining the Silver Medal for 2nd Place and Cadence Academy wining the Bronze Medal in 3rd. The Caption Awards this year were shared with Concord winning High Percussion, High Brass, High Music & High Effect and Thurrock Marching Brass the High Visual & High Guard captions

Junior Class Results
3rd - Cadence Academy - 51.25
2nd - Thurrock Marching Brass - 62.15
1st/Champions – Concord AllStars - 63.10

After a short break and the audience numbers building we had our A Class Finals. Two Corps competed in this class following the results of the Open Class Prelims in the morning. The A Class Championships title went to the 2nd Place Corps, The Pacemakers, as whilst the Viking scored higher they are not a UK unit so could not be crowned Champions. All Caption Awards were awarded to the Vikings.

2nd/Champions - The Pacemakers - 55.10
1st - Vikings - 60.30

Once again there was a number of battles taking place throughout the Open Class and holding onto their clean sheet for the season Kidsgrove Scouts took Gold and were crowned DCUK British Drum Corps Champions for the 7th time plus winning the High Visual, High Guard, High Brass & High Effect Awards. The Company gave them a run for their money but remained in 2nd for the Silver Medal and also taking the High Percussion & High Music Caption Awards with Beeches retaining the 3rd place for the second year in a row for the Bronze medal. 

The Open Class were as follows...

Open Class Results
6th - Revolution - 69.10
5th - East Coast Elite - 72.80
4th - Cadence- 75.75
3rd - Beeches - 77.30
2nd - THE COMPANY - 85.55
1st/Champions - Kidsgrove Scouts - 86.80

Championships Results Ceremony 2018

And so the 2018 DCUK season comes to an end with plans already being made for our 40th Championships in 2019 - we look forward to seeing you all there and thank you to everyone for making 2018 another memorable season for DCUK - The Home of British Drum Corps.


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