The teams participating in the race were very strong – four foreign teams and more than ten from Germany in the masterclass.

On Saturday morning all teams came to the market place of Bodenmais and at 7 o’clock the race started. In the beginning we had to absolve several short sections: orienteering, orienteering in a silver mine using a map probably generated by a former miner, once again orienteering. The next part – tobogganing had been skipped because of the rain. And than we had to go an archery section with 10 different stations. The sections that followed became longer and we went deeper into the forestry – mountainbiking, canoing, trekking and bike and run. These sections took us right up until 5 in the afternoon.

This was the finishing time for the challenger class. To synchronize the different levels we had to go to mandatory checkpoints and for those having enough time there were additional checkpoints by choice.

Next there were 2 additional sections. One for mountain biking and the last trekking. The last one took us few times to the highest mountains of the Bayerwald and the length of the trekking was around 35 km. The total trekking was around 60 to 70 km, 80 km for biking and 10 km canoing. I would say it was a challenging race and the total elevation of 5500 m has exhausting.

At the beginning we started slow. We made no major mistakes, nevertheless the maps are difficult to handle. Therefore a few minor mistakes led to a delay. At first we were placed around 7th. In the middle of the race we made progress and went to 5th place. The final trekking we finished after 8 hours. Finally we heard that 4 teams made all the checkpoints and we were the last team finishing. But, one of these teams, Team Flashmob, had been disqualified. Because of this we ended up finishing 3rd – we were really happy. Two teams from Czech Republic, Team Salomon Suunto and our sister team Berghaus from Czech finishing first and second.

Fred

Berghaus Store

For outdoor clothing from Berghaus including waterproof jackets, women’s rucksacks and more then please visit our online store.
You can find a wide range of gear for climbing, hill walking, mountain biking and other activities.

Visit Berghaus Online Store

For outdoor clothing from Berghaus including men’s waterproof jackets, men’s rucksacks and more then please visit our online store.

You can find a wide range of gear for climbing, hill walking, mountain biking and other activities.

Choose from a range of cutting edge waterproof jackets, fleeces, trousers & more from Berghaus.

Start was 20:00 on Friday (22/6/12) so we took it easy until then. Once the clock started we got our maps for the first time. OL with 1km “straight line” through impenetrable forest (you go around the thick bits of forest) and you should find an OL punch the size of a carrot at 1km! We spent some time looking!
One crucial nav error where Neil AND Fred independently marked a crucial co-ordinate wrongly in the map meant we lost 90 minutes on a Compulsory CP. This was a hard start! We enjoy being at the middle to front of the pack and so when we came across the rope bridge at 23:00 so late, it was very sobering. “Mmm Team-Berghaus Adventure is very late, but this is a long race (170km in 22 hours) so who knows. ”

MUCH later after finding THE fallen tree in a forest of about 40 square km and a dozen check points, we came into the transition area. Having made up some time, we still saw other teams leaving the TA after completing a 2 hour OL. But we keep on keeping on and managed the OL with the fun Blind line (Follow compass bearing with distance on scaled piece of white paper) with the best time. Here Rene, the amateur Photographer popped up and caught us trotting along at sunrise. Why do we all so often sleep through this magic time of the day! Well Fred and I were zooming along and literally jumped into the canoe. Everything was soaked after a minute in the rushing rapids and we had the fastest flowing river paddle ever in an Adventure Race. Dry bags are wonderful inventions! (Dry bag inside our new OCTAN Berghaus packs meant there was plenty room for keeping food and clothes dry!).

The next 2 hours will go down in my mind as the river run with the most exquisite atmosphere! We were alone on the fast river, the sun had just risen and between the trees it was blinding us so that we could see the mist rising from the water in places and the orange yellow light reflecting off the water with black silhouetted trees.. AMAZING. We paddled like crazy and after 2 weirs (water did slow down a LOT) and a small run up to a ruin on a STEEP hill along side the river, we landed having made up a good hour!
We were stoked!!! back in the race and having fun!

Next followed the most original city OL I had done… navigate by matching photos on the “map” with the real life setting. You have to use shadows to estimate the vantage point! Again we were the quickest on this leg although our pace was about 7 min / km at the best by now. We now know Marburg and will visit it with family and friends again as it’s a magic place! Then we’ll stop for a beer!

