Harlow Running Club

Week 26 (28/06 - 04/07)

Weight : 12st 1.0lbs

Booze : 10

Miles : Prob around 30

**** RACE REPORT *****

Day 1 Checkpoints

Control Code Grid Ref    Description

Start     100     553 125    Slate Hill

1           116     545 134    Rocky Knoll

2           117     528 134    Cairn

3           113     526 114    Cairn

4           112     506 106    Sheepfold

5           123     504 086    Sheepfold

6           149     532 064    Stream Bend North East most

7           151     525 056    Small Island

8           110     492 074    Stream Bend Southern most

9           102     480 067    Finish Day 1

Well, we started off in beautiful sunshine at 9:27am.. The way this works, is that you pick up

the map from the central race area when you want on the Saturday am, then pick up the

Checkpoint (CP) information (above) at your given start time, mark the map with the CP's,

then off you head to CP1 etc etc.. So, there is a skill involved in marking the map quickly

without making a major error..

Tony & Paul's start time was 9:26am, so they decided they would simply take their time

marking their maps and wait on John and I, and we would set off together as a group of four..

I re-set my altimeter to 285M, and we all headed off on a bearing of approx 330, picked off

CP1, then headed due west (and climbing) to the Cairn (390M) at CP2.. Usually cairns are

simple to locate as they're on a high point.CP2 to CP3 was across some poor terrain, and

climbing (again) to 515M, then initially climbing then dropping to CP4, and having to cross

Mosedale Beck (river) to get there.. CP4 to 5 dropped to below 400M, then up again to 510M..

Smart move on this one was to see the patch of forest due South, and aim to skirt the West

side of it enroute to the sheepfold at CP5, which was bang on the 510M contour line.

Variety of choices to CP6 (400M), but we didn't take the best one (you will find this is a

recurring theme with me..), and we lost time due to poor terrain and unnecessary ascents..

CP6 to CP7 involved ascent to around 480M, then down to 375M again.. CP7 to CP8 involved

more of the same poor terrain to around 590M before a final very steep descent on rocky

terrain from 525M to mid-camp area at 200M..

We got the tents up, despite some strong gusts of wind, got a brew on, and fairly quickly

started on our food rations.. first course for me was a sumptious Pot Noodle, followed by Beef

& Potato Hotpot (dehydrated meal) a couple of hours later.. Tony, Paul and John had crashed

out for a kip, but I had decided to avoid this temptation which meant, by 7pm, my head was

nodding and I was fighting the inevitable, and decided to crawl into the tent, earplugs in, into

the sleeping bag, then into deep (sometimes disturbed) sleep until 6am next morning.. You

realise when you have 11 hours kip, that the body is telling you it needed it !!

Day 2 Checkpoints

Control Code Grid Ref    Description

Start      101    481 069    Start Day 2

1            120    475 081    Ruined Wall Corner

2            156    468 087    Stream Bend Northern Most

3            122    474 099    Gully Top 630M

4            129    483 111    Sheepfold

5            128    510 144    Cairn

6            127    518 147    Path Junction

7            134    531 134    Knoll

8            140    538 115    Track / Wall Junction

9            141    543 111    Stepping Stones

10          168    553 112    Wall / Track Junction

Follow tapes 1200M to Event Centre (Finish)

Weather conditions on Day 2 were drastically worse than Day 1.. Persistent , often heavy

rain, and poor visibility meant different skill set for the day

As expected, the day starts with a fairly steep ascent to CP1 at 450M across rough rocky

terrain, then up and over a peak, thru a specified wall crossing point (many walls etc are

denoted as "uncrossable boundary", with only specific thru points) to CP2. Again, I didn't

select best route to CP3 as the terrain was rocky.. I should have went high to avoid it, and

come into the CP from above, but hindsight is a great thing to have.. It was approaching this

CP that Tony and Paul started to pull away from us, and I told them to go and we'd see them

at the finish.. Anyway, conditions and visibility were worsening as we hit high points on our

way to CP4, and I was relying on the compass to hit Hopegill Beck (river), then follow it down

to the sheepfold, which we managed to do.. Tony & Paul were out of sight by this stage.. CP4

to CP5 was a long old haul where, yet again, I don't think I got the best route.. As we left

CP5, I saw Tony & Paul coming towards us (from wrong direction).."wtf have you been ?" I

asked.. "Messed it up, got to CP6 and realised we'd missed out CP5" replies Tony..

"Schoolby error" I joked.. They mouthed something to me, I think it was something to do with

questioning the whereabouts of my father... Anway, we joined up again at CP6, then on to

CP7.. another poor choice to CP8, where the wind simply kept knocking us off the bearing,

and I wasn't compensating for "over correction". Fairly simple to CP9 and CP10, then to the

finish.

Final Details :

Day 1, 4:33:19 (35th place out of 121 finishing teams)

Day 2, 4:42:42 (43rd place out of 102 finishing teams, 19 teams missed a checkpoint)

Overall : 9:16:01 (37th place)

Tony & Paul finished in 35th place overall..

Summary : Relatively happy in the fact we finished further up the field that two years ago, but

keep regretting some of the route choices every time I look at the map again (with lots of time

to select better routes than the ones we took). It's strange how I can see things on the map

now that I swear weren't on the map during the race !!

Still, every time I do one of these events, I learn more and more, especially on route choice.. I

know I'll always find the CP's, just not always on the optimum line..

Having (badly) torn my ankle ligaments two years in this event, I was very wary of a similar

injury, and was delighted to get through the two days unscathed.. Only to go over on my

ankle the following weekend on a simple bloody training run on a flat forest route !!

My next escapade will be leading Messrs Ambrose and Ayling on 22 miles of the London to

Brighton ultra event (checkpoint 1 to checkpoint 3).. I wish them all the best..

No more blogs from me for a while, I'm off on holiday..

Hope you enjoyed some of the lighter moments..

dg