Big congratulations to Alex for his prize haul this Sunday. Winner of the Open 5 Series, 2nd Place in the final race of the season at Grizedale, and to top it off, winner of the Suunto spot prize.
Karen finished the female solo category in 4th place in the race, and the series. It is a rapidly growing category with lots of new and fast women now taking part. Karens flawless navigation seemingly never letting her down.
I finished way down in 22nd place, in 4.5 hours. Finishing early being more tempting than overcoming the pain in my ankle. Still managed 7th place in the series, so not too disappointed.
Summer is here now and all the action starts. Watch out for team Haglofs at The Ocean Kayak Race anf the Open 5+ in May.
Wednesday 6 April 2011
Thursday 30 December 2010
This looks tasty
This is an e-mail from (www.nav4.co.uk) sent by Paul (paul@teamhaglofs.com). You may also find the following link interesting: http://www.nav4.co.uk/heb2b/nav4-12
Thursday 23 December 2010
Tour de Helvellyn [en hiver]
The inaugural event took place on the shortest weekend of the year. Despite early morning snow and blizzards, the organiser – Joe Falkner managed to keep things going, out of the 80 odd potential entrants 59 started, which was a credible effort considering the difficult travelling conditions. So with full winter conditions in place the event started with staggered start times between 7:00 and 9:00am, albeit with some late arrivers due to the snow. The forecast for the day was good, so Joe stuck with the full-route course, a respectable decision, as we were all up for the full adventure! The race started in Askham, (nr Penrith – yes it is miles from Helvellyn!), but it was straight on to the north east fells, heading west to Howtown. First checkpoint at Martindale Church, then over Boredale Hause to Patterdale and Glenridding another CP here. The whole place was deserted, with the snow lying we were afforded some extra special vistas. No time for picnicking though!
Starting relatively late on and with the benefit of keeping up a pretty good pace, it was quite pleasing passing runners, in my usual style the descents were done at a semi-lunatic speed as this affords maximum thrill – especially in the snow! By Swirls car park in Thirlmere there was only one set of foot prints in front – I had made an identification… Inov8 Rocklites, size 9.5, male Caucasian, 5’ 10’, 160lb. After 2 more miles of intrigue the perpetrator was ahead, filing water bottle from a frozen stream – busted! (and on that subject - 37 miles and only being able to get water which is so cold it burns was really, really unpleasant!!! A hot drink is promised next year I believe!). At Dunmail (where I had met this other guy with the Rocklites) we had confusion trying to find the CP, we had both assumed Dunmail bridge as the FB over Raise Beck (at Dunmail). Being in a rush at the start and being lazy, I had not bothered to mark the map from the CP GRs provided, eventually in this case the CP was found to be 3/4km back on the bridge at Birkshaw Gill – how annoying! We both um’ed and ah’ed and then thought bugger it, its a long enough trog without adding more to it, so we unilaterally decided we would push on and vouch for each other if quizzed, thankfully later-on at the end no one was particularly bothered.
The climb up to Grizedale Tarn was ice ridden and here some form of grip would have been helpful (I knew I should have put the Katoola’s in! …along with the flask and the…). It was not long before Tarn was reached – nicely frozen too! Another quick descent lay ahead into Patterdale. I was eating well and this kept the energy levels up – which I have to say is key to keeping going on these long events! …this enabled me to maintain good physical and mental alertness – so being sure not to miss the Patterdale CP – which was identified as ‘Church (manned)’- however there was no one about outside, so what do you do? - you go in of course …only to find ‘erm’ no marshal, but instead a church service underway. Best leave! ....there he was over the road! The route then retraced the same path back to Askham, still a way off but it felt like the home run! I dug in and tried to maintain a run up Boredale Hause, but had to give in to a walk about halfway, the views where breathtaking, so I few snaps where taken - no time to hang around though, as there was a cold east wind that was biting through my moderate (but very effective ‘Haglofs’) clothing; I had a bunch more spares in the rucksack though. No other runners around now, in fact no one around! it was tempting to ease up and coast along, but I was keen to get back to the warmth before dark, so kept pushing the pace.