Back on the bike and after refueling with our mixed drink nutrition we tore off down the road following an aerial map. This is easy in the country, but the city? Who knows what the roof of a building looks like when you are on the ground? However, we made only small time mistakes and cruised on to the climbing stage. En route there were CPs up trees, under bridges,- you name it. These race setters all have a sense of humour!

Climbing in a high ropes course becomes a common thing in ARs so there was no “fear of heights” at all. Respect for the height is still good but nevertheless we were only held back by other people in the queue. It pays to be VERY diplomatic and “influence people with respect” and head off in front of ‘em. If you tell them how great they are, and how, after 30 seconds, they will not be slowed down by you at all, then they are most obliging. We had a lot of CPS still to do so the clock was ticking internally!

An optional OL was started, but we had to break it off as we needed to start the final bike session on time. 2 valuable CPs were not bad to have. Then we sat down for last session – on our bikes of course. That is not true, the hills were steep so it was a lot of standing too. Most adventure racers know that being wet and cycling also makes certain parts of your body unhappy about sitting for longer than 20 seconds! One CP after the other with no navigational errors now was what we needed. The front of the field was still about an hour ahead of us, but we did our absolute best and grabbed the final CP before dashing to the finish with an ave speed of over 30km/h.

Well the 50 odd teams of the 3 categories all rolled in quickly as the 18:30 cut off was worth keeping. (Minus 2 CPs and 1CP per 5 minutes late was a sharp penalty!)

The finest minutes in a post race routine are those spent in the shower! It was heaven!
After a great noodle supper with easy to digest veggies and salami, we hit the hay. 10 minutes later we heard that the final ceremony was taking place right then and not, as advertised, in the morning! Well, we were overjoyed to have come in 3rd after our 90 minute backlog. The winners shot the air pistols much better and got 4 more CPs so they were within reach.

It was a great race, navigational a challenge but so original at times that we simply loved the challenge!
Thanks to Axel and Nicole of Auenland Camping and the Leopard team for a great race!

One more thing… NO BLISTERS! yes, for the first time in a race, no blisters! I think the Berghaus socks did it for me! I did have 8 ticks, no FSME and NO BLISTERS!!!

Berghaus Store

For outdoor clothing from Berghaus including men’s waterproof jackets, women’s rucksacks and more then please visit our online store.
You can find a wide range of gear for climbing, hill walking, mountain biking and other activities.

The descent off the tops was super fun for those familiar with peat bog running and I only came a cropper once landing up to my waist in one well disguised hole.  We had hoped to catch up with Castleberg on the way down, but they were nowhere to be seen and we assumed that their superior running skills had meant they were even quicker.

Coming into Keld, we found out, however, that Castleberg had not yet come into transition! They must have taken a slightly different line and we had passed them on the way! David quickly swapped to his biking shoes and clung to Jack’s back wheel as Jack the biking machine took the lead on the following MTB stage to Castle Bolton.  Having done this stage two years ago I know there is a good hike a bike section as well as a rocky descent so David had all of Jack and my respect for riding it on a cross bike. In the meantime I was placing my faith in the sat nav and moving the kit the next transition.

The problem with putting bikes on top of a 4×4 when you are only 5’7 is that getting them back off again is a bit of a logistical challenge. Fortunately, some fellow racers came to my help and it was with great relief that I could stop bridging the car door frame to try and reach the clamps.

Our fastest transition to date followed as the boys came swooping into transition, Jack picked up a couple of gels and the two of us set off for the final 50km road bike to Northallerton. Now I’d never ridden the borrowed cross bike before so was a little nervous as we set off, but soon got into the swing of it and the two of us had an absolute scream on this section, taking it in turns to draft one another to keep the pace moving we flew over the moorland roads with carpets of heather on either side of the road.

It felt like we were eating the miles up and fuelled by more gels than my tummy could cope with we pushed on, catching teams as we went. In my head I had the words of Tom Gibbs from Team Adidas in my head. I’d spoken to him at the end of paddling Ullswater and he’d advised me that I should go as fast as I could, and when it felt like I was getting tired, go up a gear and peddle even harder. It seemed to work -we rode with Eddie Winthorpe of Sleepmonsters.co.uk for a while who pronounced that we were ‘going like a train!’ and boy it felt like it.

I was super chuffed when we crossed the finish line of day three after 5 hours and 21 minutes – the last 50km had taken us 90 minutes exactly.  Once again, I reaffirmed that I’m a day three girl!

