Helly Win at Hawley
Rob Howard / 06.12.2009
A couple of weeks ago Tom Gibbs was part of the World Championship winning Helly Hansen UK team, but last weekend he was competing in a very different setting, at the Helly Hansen Adventure Challenge on the soggy heaths of Hampshire!The two races are opposite ends of the AR spectrum, the World Championship was a 6 day endurance epic full of navigational and strategic pitfalls and Sunday's race was a 'sprint' on a marked course lasting not much over 2 hours for the winners. In fact the winners were the only thing the two races had in common as Helly Hansen UK, this time comprising Gibbs, Bruce Duncan and Paul Pickering, won in Hampshire too!
The race was tagged the Hawley Winter Wonder, and was based by the Hawley sailing club and lake which is part of the military area surrounding Gibraltar Barracks. Race organisers Trailplus have used the area for some years now and this race was the 3rd in the 5 race 2009/2010 series. Last year it really was a winter wonder with temperatures so low they had to break the ice to kayak on the lake. This year it was very different with torrential rain overnight and in the morning before the 10am start, falling on already saturated ground. There was a late queue of cars to get in as everyone driving to the race had been slowed by the awful driving conditions.
There would have been a queue anyway as there was a maximum entry of 300 teams of 3. (The series is so popular now the races usually sells out.) The first start was delayed by 10 minutes to allow everyone to get organised and two more waves of starters followed at 5 minute intervals, with the first stage being a 5km run out into the woods and back to base to transition to bikes. As soon as the racers left the hard standing their feet were underwater on flooded tracks and it was to be that way all day - it was a day of mud and soggy sand!
On the first bike loop perennial winners VO2 managed to open up a lead but a rear tyre puncture proved troublesome to fix and they were passed and never saw the speedy Helly Hansen team again, eventually losing by almost 5 minutes.
Helly Hansen were well on their way around the circuit of Hawley Water before their rivals set off paddling in the 3 person Sevylor inflatable kayaks, and there was no ice channel to navigate this year. Amazingly the weather was sunny and pleasantly warm as the rain front had passed over just as the race started.
After the kayak there was one more run and one more bike circuit to navigate, with a stop for a 'ski plank challenge' on the way and the slippery wall to negotiate just before the finish. "There was a lot of traffic," said Gibbs, "we must have passed half of the teams on the ride and run. We were constantly calling for riders to make way on the single track sections, but whenever we hit some double track there was no one to pass! Then when we reached the skis we nearly ran past as the marshal was not there yet." The team completed the challenge and finished in 2.18.55 to take the win.
The Helly Hansen team did not have it all their own way however. The mixed team were beaten into second place by For Goodness Shakes, while in the in the ladies race the winners were Team Extreme, who finished in 3.01.11, winning despite a mechanical problem which meant they had to run with a bike for 6km.
Full results will be available on www.trailplus.com shortly and all the race photos will be here on SleepMonsters by Tuesday.
