Polaris Challenge Spring Race
Chills and Thrills in the Borders
Neil Atkinson (Boys in the Buff) / 29.03.2007
Times are changing on the Polaris front! It is the first time for years that I was in the proper mountains! With the start being at Innerliethen we had a fantastic mix of route choice from the mountains to the forest trails. The Saturday morning began cold - very cold, in fact when I drove over to the start the thermometer on my car read -2.5! And that was at 8:30. With people walking round in duvet jackets thick woollen hats, polar Buffs and some cycling tights on we all looked rather silly!
The talk was all about how cold the night was going to be and if we were going to take enough clothes to stay warm. Andy Heading said his solution was to cuddle up to his brother. (Steve), who had not yet agreed to this offer!
The sun was shining brightly and the frost was starting to melt as 9 o’clock arrived, the time when the solo’s had to set off by! I was a solo, and as I dibbed at the start I shivered and shacked my way to the “give out�. People were cramming into the small area of sunshine to mark up the maps before setting of for the 7 hours of some very hard and hilly cycling.
The majority of us set of to the west to climb Birkscairn Hill 661m, some collected points clockwise round Pebbles others anticlockwise, climbing Blake Muir first before going on to the boggy, energy sapping, time consuming route over Birkscairn. After completing the loop we had hardly any time left. So now the route was to stick to as many good tracks as possible!
A Sociable Night
This took me through Inneriethen Forest, up over the fantastic single track climb to the top (need to go back and do that with no rucksack on) then over the Southern Upland Way until Yair Hill Forest then dropping down before climbing again up the Fastheugh Hill. The descent was down some very fast forest tracks, to find a cheeky little climb up to the overnight camp at Broadmeadows YHA. Do not get me wrong we were not in the YHA we were in a field above it! After a quick kit check on arrival, getting a tent up, some warm clothes on and some food was the next important task.See All Event Posts
