1980 the first British Drum Corps Championships took place in Birmingham and 2019 saw Drum Corps United Kingdom host its 40th consecutive Championships event returning for the 7th year to Halton Stadium in Widnes, Cheshire.  The weather and conditions for a great day of Drum Corps were absolutely ideal with the sun shining on the pristine astro turf of the stadium.

The Open Class Preliminary contest, which would decide the order for the evening floodlit A Class & Open Class Finals, commenced at 1pm and the results were:

9th - Dynamic - 50.85
8th - Liberty - 57.40
7th - The Pacemakers - 59.90
6th - Vikings - 68.85
5th - Revolution - 69.60
4th - East Coast Elite - 71.50
3rd - Starriders - 80.20
2nd - Beeches - 80.80
1st - Kidsgrove Scouts- 84.55

Following Prelims the heats of the DrumLine Battle competition took place to determine the 4 Semi Finalists - of which 2 of these would then immediately go through to the Final - all of which would take place immediately after the last Open Class Finalist Corps had performed in the evening.

At 5.30pm the floodlights came on and we commenced our 3 Championships events.

We started with our Juniors Corps and whilst we only had two units competing the competition was no less fierce and although the captions do not show this it was very tight contest. This year, reversing the result from 2018, Thurrock Marching Brass took the Junior Class crown for the second time with Concord AllStars taking the Silver Medal for 2nd Place. The Caption Awards this year were all awarded to Thurrock Marching Brass.

Junior Class Results
2nd - Concord AllStars - 70.80
1st (Junior Class Champions) – Thurrock Marching Brass - 72.45

Next we had our A Class Finals. Three Corps competed in this class following the results of the Open Class Prelims in the morning. The A Class Championship title went to The Pacemakers (their 3rd title in this class) with Liberty very close in Silver Medal and 2nd Place and Dynamic Vibe taking the Bronze Medal in 3rd. The Caption Awards were awarded as follows: the High Visual, High Guard, High Brass, High Percussion Awards went to Liberty with the High Music & High Effect Awards going to The Pacemakers.

A Class Results
3rd - Dynamic Vibe - 52.85 
2nd - Liberty - 60.05
1st (A Class Champions) - The Pacemakers - 61.40

Once again there was a number of battles taking place throughout the Open Class and holding onto a clean sheet for the second season in a row Kidsgrove Scouts took Gold and were crowned DCUK British Drum Corps Champions for the 8th time plus winning the High Visual, High Guard, High Brass, High Music & High Effect Awards. Beeches pushed hard but remained in 2nd for the Silver Medal.  In 3rd Place, and International Champions, were Starriders from Germany who also were awarded the High Percussion caption and then East Coast Elite getting their first UK podium finish for the Bronze medal. 

Open Class Results
6th - Vikings - 68.50
5th - Revolution - 72.50
4th - East Coast Elite- 73.00
3rd  (International Class Champions)- Starriders - 83.00
2nd - Beeches - 83.25
1st (Open Class Champions) - Kidsgrove Scouts - 87.35

Championships Results Ceremony 2019

And so that was 2019 and our 40th British Drum Corps Championships completed.

2020 is already looming with Corps already announcing plans and so we look forward to seeing everyone at a DCUK contest next summer and thank you to everyone for making 2019 a memorable 40th season for DCUK - The Home of British Drum Corps.


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