Ace Race 2-day Series #2
A Wet Weekend in Wales
Rob Howard / 26.07.2007
It was the Friday when two months rain fell in an afternoon and ACE Base was 100m below the water level of Llyn Brenig in North Wales. No, it wasn’t the UK’s first underwater AR race, there was a dam above the campsite holding back the contents of the brim full reservoir, but not surprisingly the weather was having an effect on the race. Two-thirds of the entry made it to the compeition, and some of those who ignored the ‘do not travel’ advice had epic journeys, none more so than Geoff Henry, who took 15 hours to drive from Bristol and arrived just after his start time … and promptly set off on the first running stage.
The site of ACE Base had been moved too, to a field higher up the valley and was less saturated, though it was still a quagmire at the field entrance. There were fewer tents than usual, and probably more cars being slept in than normal and the caterers and marquee suppliers had some adventures of their own getting vehicles on and off the field.
All of the competitors managed to park on the country lane and the upshot of all this was that, despite the weather, the second ACE race of the year, and the race first planned by Marc Laithwaite, a former solo series winner, was on! (A UK race has never been cancelled due to the weather yet.)
The start tent was set up on the lane and as the rain continued racers set off on the first mountain running stage. (The tent was placed right by solo racer Toby Hellman’s caravan so all he had to do was step out of his door to start!) From the start it was a 15 minute uphill run along the lane to reach the western edge of the dam wall for the control value give-out ... a tough start and Laithwaite took delight in placing the give-out there for all the stages on Saturday!See All Event Posts
