Putting the Adventure into Racing; An Interview with James Thurlow

Rob Howard / 14.02.2008

With the first Open5 race of the year successfully staged in North Yorkshire and plans for the Endurance Series to venture out of the Open Adventure heartland of the North, SleepMonsters spoke to series organiser James Thurlow about Open Adventure, and his plans for the future.

I began by asking whether he had succeeded in his original aim to provide accessible races in the North of England and this gave James pause for thought before he gave a short answer; "Yes." Then he became a bit more expansive and said; "Yes, I do!"

Then he really got going! "Most racers might not recall, but 3 years ago there were no short races North of Birmingham (and none at all in mainland Scotland). I'd done some work with Dynamic Adventure Racing and thought, â€˜Why not do something similar in the North?'

"At this time the Salomon 36 hour race was closing down too, so I went the whole way and launched the Open24 at the same time! It seemed like the best opportunity to do it, and we've never looked back. Our next Open5 race is the 16th, and with one exception it's never been back to the same place twice. Our first race had 60 competitors and at Coniston at the end of last year we had 350, though that was an exceptional spike I think! We've had 3 successful Open24's, and between 10 and 15% growth each year."

I asked if he'd had any expectations of the series expanding in this way when he first started out?

"To be honest our first aim was to survive! We were told by quite a few AR folk that the idea wouldn't work, as we were not near any big cities or major population areas. I think there was a bit of sniggering at our naivety but I wasn't looking at it like that. I wanted to go to the best places to race â€“ the places I'd like to race. Some areas like Kielder or the Western Lakes are a bit too far out for racers to get to, but there are so many great areas available in Northern England."

"We also wanted the races to be fun, and felt we'd be happy to get 100 to 150 racers, but now we get more we're not going to stop that growth. We've also tried to keep things varied, to keep everyone's interest in the races."

Having sung the praises of the North I pointed out there are now plans for the Endurance Series to include races in Wales (Open24) and the Peak District (Open12) and asked what the thinking was behind this move?

"It's partly because competitors are now regularly travelling from these areas and a few asked about planning courses in their area â€¦ so it seemed rude not to! I was happy to expand, but have no plans to go any further South as there are plenty of well-established events in the midlands and south of England. However, there are some exciting areas in Southern Scotland and I wouldn't discount crossing the border, or even taking the Open24 further north."