Date: 4th December
Race Type: Adventure Race
Time Limit: 8 hours
Location: Peaslake Village Hall
www.dynamicadventureracing.co.uk
Before the race we were given 36 checkpoint co-ordinates which we had to plot on our map. 18 were for the mountain biking stage and 18 were for running. We could do it either way round (we chose biking first) and we had to be back in eight hours otherwise we'd lose a checkpoint for every five minutes we were late.
We spent most of the time cycling (it's much easier sitting on a saddle for five hours than running!) and managed to get 14/18 checkpoints. We got back to the transition point just as it was getting dark (at around 4 pm). After a slow change of tops, socks and shoes (mmm, dry clothes!) we were off into the night on foot.
Progress was definitely slow as we got used to our headlamps and the fact you can only see about 10 meters around. Alas, our dry feet were the first casualties as we kept stumbling into puddles. On our way to the third checkpoint, the footpath we were following seemed to disappear into the night and we were left with no choice but to follow a compass bearing straight up Pitch Hill until we hit a main track. We then guessed that we needed to turn right - wrong! The turning we were looking for was about five meters on our left! Still, we found it eventually. After that checkpoint, we accidentally stumbled across one we didn't have marked on our map, which cheered us up no end.
We then bumped into a Rugby player who had managed to park his BMW over a fallen tree – so we came to the rescue and helped push it back over the tree (we just want to know how he managed to reverse over it in the first place and why he didn't seem to question why three grown men wearing tights, covered in mud with headlamps on were doing in the woods in the dark!!!).
With about forty minutes to go we decided we'd better make a dash for home and started our first bit of running for a couple of miles down a dark lane. We bagged another checkpoint on the way, then headed off over a field in completely the wrong direction. Luckily a solo racer who'd done the same thing realised his mistake and headed off in the correct direction. Despite knowing it was the wrong way, Gary and Keith started moaning that they didn't have the energy to turn around - I persuaded them with promises of hot soup and bread back at base.
Ten minutes later we staggered into the finish with a minute to spare. We completed 5/18 of the running checkpoints which we were quite happy with. We ended up coming 33rd out of 44.
Steve Butler