Polaris Challenge Summer Race

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Border-line Racing

James Taylor / 17.07.2008

The 2008 summer Polaris was the 3rd time I had ridden this event. The previous 2 had both been memorable for different reasons, good and bad. The highlight was setting the highest score on day 2 spring ’07 and taking 3rd at my 1st attempt, the low point was a year later, spring ’08 when I was happy just to finish day on day one having got soaked and frozen to the bone when my so called water proof jacket leaked from the off.

With a new jacket and a lot more long distance race miles in my legs I was happy that I was in with a sniff. I knew that the main competition would come from my Whyte Bikes teammate Steve Heading - an all too regular winner of this event!

The event this time was part of the Dirty Weekend along side people who like to run and paddle as well as ride bikes, how do they find the time? The area was based around Peebles and Innerleithen, this meant the 7 Stanes trails would add some one way trail complications to route choice. Having collected my unmarked map the night before I spent an hour or so looking at how the one way routes could be linked into the rest of the map area, I decided that the only way to get to the top of Glentress and clean up efficiently was from the North East. The rest of the area I felt could be ridden in any direction.

At the start I still felt that I needed to approach Glentress from the NE so I set off south to get controls 15 and 24 and then up onto Minch Moor for 26. Other riders were all over the place and taking very different routes, it was soon apparent that there was not one obvious good route choice (to most of us at least). Had I made the right one? This was to play on my mind for the next 7 hours.

The superb decent off Minch Moor to CP3 was over all too quickly. From there I went to the most easterly controls on fast riding forest tracks taking in some easy points through 31 and 35. Next it was down to Walker Burn and onto the ominous climb of Priesthope Hill, I remembered this all too well from the Spring Polaris in 2007 ... See All Event Posts