The lights of Askham were eventually in sight, it was just after 4:00 when I turned into the village hall. A pleasing time of 7.23, I did not know whether this was the fastest time, but knew it was pretty quick, eventually a couple more runners turned up, one being Pete Waywell , who had set off late, after some sums his time was worked out as 7:27 – a relief for me and glad I kept on pushing hard. Full credit to Pete though, I always thought of those ‘Wesham’ boys to be road-runners!
This event has the potential as a classic, needing much respect and resilience. Good work Joe!
[photos to follow]
The inaugural event took place on the shortest weekend of the year. Despite early morning snow and blizzards, the organiser – Joe Falkner managed to keep things going, out of the 80 odd potential entrants 59 started, which was a credible effort considering the difficult travelling conditions. So with full winter conditions in place the event started with staggered start times between 7:00 and 9:00am, albeit with some late arrivers due to the snow. The forecast for the day was good, so Joe stuck with the full-route course, a respectable decision, as we were all up for the full adventure! The race started in Askham, (nr Penrith – yes it is miles from Helvellyn!), but it was straight on to the north east fells, heading west to Howtown. First checkpoint at Martindale Church, then over Boredale Hause to Patterdale and Glenridding another CP here. The whole place was deserted, with the snow lying we were afforded some extra special vistas. No time for picnicking though!
Starting relatively late on and with the benefit of keeping up a pretty good pace, it was quite pleasing passing runners, in my usual style the descents were done at a semi-lunatic speed as this affords maximum thrill – especially in the snow! By Swirls car park in Thirlmere there was only one set of foot prints in front – I had made an identification… Inov8 Rocklites, size 9.5, male Caucasian, 5’ 10’, 160lb. After 2 more miles of intrigue the perpetrator was ahead, filing water bottle from a frozen stream – busted! (and on that subject - 37 miles and only being able to get water which is so cold it burns was really, really unpleasant!!! A hot drink is promised next year I believe!). At Dunmail (where I had met this other guy with the Rocklites) we had confusion trying to find the CP, we had both assumed Dunmail bridge as the FB over Raise Beck (at Dunmail). Being in a rush at the start and being lazy, I had not bothered to mark the map from the CP GRs provided, eventually in this case the CP was found to be 3/4km back on the bridge at Birkshaw Gill – how annoying! We both um’ed and ah’ed and then thought bugger it, its a long enough trog without adding more to it, so we unilaterally decided we would push on and vouch for each other if quizzed, thankfully later-on at the end no one was particularly bothered.
The climb up to Grizedale Tarn was ice ridden and here some form of grip would have been helpful (I knew I should have put the Katoola’s in! …along with the flask and the…). It was not long before Tarn was reached – nicely frozen too! Another quick descent lay ahead into Patterdale. I was eating well and this kept the energy levels up – which I have to say is key to keeping going on these long events! …this enabled me to maintain good physical and mental alertness – so being sure not to miss the Patterdale CP – which was identified as ‘Church (manned)’- however there was no one about outside, so what do you do? - you go in of course …only to find ‘erm’ no marshal, but instead a church service underway. Best leave! ....there he was over the road! The route then retraced the same path back to Askham, still a way off but it felt like the home run! I dug in and tried to maintain a run up Boredale Hause, but had to give in to a walk about halfway, the views where breathtaking, so I few snaps where taken - no time to hang around though, as there was a cold east wind that was biting through my moderate (but very effective ‘Haglofs’) clothing; I had a bunch more spares in the rucksack though. No other runners around now, in fact no one around! it was tempting to ease up and coast along, but I was keen to get back to the warmth before dark, so kept pushing the pace.The lights of Askham were eventually in sight, it was just after 4:00 when I turned into the village hall. A pleasing time of 7.23, I did not know whether this was the fastest time, but knew it was pretty quick, eventually a couple more runners turned up, one being Pete Waywell , who had set off late, after some sums his time was worked out as 7:27 – a relief for me and glad I kept on pushing hard. Full credit to Pete though, I always thought of those ‘Wesham’ boys to be road-runners!
This event has the potential as a classic, needing much respect and resilience. Good work Joe!
[photos to follow]
Wednesday 10 November 2010
Open 5 - Slaidburn [...and a Win in the Male Solo!]
