Dynamic Adventure Race
Mud, Glorious Quantocks Mud
Matt Unsworth / 09.10.2008
Who upset the rain gods then?After three weeks of great weather through mid September and only a week to go I was really looking forward to a dry and fast Dynamic Adventure Race in the Quantocks. That was before the weather went down hill faster than I can. The forecast was for a weekend of heavy rain and strong winds and that is exactly what we got.
My usual AR partner was in the Lake District so I decided this was the perfect chance to go solo. I’m a big fan of DAR’s events; it was their Wye Valley event in May of last year where I lost my AR virginity (It was a good place to start as the base was in my home village). As a male pair I’ve done all of DAR’s Endurance races this year, however, a family commitment on the Saturday pushed me into the Sunday Challenge event, still with five hours of effort ahead.
Event base was in the sleepy village of Crowcombe at the foot of the Quantocks. Simon likes to make a point of greeting every competitor in his usual friendly manner when they arrive at the venue; my insomnia meant I arrived too soon for that. Instead it was a “goodness you’re early, couldn’t you sleep� from Nicky; she was still setting up ground control. Even Flossie hadn’t had a chance to plug the kettle in.
Still, at least I got my hands on the map nice and early. Regardless of the weather I was still looking forward to what the Quantocks had to offer. Having mountain biked there a couple of times I knew it was packed with steep technical ‘Combes’, just the thing for someone from a cycling background who is still coming to terms with putting one foot in front of the other and not being able to sit down for most of the time.
I knew I’d miss Gary’s strong running and navigation; however, I was determined to plot a route that cleared the run course. I forced the issue by not including any ‘get outs’. The main spine would have to be reached by a steep ascent right at the beginning and then the objective was to stay on the top as much as possible, even if it added distance. CP29 was removed following a number of nasty ‘get off my land’ moments during Saturday’s Endurance race but we still had to pass by!
Happy with the run I turned my attention to the MTB. This looked more difficult to clear as a rollercoaster of ‘ups and downs’ was unavoidable. I was also a bit concerned with the distance to be covered in the three hours available so this time a few short cuts were included in the plan. All the time I could hear Simon imparting his words of wisdom on the less experienced.See All Event Posts
