ACE Races XXX Challenge
A XXX From Humphreys’ Head
Rob Howard / 11.03.2005
As 16 teams huddled round in their down jackets for the race briefing the bright winter sunshine turned to light snow flurries, and the wind picked up blowing around the fallen branches from the January storms that felled so many trees. The surrounding hills were snow covered, and the weather forecast for the night was minus 4C, but the wind chill would take the temperatures much lower. It was going to be a very cold XXX.It was to be a mysterious one as well. Only at the briefing an hour before the start were teams told the first stage would be a run, and that’s all they were told. The course would be given out to their support crews stage by stage. Over the weekend teams used 5 different maps in all, and the first was just a slim strip showing a route from the start at Low Wray Campsite on the western shore of Windermere, over Claife Heights to a transition near the Windermere ferry. Phil Humphreys emphasised teams had to keep the maps, as they may need them again later on, and explained that while all transitions were compulsory, all checkpoints between them were optional, with time penalties for those missed.
Support teams were going to be busy, they didn’t know it, but there would be 11 transitions on the 30 hour course. The sixteen teams taking part included experienced squads like The North Face and KIMM Lite/High Five, and the novices of Team Duck, who had all just taken part in the ACE Races training holiday in Spain. They only decided to enter 3 days before the race and Richard Felton commented, “I’d never even heard of the XXX until then and this is my first adventure race!� See All Event Posts