The first of this seasons Open 5 events (1 of 5) kicked off in Slaidburn today boasting a record number of competitors - 330, proving the Adventure Race bug is spreading! For those not familiar the O5 is a 5hr Run/Mtb navigation event, you plan the routes and distance to suit your preference, so it can be quite tactical. The Haglofs team were in full representation. The sun was shining, however underfoot/tyre conditions were not unsurprisingly muddy, with the run section taking in the local farmland surrounding Slaidburn (which can make for surprisingly tricky navigation!) and then venturing [for the keen] on to the top of Waddington Fell. The cycle took us on much familiar ground primarily being spent in Gisburn Forest, featuring a lot of the red route, local knowledge (for Mick and Alex) was a slight help here - i.e. knowing when to take the faster forest road sections instead.
We collected some pleasing results, Alex did quite well in the Male Solo too and came away with a cheshire cat smile, getting 1st place!
Happy Adventuring... next one in early Dec - NY Moors.
Dirty...?
We collected some pleasing results, Alex did quite well in the Male Solo too and came away with a cheshire cat smile, getting 1st place!
Happy Adventuring... next one in early Dec - NY Moors.
Saturday 6 November 2010
Open Adventure - The New Season
The new season of Open 5 events starts this weekend on the 7th November 2010, We have a full compliment of racers. Paul and Alex doing the Male Solo categories and Karen doing the Female solo with Mick joining forces with John Murfin in the Male Pairs. Hopefully we should have some new Blog material and an update on the how the racing went early next week.
Tuesday 28 September 2010
The RAB Mountain Marathon 25/26th Sept (Alex Pilkington)
Up in the Eastern Fells again …my 2nd visit this year to this area of the Lakes for a Mountain Marathon. The omens where not looking good for me on this years RAB as I was dosed up on Beechams trying to shake off a head full of sniffle and snot. Not doing it was not an option as the RAB is a favourite of mine – quite small and low key and a simple format – two classes: elite - 7&6hr and standard - 6&5hr, both score - which adds in the 3rd dimension (route planning) to the existing challenges of navigation and running. The weather on Saturday was crisp, clear and cold – the views would be stunning. The event started at Bampton, with the start a 30 min walk up the fell, all very simple and easy. The hard bit came when we dibbed and got the map – it went for miles going past Kirkstone and right up to Pooley Bridge, checkpoints everywhere!! It took a while marking on all the active checkpoints (about 30), I planned a rough route that was ambitious but do-able with a number of short cut options if needed, as usual all the plumbs where in hard to get places. The first few and last few checkpoints areas are always full of people, which makes finding it confusing and harder – I always make a hash of the first control, and in usual tradition I did this time - I ran up a hill to soon – only a small hill though which did not cost too much time or effort, eventually I was on my way nicely passing teams every now and then. The running felt good and my legs felt pretty strong, and as usual I tried to keep up a routine of eating and drinking (even though you don’t feel like it!).
After 3hrs in I got to Mosedale Cottage (a bothy), roughly where I reckoned to be and at the start of the fells proper. By now the big climbs started to take toll and my rate of progress seemed to really drop-off, at the 4-5hr mark I had to re-evaluate my route, being at Kirkstone, I was pleased to have got an juicy 50 pointer, but realised 2hrs was not that long to get over to Martindale and get to a checkpoint or two on the way. The fells suddenly seem to feel totally empty, no other competitors and no other walkers around. With these events it is strange how having ‘so much time’ suddenly turns into ‘so little time’, by the last check point near to Angle Tarn (on IHMR route) I had 12 min to do 3km, downhill on fresh legs may be a slim chance, but in my now wobbly state it took me 21 min – 9 min late back bah!, incurring 15pt penalty. The run in was entertaining as I kept getting passed by the same guy, there where lots of paths through the bracken and he kept getting the worst line – it felt to me like tortoise and the hare! Midway camp was in the beautiful and remote Martindale. The usually MM culinary delights where on offer (No Ansley Harriot this time though!). As the last teams came in the results where posted and up dated, to my surprise I was 2nd elite – surely not possible? (first was Steve Birkinshaw – which I was a little way off), I was getting passed by several teams in the 2nd half… so I thought I would be lower placed. (In the morning I found out I was in a more realistic 4th place behind Shane Ohly and then Tom Brunt).
