I had been looking forward to racing this route for a while. One of our club championship races and one that I needed to qualify as I had not ran any of the long races yet. So I needed a good result to get me up in the rankings. I was figuring 3 hours would be a good goal to go for and wrote some split times down from last time sportident was used. I was all set to race!
I went up with a club mate Eirik Stanges to run the race. His first lakes race and my 2nd attempt at the race. The first attempt being in my first year fell running and the course was cut short at Esk Hause and missed out Scafell Pike.
I did my first ever mountain bike orienteering race last night. Only 2 hours but still has left me drained today.
The event was local to me, local enough to bike from work then bike home afterwards. I knew all the trails, the only difficulty was finding the checkpoints as they were fire hydrants, road signs etc etc and you had to answer various questions to prove you had been there e.g. what is the number on the telegraph pole, south side of road, how many rungs on the gate.
The evening before I had a quick fettle of the bike and ensured I was running smooth. I tried to put my map board on but the board wouldn’t fit on the handlebars. Ah no map board? I thought about grabbing some cardboard as it was all I had but predicted rain would have destroyed this and I had no zip ties. So option 3 was elastic bands and strapping the map to my arm.
After arriving at the pub/start and starting I realised that it may not be as easy as I thought just to strap a map to my arm. I understand why I don’t see anyone else doing it. Elastic band too tight, losing circulation, too loose dropped off, map in teeth, cannot breath, in hand, cannot brake or change gear etc etc. Decided losing circulation in my arm isn’t too much of an issue so strapped up it was, but it meant that I only had about 4 km square visible so couldn’t properly plan routes and often had to stop to re-arrange and re-fold.
Happy with the way I rode, and the way I kept pushing on. Especially from someone who has not really been mountain biking too long with any serious intent. Just a bit annoyed at not having planned ahead enough to fashion a map board from a for sale sign or similar. Near the end I was close to a further 25 pointer but just didn’t have it in me to get that and get back to base without being late. I figured I could have got some of the 25 points but lost the majority for being late so decided to head back to base.
Final results I came 4th in class with 340 points. Winner was Rik Thompson with 368. I reckon with a map board and less faffing around I could have got that 25 pointer. Putting me in second place. These things you learn. I should be happy with 4th as a first mountain bike orienteering race. Will definately do some more and am tempted by the 5 hour event in Swaledale this weekend but we will have to see. Another race tonight may finish me off for the weekend.
Some good results for the Valley Striders running club, with Maria Dixon first lady and Mick Loftus and mini Mick (Ronan) coming first in the generation class.
This being the only Owl event that I actually knew the route I wasn’t going to miss that. Also the only event with a bit of route choice in it.
I took the tactical decision to wear trail shoes as the ground was like concrete and I thought the additional traction and cushioning would make the race more enjoyable. As I was injured I was really only going for a good run and not to be competitive. The route being just shy of 4 miles with 500 feet of ascent and taking in some of the Ilkley Moor Landmarks. Starting at Millenium Gardens and going via the Calf, Badger Stone and White Wells before descending back to Millenium Gardens.
Even at the start people ran off in different directions across all the little paths across the moor. Finding Badger stone in the dark was a challenge for some as a leading pack took a slight diversion leaving me leading the way directly to the Badger Stone. A slippery descent to a road which was covered by black ice and then a direct line across the moor on little paths to White Wells split people up again as people tried to find the way. Getting to White Wells it turns out I was in 2nd place mainly due to good route choice keeping me in the race. The final descent dropped me into 3rd. Nice to see the Petzl wearers being 2 of the top 3 as opposed to the beams of light from Hope gaining their “running in daylight” advantage (only headtorch envy really).
Full results at the Wharfedale Harriers website
A great evening out and a good result despite not pushing it with my foot. These are great little events with a great atmosphere and a solid core of people coming every time for a gentle run in the dark. Thanks go out to Brett for this event and a massive thanks for the marshals and timekeepers on a cold night to be hanging around.
Some fell races you are flying, hills are a breeze, the legs feel silkly smooth, the downhills are like lightening with no thought, no effort or concern about saftey. You are invincible as you skim across rough ground. This wasn’t one of those races!
Arriving at Ogden Water for the 14th Ovenden Fell Race, I was feeling quite good. My injured foot had been rested well since the Calderdale Relays 3 weeks previous. I had not done any running whatsoever in an aid to sort my foot out (and ensure I could stay drunk throughout Christmas). This I think was my undoing. Going up the first slight incline my legs felt like lead, my breathing laboured. I was just waiting for a bit of flat ground so that I could get some rythem and start pushing forward. Unfortunatly as soon as I hit the flat ground I realised it was going to be a slower race than I anticipated. The legs were still laboured. The ground was frozen as hard as concrete and I was struggling.
At this point I decided not to beat myself up about it and thought of various excuses to my already poor performace. I have settled on two excuses. First is lack of training due to injury, second is that it is better to get the shocking races over and done with early on in the year. Happy with these I settled in and tried to just enjoy it as a training run.
I do belive there were some points that I was enjoying it, unfortunatly these were all too late in the day. Maybe I am just suited to longer races where I can get settled in for the first 8 miles as opposed to the race being 8 miles?
Two worrying things came from this race (apart from the result) first was the foot was in agony the next morning and second was on the final descent I had real trouble catching breath. My chest felt tight and I had to slow down and take big deep breaths to control my breathing. This isn’t the first time this has happened so off to the docs with this one. Still no excuse as this was on the final descent to the finish.
All in all a cracking race, a good course but I felt like I could have done better. Final result 32nd out of 137 in a time of 66.33. Winning time 53.42 by Karl Gray of Calder Valley.
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Copyright: Anthony Fryer 2008
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