Middle Pack

An excellent article on fell running from the ever popular Planet Fear on the increase in popularity of fell running has prompted me to add my two pennies worth on the subject. They are right and there is no denying that some races are getting harder to enter. I won’t spoil it all but I will say read the article. There is not much I can add to the article apart from to discuss why it is seen to be becoming more popular.

It is generally seen now that all outdoor activities are becoming more popular. This could be mountain biking, trail running, walking, climbing, adventure racing you name it. It seems as the majority of the nation generally gets fatter there is a growing minority that is getting away from it all out of the city and into those hills. (more…)

Here is an area in all honesty I am struggling to fill. I do not manage to race on the mountain bike much as it is a heap of sh*te.

This should hopefully change in the spring/summer as I will get a new bike and be all giddy to race it. I will mainly be focussed on Trailquest and the odd enduro oh and enduro trailquests! Now we are talking!

The weather held and the snow melted in most of the course in time for the first of the Dark and White ‘Skins’ 6 in the peaks adventure races. The location being Macclesfield Forest and surrounding hills. There was two special stages crammed into this 6 hour event. A abseil and an orienteering course using a different scale map to the standard 1:25k OS maps both at Teggs Nose Country Park. Each racer was given an allocated time for the abseil therefore reducing congestion and queuing and this worked very well. It also meant that racers route choices were vastly different and there was a lot less following in evidence as everyone had to be at abseil transition at different times and a route had to be chosen based on their abseil time.A weird start to the race as you had to set off on bikes and you was handed a black and white map to get you to the place to get your control descriptions then go back to the start to get your map. You could then set off racing either running or on foot. Not really sure if this part was necessary although on speaking with the organisers they noted that as people were already on the bikes that a lot of them stayed on the bike and did that section first. This despite being more points on foot.

My abseil was a morning one and I only had about 1 hour of racing to do before my allotted time so bike section was my chosen starter (also as I had been having a discussion with another person about why we always run first so thought I would try the other way) The usual dark & white approach was in full force here. Always laid back but very well organised. Less glitz than other races but some tough courses and some great racing. There was something for everyone at this race. The beginners could have a good go at a challenging but accessible course and for the more experienced there was a tough challenging course with strong opposition. In the end the winner of the Mens category was Bob Johnston from Dark peak fell runners, Nick Gracie and John Laughlin in the male team, Heather Dawes after a strong performance at Open 5 coming home with the womens solo. Full results at the Dark and White site

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After a great start to the year with some fast and close racing at both the Open 5 and the Dynamic Adventure Race series Challenger and Endurance series there is a bit of a lull in February.

Someone obviously forgot to tell the Dark and White boys this as they have a full month of Adventure Racing and Trailquests packed into this inhospitable month (I say this as it is snowing outside as I type).

The first weekend of February kicks off with the opening event in the 6 in the peaks series from Dark and White. This one is going to be based in Macclesfield Forest and is a 6 hour event with running, mountain biking and the special feature of abseiling. This year Skins are the main sponsors for the The D&W team always hold good informal events so regardless of the snow drifts this will be a good one.

They are also holding a MTB trailquest and a biking weekend and even would be holding a further event if it was not for lack of entries into their night MTB score events. Busy lads and they keep this rate up throughout the year!