Dynamic Adventure Racing Challenge
Numpties in the Forest
Mark Waltham (The Numpties) / 31.01.2008
Emma and I drove down the M3 towards Southampton, watching the skyline with anticipation; could the BBC forecast of sunshine really be trusted? To our delight, the murky skies of Surrey gave way to dawn over Hampshire and the sunrise revealed clear blue skies. It appeared that a third successive New Forest DAR would overcome the prevailing January weather.After a small argument with my sat nav (it tried to convince me that the small, muddy, pot-hole ridden cart track past biking CP 1 was an acceptable route for my wife’s golf) we arrived at the Thorney Hill village hall, greeted by the familiar sight of the DAR start flags and gazebo.
This event is a perennial favourite amongst adventure racing faithfuls with a combination of fast, wide, fire tracks providing easy navigation on the bikes and open access heathland and dense woodland for the running/night navigation.
Where exactly on the map is this bog?
Following registration and a comprehensive race briefing from Simon, the teams were left to examine the maps and identify candidate routes. Most of the CPs were out to the NE (towards Brockenhurst), with one high scoring CP set just out of reach for most mere mortals.
Emma (my wife and normal AR partner) had coerced a number of her colleagues into some pre-emptive training for the Microsoft Challenge in June, so I recruited my brother Dave into the fold for his much overdue return to AR action.
One of the interesting navigation features of the New Forest is the seemingly attractive option to venture “off-piste� and take the odd direct route between CPs. Experience tells me that this is never a good option and that “zig-zagging� on a longer route around the decent paths is always the shrewd play.
Needless to say, we were only 10 minutes into the race before our first path completely vanished into a New Forest bog, along with one of my trainers and our “stick to the path� strategy. Extremely muddy and slightly aggrieved at Ordnance Survey (or is it my nav), we forged ahead hurdling over bracken and through gorse as our route wound out to the North.
One relatively consistent feature of outings with DAR is the point where my mind says “Yes�, but my body says “No�. As we swept out to the South East for that “extra� CP we ran ourselves extremely close to the wire. My legs were staging a mutiny on the route home, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to introduce Dave to the concept of a buddy rope for the last 20 minutes. On our return to the finish four minutes late, Simon offered up the consolation that “no-one could fault our effort�.
I was more interested to know whether Simon knew how to use a defibrillator ...See All Event Posts