In the meantime, David was busy enjoying beans on toast and making the most of the heated seats in the team vehicle. He was more than a little surprised was he to find that we’d been in Northallerton for over an hour before he showed up – I think I was too! Race analysis showed that we were once again back in third place and had increased our lead over the teams behind us. It was clear that Teams Adidas Terrex and Accelerate would be battling it out for first and second place on the final day, and that we were going to have to keep our wits about us to defend our position in third over Teams FTOD, Castleberg and Dutch Courage.

Here’s a short video of Day Three:

Click here to view the embedded video.

The final day was soon upon us and it was clear that things were still to play for in all fields. In the teams, Teams Adidas Terrex had struggled to keep up with Team Accelerate on the run stages who now had a comfortable lead, but it was clear that James Cracknall, Bruce Duncan and Nicola McCloud were not going to roll over and give up at this point, as was made clear as David and I ploughed on over Carlton Bank on a glorious hazy sunny morning  hunting down Team FTOD infront, and with team Adidas Terrex fast approaching from behind.

The decent off Carlton Bank is brutal on the knees after four days of hard running – almost the entire track is paved with stone slabs, followed by a steep 800m descent down the road into transition where Jack was waiting with the bikes.

Less than two minutes later and the boys were heading back up the steep sides of Carlton Bank for an off road 30km blast over the north Yorkshire moors to the tiny hamlet of Glaisdale.

Here, Jack and I took on the final bike stage to Robin Hood’s Bay completing the last 30km in an hour and a minute, despite me plowing into a gate at the bottom of an off road descent. (pesky cross bike brakes!).

The final 500m was a sprint finish on foot for the team together by the shore line.

23 hours and 27 minutes in total, and third place for the team. A result we were more than pleased with.

I would like to thank my fantastic team mates Jack Venner and David Hetherington, as well as Iain Hetherington for his invaluable help on day’s one and two with logistics and support without which we would have been unable to compete as we did. I would also like to thank Open Adventure and all the marshalls, and all the participants who were so friendly and supportive throughout the event – it really was appreciated. Thanks you also to James Kirby Photography, Stuart Hale of Team Accelerate and Charlotte Hatersley for the photos. Finally the team would like to say a big thank you to Berghaus for all the fantastic kit they supplied for the race.

More details of the race results and photos from the event can be found at www.adidas-ar.com . The event runs every two years and is open to all from those just wanting to enjoy the journey across the country to international racers. If the photos have inspired you, take a look at the website and give 2013 a go!

The race will be televised later in the year on Channel Four.

Here’s a short video of Day Four:

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Competitors race each day as solos or mixed teams of three. If racing as a three, as Berghaus Adventure chose to do, two team members race each leg whilst the third deals with the logistics and moves the team kit to the next transition (as quickly as possible). The event was fast with the winning male solo, Stuart Lynch of Team Orion completing the 200+ mile journey in a staggering 19 hours 6 minutes.

Here is a link to a short video at the start of the race with James Cracknall, racing with Team Adidas Terrex:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Below, Emma Van der Gucht from Team Berghaus Adventure reflects on the experience:

This is the second time I have taken part in this event, having joined a non competitive all female team for the 2009 event, so I had some idea what this was going to involve, however, it was the first time that Jack, David and I have ever raced together as a team and there was some stiff competition, so definitely no room to be complacent!

The event began on the Friday morning with an 11km sea kayak stage from Whitehaven harbor to St Bees. On-water starts are always nerve wracking as everyone tries to pull away without damaging their own or anyone else’s boat in the confined space.

The weather was spectacular, with calm seas, although there was some exciting swell going on once we cleared the headland as the sea rebounded off the cliffs. Although I’d been really looking forward to this leg, having completed my first ever sea kayak race earlier this summer on Angelsey, it was not to be the experience I’d dreamed of as it became immediately apparent as we tried to swing left to leave the harbor that our rudder was jammed. We had hired a boat from a racing friend, Kim, but had failed to appreciate the difficulties a fixed rudder would pose to us in this event until we started. A tiny knock, and the rudder bends, causing it to jam against the boat. There was not a great deal we could do about it once we were out on the water, and so we zig zagged a course across the water before beaching at St Bees an hour later. In spite of the frustration, it was still possible to briefly enjoy the sight of the many cormorants and shags that were living round on stretch of water.

A short video of me complaining loudly about the ruder was captured by Planet Fear photographer Dave McFarlane can be seen here:

Click here to view the embedded video.

