Dynamic Adventure Racing
New Year, New Location, New Faces
Nicky Thomas - Dynamic Adventure Racing / 21.03.2005
A new year, a new location, race HQ for the first Dynamic Adventure Race of 2005 was in Ibsley, a small village in the Northern part of the glorious New Forest. If, like me, you thought there were no hills in the New Forest, this area proved us both wrong!A look at the map showed the hall on the most westerly side of the double sided A3, to the North of that, the only double chevron hill in the forest and to the East, nothing but undulating, open heath land, including ‘Rakes Brakes Bottom’ and ‘Freeworms Hill’ and ancient forest inclosures such as ‘Kings Garn Gutter’ and ‘Salisbury Trench’. The vast area of various shades of green were criss-crossed by numerous paths and tracks but were barely interrupted at all by roads.
This event attracted the biggest field of competitors since Dynamic events started, and approximately 80% of them were completely new to adventure racing, a great indication that the sport is still well and truly growing. The DA team were kept on their toes during map marking, ensuring that everyone was able to accurately plot their checkpoints and discussing potential route choices with them.
It was a beautiful day and the run offered the competitors a number of different loops to choose from when planning their route. Most people picked off the CPs closest to base, but CP 29, a Trig point up on Hampton Ridge didn’t receive many visitors, nor did CP 24, which was about 7 km from base but was very isolated.
The Late, Late Show
The very high number of beginners competing in the event was reflected in the time penalties dished out at the finish of the run stage. Sadly, one pair were so late back that they lost all the points they’d accrued on the way round. But, important lessons would have been learned about judging the time it takes to cover the terrain and time keeping. All those who were late back this time will be well prepared for their next race!See All Event Posts