I took a few extra luxuries this year, still managing a 12 litre sac though! I had a warmer sleeping bag (needed as almost a frost!) and a thermarest neoair (guaranteed good kip!) and of course my Haglofs kit, which performed fantastically in the varying conditions. Day two had start times from 7am to 9am, I was off for around 7.25, there was some cloud on the tops at about 600m, otherwise nice and clear. Marking up my map on day two, it looked a right mess - controls crossed out – lines here and there, eventually I had it marked (sort of like a 5yr old would do!) up and had a nominal route planned – a less ambitious route today! Everything felt good after getting warmed up (which took ages for the hands!). The route was kind of a reverse of yesterday, I laughed at the Angle tarn checkpoint - it was on the spur of land jutting in to the lake, this morning it was populated by 3-4 tents, wild camping – little did they know best part of 200-300 people would be running through their camp before 10am! At about 2hrs in, I met up with good friends Charlie and Nick (Ultra Runners), who where a bit lost trying to find a really obvious checkpoint on a stone wall!! Surprisingly they had a similar route planned to me and where going at the same speed so we ended up pretty much doing the remainder the day in a group (Charlie was really impressed with his route and thought it was unfair for me to follow them round!!), but it was good to be entertained by some simple (crude) Leeds humour! They also had a good stock of chocolate as well, as I had eaten all my stuff! We finished in fine style, with a few minutes to spare, managing to use up time to pick off a few low scoring (but worthwhile) checkpoints. After the usual plate of Wilfs/Scotts Bean stew we waited to see the results as the final teams came in, I was pleased to see that I was in second place on day 2, which brought me into 3rd place overall, which I was pretty pleased about considering the difficulties on the first day.
Pleased to finish.... ready for some food!
Wednesday 15 September 2010
Tour de Ben Nevis
A quick drive up to Fort William last weekend as this little MTB race was intriguing me. One big lap of Ben Nevis, with a few sprints thrown in just like the real tour. My kind of race, it sounded like an Adventure Racing stage without the need to change kit and go running afterwards.
It was billed as a race with the cotton wool removed, and it had things like survival bags and maps on the kit list. Great! In reality, the course was pretty well marked and marshalled, albeit no quite the same as a lap based race.
I paired up with Si Bullock for this, as it would be a bit more social and we would push each other on a bit.
We started in Fort William and were to go round the Ben counter clockwise. Starting with a long climb on a road with a 1km sprint special stage near the top. Si was taking his time to warm up and we lost the leading few riders slightly. Heading to Kinlochleven Si shot past me on the rocky downhill, as did the talented team Orange rider Hannah Barnes. I made a note to myself to sort my downhill skills out as I saw Si casually waiting for me at the bottom.
Shooting up hill fast and furious the course eventually turned into bog and we were hiking about 6km in the rain but pushing hard, as this was a timed special stage too. After that the final third of the course was flat out fast making our legs sting as the finish seemed quite close.
We finished in 4 hours 44 min, 10th overall and winning pair. We were really pleased with this and the smart slate trophy we picked up. Maybe we could have been quicker, but we didn't care. It was a great race, and one for the highly recommended list.
Check out www.nofussevents.co.uk and the sweet video below from the folk at www.mtbcut.tv
It was billed as a race with the cotton wool removed, and it had things like survival bags and maps on the kit list. Great! In reality, the course was pretty well marked and marshalled, albeit no quite the same as a lap based race.
I paired up with Si Bullock for this, as it would be a bit more social and we would push each other on a bit.
We started in Fort William and were to go round the Ben counter clockwise. Starting with a long climb on a road with a 1km sprint special stage near the top. Si was taking his time to warm up and we lost the leading few riders slightly. Heading to Kinlochleven Si shot past me on the rocky downhill, as did the talented team Orange rider Hannah Barnes. I made a note to myself to sort my downhill skills out as I saw Si casually waiting for me at the bottom.
Shooting up hill fast and furious the course eventually turned into bog and we were hiking about 6km in the rain but pushing hard, as this was a timed special stage too. After that the final third of the course was flat out fast making our legs sting as the finish seemed quite close.
We finished in 4 hours 44 min, 10th overall and winning pair. We were really pleased with this and the smart slate trophy we picked up. Maybe we could have been quicker, but we didn't care. It was a great race, and one for the highly recommended list.
Check out www.nofussevents.co.uk and the sweet video below from the folk at www.mtbcut.tv
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