A quick kit change and David and Jack set off on bikes to the head of Crummock water where I met them with the boat for David and I to jump back into the kayak and paddle down Crummock, then carry the boat one and a half kilometers down the bridleway to Buttermere and continue to the bottom of the second lake. Having moved the rudder back into position, progress was thankfully much easier on the lakes!

Leaping out of the boat at the bottom of Buttermere, there was a 500m portage to Gatescarth before I could abandon my kayak kit, jump into my running shoes and set off on foot with Jack up the steep sides of Robinson.

We took it in turns to tow each other up here and the 44 minutes it took us to get to the top (620m height gain and 2km) felt like hard work! The last time I was up here there was a lightening storm going on, so I was quite relieved to have clear views and dry skies! As we came off the summit of Robinson and headed down Littledale edge we overtook team EFTOD before climbing back up to Dalehead and then round the horseshoe over High Spy and Cat Bells.

The views on this run are simply magnificent, with vistas of almost all of the Lake District. This was a fast race however, and there wasn’t time for photos on this stage. I went over on my much abused ankle (again – this being about the eighth time this year) and so our descent off Cat Bells saw us slow down a little and we were overtaken at this point by the fastest solos. After Catbells there was a short fast sprint along the shores of Derwent before an open water swim across the lake and a final dash into Keswick to the finish line of day one.

The hardcore racers braved the 13 degree water in just their running kit and a swimming hat, although personally, with the cramping I experienced in my legs after the hard run, I was more than a little grateful for the wetsuits we had chosen to put on.   After 6 hours 32 minutes day one was over, seeing us in third place in the teams behind whippet runners Team Accelerate in first place and Team Adidas Terrex in second. Team Castleberg.org.uk were only 12 minutes behind us and Team EFTOD two minutes behind them, so we knew we could not afford to take it easy!

Here’s a short video of Day One:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Day one over, and after a good night’s sleep next to the Trail Running Magazine’s awesome VW Campervan style tent, and it was on to day two.

Racers set off at 4 minute intervals with the slowest teams starting first. This means that our competitors FTOD, Castelberg and Dutch Courage started 4, 8 and 12 minutes ahead of us with us hot on their heels to maintain or even increase our lead.

The boys set out at break neck pace from Keswick over to Thirlmere  (having caught FTOD on the way) where Iain (David’s brother and our support for the first two days of the race) and I were waiting with the kayak and swarms of midges. Jack and David arrived 21 minutes later and David and I headed out onto Thirlmere for a beautiful paddle on flat water. As we set off down the lake we pulled past Castleberg with some cheery banter knowing that they would almost certainly pass us again on the run stage.

The portage at the south end of the lake was a little longer than I’d expected, so I was glad to arrive at the dibber and transition out to head up Helvellyn with Jack.

My legs felt frustratingly tired, but we ploughed on and arrived at the summit an hour and seven minutes later (4km and 750m ascent).  Having caught up with Dutch Courage on the way up, the descent of Swirral Edge in the damp and swirling mist was quick with team Dutch Courage hot on our heels. After the initial steep scramble the track leveled a little and as the helicopter circled above us we set off down to Red Tarn and Patterdale below. Keen not to sprain my ankle again, we kept the pace at a reasonable level arriving into transition 45 minutes after leaving the summit. Whilst I was pleased with our time given my tired legs, it was not a patch on the 1hr15 minutes it took Team Accelerate to complete from start to finish.

At Patterdale, David was waiting for me with the boat and the unfortunate news that the river we had to navigate to get to Ullswater wasn’t deep enough for the rudder. After much cursing and splashing, we arrived at the edge of Ullswater having carried the boar downstream for over a kilometer whilst teams without fixed rudders  (including Dutch Courage and Castleberg) passed us in their droves (or so it felt at the time!).

Once on the water, we got our heads down and headed towards the far end of the lake and the next transition.  Keen to protect the rudder of our borrowed boat, we bailed upstream of the landing before the waters shallowed out too much and carried the boat for the last time into transition.

Team Adidas came zooming past and after a quick refuel, David and Jack blasted out of the gate onto the final leg of the day – a mixed on and off road bike section from Pooley Bridge over the Shap hills to Kirby Stephen.

At this point we lost Iain, the boat and second support vehicle. I say lost, but it was nothing as careless as that implied  – it was all part of the plan. From here on in, we were a self supported team of three with one vehicle, so we thinned the kit down, and sent all the wet kayak things back to David’s in Ian’s van along with the boat.  David and Jack crossed the finish line of day two far quicker than we managed to get there in the vehicles and so day two was over in six hours and 33 minutes – a minute longer than day one. The evening briefing revealed we had dropped to fourth place behind EFTOD in todays timings, but we were still holding third place overall. Clearly I needed to give it my all on the run on day three if we were going to keep our place in the leader board.

