Open Adventure - Open24
A Leap Into Open Adventure
02.08.2005
James Thurlow described his first Open24 course as “The mother of all score events�, and the competitors who had marked up all the pre-released checkpoints didn’t disagree. “I was being ultra-careful,� Mark Woods said, “and it took me 4 solid hours to mark all the maps.� Tom Gibbs of The North Face had worked out it would take him 33 hours to complete all the checkpoints. “I hope there are some dummies�, he commented. But there were not that many, and in total there were 120 checkpoints on the course!This was made up of 5 stages with a ‘special activity’ on each worth big points, set times for the transitions between stages, and penalties on each stage for being late. The results would be calculated on points alone and Thurlow emphasised there would be no time-outs in the race. It was a simple race plan, but a complex logistical challenge for the teams, who could decide to spend more time on one stage than others, needed to collect the points from all the special stages, and avoid penalties. This would be harder later in the race when they were tired, having raced through the night.
The 41 pairs entered gathered at the Lakeside YMCA at the Southern end of Windermere, which has huge grounds making it the biggest outdoor centre in Europe. The facilities were ideal, with accommodation for those who wanted it, a large room for the race HQ and registration, and the use of open canoes and safety boats from the centre for the first stage.
Some of the pairs were planning to race together as unofficial teams of 4, as they were training for the Wilderness ARC in August, and the race was perfect preparation with 5 transitions to manage and a kit list including climbing, swimming and canyoning gear, plus the opportunity to race through the night. Not all teams planned to do this however, some wanted to sleep for a few hours at the transition in and out of Stage 3.
The Windermere Wander
They had to get there first, and stage one was going to take them almost the full length of Windermere (the CP at the southern tip was a dummy!). It was fortunate it was as there was a steady head wind and some white caps on the water, making it a very prolonged and tough opening stage. After the 12.30 start teams had until 19.30 at the latest to get the first transition … but before they even set off they had the special activity to complete.See All Event Posts
