Middle Pack

Unfortunately the Lake District Mountain Trial has had to be canceled. This is only the second time in over 50 years that the event has not gone ahead (2001 was canceled due to foot and mouth). This time weather has got the better of the trial organisers. After yet another wet summer the logistics of holding the event along with concerns over competitor safety has meant that the committee have taken the drastic and brave step of canceling the event.
A shame that such an event has to be canceled, and you cannot help but feel bad that a lot of the reason is due to the amount of gas guzzling polluting cars descending on a small part of unspoiled Lakeland terrain. I know they quoted safety as a concern but specified river crossing points could have negated the concern over the river and the time at the end waiting? Well a nice 2 mile trot back to the cars would have kept the competitors warm.
It begs the question that for an event that can move around and does move around year on year, should this have been thought of before? Should there be a back up location? Basically should there have been a plan B? Or was this plan B? Had plan A already been foiled?
The committee had already caused controversy this year over their waterproof requirements on the checklist. Many people saying that they had to go buy extra “waterproof” gear. This is of concern as a potential race organiser as it implies that they didn’t have this kit before. This then means that they have broken the request of other race organisers mainly because they felt they knew better. Maybe they do and waterproof is virtually always overkill but if the organiser states they want you to wear a pink tutu with frills then if you want to race in their race you get that tutu on and get mincing.

The Original Mountain Marathon (OMM) 2008 is fast approaching and I can imagine there are a fair few people across the land thinking “oh my god why on earth have I entered that!” I know I am one of those people as I have chosen to have a pop at the Elite category this year.

The OMM for the uninitiated is a two day running event called a mountain marathon, which is a mix between orienteering and fell running. The OMM is the first ever of these types of events and since they established in 1967 there has been many other events pop up around the globe. (more…)

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…)

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!

Great weather greeted the competitors for the first Open 5 adventure race of the year at Dalby Forest. This course had been designed by Open adventure regular Paul Gomersall and used the forest and surrounding footpaths and bridleways to the maximum.

The running stage was an great mix of muddy fields, fells and fire roads with the odd stream crossing thrown in there for good measure. Some difficult route choices thrown in there for anyone wanting to clear the running stage.

The mountain biking was a tricky stage with the use of slightly outdated maps and many of the roads and trails not marked on the map. This caused at points packs of competitors hunting in the wrong place for checkpoints. CP33 anyone?

Overall a fast course that really was not affected by recent the recent rain apart from the odd boggy field and a great venue for such an event.

The male solo was the tightest class with Andy Conn nearly clearing the course with 570 points followed closely by Phil Scarf, only 5 points behind despite coming back nearly 12 minutes late and Alistair Morris again 5 points behind him. A very competitive start to the series.

The womens solos was won very convincingly by Heather Dawes of Inov-8 with 533 points. She was a full 49 points ahead of her nearest competitor, Julia Barron with 484 points and Emily Brooks came in 3rd with 465. Heather has to be a favorite for the series if she keeps that form up.

Ian Hughes and Andy Shorney from Skinfit won the male pairs convincingly with 570 points. A great result to match the solo winner on points and hold off the two Accelerate teams of Matthew Davis / Eddie Winslow and Adam Haynes / David Spence with 555 and 548 respectively. Female pairs won by Danielle Sheridan and Jessica Weston from Enduroar.com with 405 followed by Jessie Gebhard and Jessica Anstee (367). Third went to Nicky Jaquiery and Jo Foster (365). Mixed pairs was 1st Andy Mitchell / Jill Hume (549), 2nd Andrew Shaw / Nicola Parker (525) and 3rd Andrea Davison / Jonathan Ellis (490)

So where was middle pack? Well 11th in Male solos with 493 points. Unfortunately missing out on a valuable 25 pointer after getting lost on the singletrack trails.

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