Fortunately, a pub meal sufficient to feed my entire family, a (cold – bbrrrrr) shower and a lot of stretching later, we got our heads down for a good nights sleep and were ready to take on day three.

A short video of Day two is here:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Read Part 2 of the blog

The four day race will see Emma, Jack and David kayaking, running, biking and open water swimming their way in a self supported event from Whitehaven to Robin Hoods Bay. Not only will this be an opportunity for the team to pit themselves against the top UK teams, but Olympian Gold medalist James Cracknall, who will be racing with World Champion Adventure Racing Team, Adidas Terrex members Bruce Duncan and Nicola McLoud.

Racers will be carrying a satellite tracker to allow live updates of their progress throughout the event. If you would like to see how the team is doing you can go to:http://www.adidas-ar.com/2011/ for live updates throughout. Channel 4 will be following the event and the race is scheduled to be broadcast on television later in the year.

Emma, Jack and David have been busy making last minute preparations and training; Jack and David have been testing out boats and looking over the route, whereas Emma has been out in the alps climbing, running and cycling for her holiday during the daytime, and feverishly writing spreadsheets (much to her husband’s chagrin!) and kit lists in the evenings.

Battling once against uncharacteristically hot conditions, the first ten hours felt more about survival than a pleasant trip out. Fortunately, by 9pm the sun was setting and the team took a dive (literally in Jack’s case) into the deep pools at Rydal Gorge for a cool off and some headsspinning waterfall jumps.

After this, things picked up, and although it was not possible to claw back lost points from the earlier half of the race, Emma and Jack pushed on for a strong finish that gave them third place overall in the race series.

Below is a brief summary and some photos of the event:

The race began with a mass start on the shores of Ullswater near Pooley Bridge.

Teams took in as many checkpoints as they could along both shores of the lake before landing at Howtown.

From here, there was a brief subterranean shuffle through a series of tight tunnels before emerging into the sunshine and heading over Martindale and Boredale to Patterdale on the bikes.

A navigation error and small bike mishap cost the team time at this point, and they arrived feeling hot and bothered into the next transition before heading out for the first of two long trekking sections. The route took teams over the steep but beautiful Harrison crag before dropping down beneath St Sunday crag for a scramble up Pinnacle Ridge.

From here, it was up onto Fairfield and round the eastern half of the horseshoe next with a little detour down to Priest’s Hole cave. By now the sun was starting to set in beautiful oranges and gold’s but the heat of the sun was still fierce and with no water to be found, it was onwards and downwards to the Rydal beck gorge scramble and an opportunity to take on more food and water.

As twilight descended, the pair headed out for a circuit of Loughrigg fell on the bikes where more caves were to be found. A short torch lit paddle on Windermere followed, and whilst it was disappointing that the cloud had covered over the carpet of stars, it was as ever still a special experience paddling in the dark with the glinting lights reflecting on the water.

Next up was the last MTB stage with various – but all uphill -options taking you from Ambleside to Haweswater. Emma and Jack chose to head up past Jenkin Crag through the woods and past hundreds of people taking part in the Lakeland 100 and 50 (very bizarre seeing so many people at 2 in the morning!) before taking in a couple of checkpoints en route to Kentmere and Sawmill cottage (very different to the last time the team was there – no 3 inches of sheet ice on the floor this time!) before a very very long hike a bike over Gatescarth Pass.

According to friends’ this is ‘entirely rideable’ Er not at 4 in the morning after 15 hours of racing it wasn’t! A gnarly and speedy descent into Haweswater, and the team were off on foot up High Street for a spot of orienteering. It was Emma’s turn to feel the burn at this point and she was popped onto a tow at this point to make sure she didn’t fall asleep.

The weather threatened rain and chilly clouds briefly, but this didn’t last and by the time the pair were heading over the Knott, the cloud was lifting, allowing fabulous views across the northern lakes. The final descent was over Martindale common and back to the picturesque shoreline at Howtown for a final paddle and coasteering section.

Emma and Jack crossed the finish line at 12.10 with 15 minutes of race time to spare, tired but happy (and very glad that sudocreme was invented).

Time for a rest before the team puts in a last push training for the Coast to Coast in 4 week’s time!

Team Berghaus Adventure: 3rd place in the Endurance Series. First Place went to Tom and Astrid Gibbs of Team Adidas Terrex and second place to Planet Fear’s Sally Ozanne and Ant Cooper.

All images courtesy of James Kirkby images.

Jack

Last weekend I was out on the mountain bike for a three hour night time loop over new territory in the Peak District to brush up on the night navigation. Helped by a full moon I didn’t feel too much slower than riding during the day … but I know that perception of speed is very different in the dark.

Weekend training has continued with local rides out in the Peak District. Most of the miles have been on the road bike to rest the coccyx as much as possible and help with leg strength. Biking is still very much my stronger discipline so I’ve also been concentrating on increasing both speed and distance on the runs. I’m working in Hampshire during the week, but despite the lack of hills I have the beautiful Watership Down on my doorstop and a lovely 15km loop which I’ve got down to about the hour mark.

Only a week to go before the Open24 so the plan for this week is a couple of runs after work, and hopefully an open water swim at the Tri20 Swim Centre. Aside from the usual physical preparation, I’ve been doing some homework on racing in high temperatures having struggled towards the end of the run in the Open12. Together with the usual equipment checks and bike maintenance I feel well prepared and looking forward to next weekend.

Emma

Last week I was out in Saas Grund with the Berghaus team shooting for their Spring Summer 2012 clothing range. I’ve never done anything quite like that before so it was very exciting and an amazing opportunity to meet the people responsible for providing us with such great kit, and in such a beautiful location. Sadly the weather was somewhat more unseasonal than we’d have hoped, but it was an opportunity to reacquaint myself with altitude before my summer holiday in the Alps in a few weeks time.

On my return from Switzerland, like Jack, I decided to focus on my weakest discipline and spent a weekend on the river Ure improving my paddling technique under the expert tuition of River Mountain Experience, a local instructor. The river was really beautiful and teeming with wildlife – I never stopped being excited by the hundreds of electric blue dragonflies that were zooming around. As well as taking a dunking (or two), I was guided to learn more about how to read moving water – I even got to try my first ever grade two rapid! These skills will be invaluable on the longer races and time well spent – just need to buy a boat now……. One of the added advantages of learning with an instructor was that I obtained my three star touring award – the certificate required to allow us to race an ‘elite’ (rather than standard) boat – yeehah!

I will be mostly faffing with kit in the week running up to the 24, with perhaps a quick social run with the local club and a bit of yoga. After that, I’m heading off to the French alps for a couple of weeks climbing and running which will hopefully stand me in good stead for the Coast to Coast at the end of the month.

Team Berghaus Adventure are also thrilled to welcome David Hetherington onto the team for the Coast to Coast. David raced with Emma in the Open Endurance Series 2010 and the LAMM 2011. Below, David says a little bit about what he’s been up in the past two weeks and what he plans to do before the Coast to Coast.

David

My plan for the last fortnight was to have a holiday on the West Coast starting with a week in Glen Shiel then moving up to Loch Carron. The weather was mainly good with no midges to speak of and even sunburn one day.

My partner and I had a fantastic time with me climbing 20 new Munros and getting in some good hill runs – excellent practice for mountain marathons Emma and I are hoping to do later in the year!

For me, the highlights included a traverse of the Five Sisters Ridge, solo scrambling on the Cuillin Ridge from Bruach na Frithe to Sgurr nan Gillean and a round of Coire Lair.

Over the next few weeks I plan to convert my big hill legs into strong bike legs in time for the Coast to Coast! Like Emma, I’m also hoping to achieve my three star kayaking certificate in time for the race, although I’m one step ahead of Em in that I’ve already bought a boat!

Competition was again tough, and there was an added unexpected factor – heat!

Traditionally the open 12 does what it says on the tin; it’s a 12 hour non stop expedition race typically of running and biking, with a sprinkling of ‘trouser filler’ stages (canyoning/open water swims/climbing/abseils/caving and so the list goes on). This year, race planner Wayne Elliot had an extra twist up his sleeve, with the race split into two stages with a compulsory overnight break of six hours.

The first stage was to kick off with a 13km trail run from the picturesque village of Heartbeat – Goathland over the stunning Simon How Rigg to Newtondale where the steam train had deposited our bikes for us. Before this was a short sharp team relay of running and orienteering around Pickering to determine the start order of the race.

Start times began at 6.30pm on the Saturday evening and were staggered every two minutes to prevent congestion on the singletrack moorland path. In true Open Adventure style, it wouldn’t be an adventure race if we weren’t getting wet within the first ten minutes and so it was we found ourselves scrambling down a woodland hillside towards a short swim out to our first checkpoint – nestled behind the Thompson Foss waterfall.

Leaping back out of the water, it was off across the beautiful moorland bathed in a golden sunset at a steady pace; the fastest team to complete the stage were to receive 200 points in 1hour 19 minutes and with each subsequent team, a further 3 points were deducted.

Em and Jack came in 11^th with 170 points and a time of 1hour 32 minutes. Transition was a somewhat less expedient experience however as Em had (once again) gone over on her dodgy ankle on the final descent , and on arrival at transition found that her helmet mounted light had become displaced in transit and was nowhere to be found.

Fortunately for Em and Jack, assistance was at hand from the Berghaus/For Goodness Shakes team who were sadly having to drop out of the race following a really nasty ankle sprain for Fi McBryde on the run. A much appreciated helmet swap later and with the borrowed (worlds’ brightest) lights, the pair set off into the sunset for the first MTB checkpoint.

As the light faded, so did the speed, however, the pair stuck to their plan of 5 hours/7hours to maximize the use of daylight hours and arrived at camp at 23:55 – bang on 5 hours. The pair felt like they were moving in an uncharacteristically slow manner, but aware that there was still a second day to come, kept their pace. The pay off was their best navigation to date, including a complicated nighttime section through the woods (interspersed only briefly with a flying fox across Dalby forest at nightfall).

Food –stretches – tea – sleep – time to get up again and onto day two.  Aware that their conservative plan for day one had gone well the pair decided to take a similar approach to day two heading out first to take on the red MTB trail at Dalby forest where three checkpoints at undisclosed locations awaited them.

Sweeping along the trails at first light was a delight due to its peace and quiet, although more than a little painful for Jack on a carbon fiber hardtail and bruised coccyx.

Heading west out of the forest the team started to pick off checkpoints along lanes and roads as they moved towards the final stage of running and climbing. The highlight for both was a fantastic swooping descent on the bikes from Fairfields to Farworth.

Again, good navigation compensated for less speed than usual and the pair pulled into transition at Appleby for a quick shoe change before heading out on foot towards the quarry climbing north of Keldhome. Teams were allowed up to three climbs each and in order to obtain the points (30 for an easy climb, 40 for a moderate and 50 for a difficult climb) the climb had to be completed clean, without any rope weighting. Feeling tired at this point, the team chose to go for a moderate climb each, then Em scrambled quickly up an easy (and very dirty) climb for the last points.

By now the sun was high in the sky and with 100% humidity it was more than a little uncomfortable. Fortunately, the final foot stage was only approximately 10km and then there was a final sprint on the bikes back to the finish line at Pickering. Arriving with ten minutes to spare, the team kicked themselves for not picking up the final 10 pointer en route back to Pickering, but were pleased none the less with a great fun weekend out.

Overall, the team finished 5^th in the mixed pairs with a score of 1190, placing them third in the series behind Team adidas TERREX and Team Planet Fear. With the Open 24 less than a month away, all is still to play for in the series placing.

Thanks go to Open Adventure, Planet Fear and Wayne Elliot for a great event and to Fi McBryde and Stuart Lynch for the invaluable help with the loan of the worlds’ brightest bike light.

For full results and photos go to www.openadventure.com/results

All above photos courtesy of James Kirby.

David and I raced together last year in the Planet Fear Adventure Racing Endurance Series, but this was the first time either of us had tried a mountain marathon. We’d heard great things about the LAMM, reputed to be the ‘connoisseur’s mountain marathon’ due to it’s idyllic and remote locations, and decided that in spite of it taking place over 10 hours drive away in the far north of Scotland, we were keen to have a go.

The exact location of the event is only revealed at noon on the Thursday before the race and we were both delighted and excited to find that this year we would be going to Inverlael,  Ullapool; an area we have both visited historically and have been keen to return to.

Leaving Yorkshire at lunchtime, we headed north with the hope of arriving in time for supper, but were alas thwarted by a very serious accident closing the A9 northbound meaning our arrival time was closer to midnight than tea time. Excited by the clear skies and total lack of midges so familiar to these parts, we pitched camp and quickly registered. Result! We had a lie in! Our start time wasn’t until 8.40am……. so it was with more than a little confusion that I found myself being woken at 05.30 by the distinct and not so quiet piping’s of a female bagpipe player wandering the camp. Apparently this is standard fare for the LAMM, clearly we had a lot to learn.

David and I had decided to take on the score category, as we thought this might be the most fun and feel the least like a race – if anyone overtakes you, you just convince yourself that they are doing a different route. The aim of the score class is to collect as many points as possible during an allocated time period. In the LAMM, this is 7 hours on the first day, followed by 6 hours on the Sunday. Competitors have to have carry all of there equipment for the weekend including an overnight wilderness camp. In this game, it seems every gram counts and we were scoffed at by friends for taking such ‘luxuries’ as a spoon and toothbrush each.

8.38 and David and I set off for the start line, only to find we were to board a bus and be taken on a short magical mystery tour before starting the race. This was the first opportunity for competitors to see the map and my, this was a BIG map.  26km x 26km with checkpoints scattered to all corners, it was clear that route choice was going to be VERY important. As we dibbed to start the clock, we were handed our checkpoint descriptions, grid references and values. Half an hour later, we had plotted what looked like a reasonable route that took us across the wilderness of the Beinn Dearg and Seana Braigh munros to the overnight camp in Strath Mulzie.  The weather was unseasonably hot and dry, so keeping hydrated on the move was really important. The advantage of such clear skies was of course that navigation was much easier.  Happy with our route, not least for the fantastic views is gave us, we were really pleased with our steady progress, picking up the pace slightly at the end in order to pick up a couple of cheeky extra checkpoints near the camp.

We were even more pleased when the scores for day one were revealed and having run 30km and 1900m ascent we found ourselves in 14th place overall (2nd mixed pair).  Unfortunately, as we rolled into camp, the skies opened making socializing at the overnight camp a little bit of a damp experience.

I’d experienced a rather unfortunate reaction to what I’d been wearing, and my back had come out in huge blistery wealds that were very sore. Fortunately, we were able to trade compeed and mole skin from my first aid kit for additional large non stick dressings from other competitors and David was able to patch me up so that I was a bit more comfortable (this by the way is why I look like I’m trying to impersonate wonder woman in the finish line photograph – it’s not a new fashion statement!). We eventually retired to our laser competition tent for some surprisingly tasty rehydrated meals (a definite improvement over pot noodles).

Another 5am start to a stunning morning and we were off for the start of day two. Having received the checkpoint grid references and points, it seemed that there were two obvious choices. A) head south then west back over the high munros – a committing route of 28km and the chance to pick up 160 points, or B) head west then south over the lower ground to a slightly less committing route with multiple options for points. In a snap decision we decided to go with option B, but within half an hour of setting off it became apparent that this was a bit of a major boo boo.

Faced with slow moving undulating ground and miles and miles of peat hags, the going was slower than the previous day, and although not climbing as high, felt harder work with the tough terrain underfoot. Navigation to the checkpoints on the lower ground was also more challenging (it’s not that difficult to navigate to the summit of a mountain, but locating a dried up lochan in a 10km section of peat hags is somewhat more difficult). As time slipped away, we realized that we were going to have to drop most of the checkpoints that on paper looked so achievable and push to get back.  A sprint finish down the final 4kms added extra spice and we crossed the finish line feeling in much need of a cup of tea. Although disappointed by our route choice and subsequent modest score on the Sunday, we refused to be downcast as overall, we had enjoyed two awesome days in the Scottish highlands, and completed our first ever mountain marathon feeling thirsty for more.

The results revealed that we finished 23rd overall (4th mixed pairs) in the score category.  Overall, we worked out that we ran 58km with 3400m of ascent. In spite of the ‘what if’s and ‘could of’s’ that were flying round our minds, the most important question was ‘when’s the next one?’.

Other Adventure Challenges

The location of the race was announced at 12:00 on Thursday 9th June, 42 hours before the start of the race. All competitors know at this point is that the event will be in a wild and remote part of the northern highlands of Scotland.

This will be Emma’s first ever mountain marathon, and she has decided to enter the ’score’ category in the hope that adventure racing strategy will be a helpful skill to bring to the table. At the moment, the weather forecast is suggesting mixed conditions with possible snow (snow! in June!) over high ground. Teams of two entering the LAMM have to be self sufficient in the hills for 36 hours with an overnight wild camp in an undisclosed location.

If you are racing the LAMM yourself and spot Emma in her team Berghaus packlites, give her a wave!

Adventure Challenge