Dynamic Adventure Racing - Endurance
Down and Out in the Downs
Paul Pickering - Team Adventure Sports Magazine / 28.10.2009
Dynamic Adventure Racing's 8 hour Endurance events are a great opportunity to experience adventure racing at it's purest. There are not herds of competitors following one route, there is always a friendly, relaxed atmosphere, just you, your map and acres of quiet countryside to enjoy. The Dynamic's South Downs race was no exception. A little later than I'd liked, due to a traffic diversion, I arrived at Duncton village hall, a familiar place as it had been used as a Dynamic race location before. The hall is a perfect place to start a race, in the heart of the South Downs and within spitting distance of the South Downs Way.
I met up with Maria, my race partner for the day, and we wasted no time setting up the bikes, preparing our bags and registering. We were entered in the mixed pair category. We sat down to mark up our maps just as Simon started the race briefing. "Beware of the pheasant shooters" and "watch out for slippery mud!" were his wisest comments!
We planned to run first, bike second.
The run, which we planned to clear, was a pretty straightforward route at around 28kms, the nearby ridge providing us with plenty of climb for the long day ahead. The weather had been reasonably dry for the last couple of days so we knew the pace would be high. With this in mind I hoped to clear the run in little over 3 hours.
The starts were grouped at minute intervals. We started off at the usual fast pace, picking up a nearby checkpoint, before we broke away from the group and settled into a nice pace. We passed through the impressive grounds of Seaford College, past the Saturday morning game of Rugby and met the ridge that the South Downs Way follows. We contoured this ridge for about 4km and picked up another 4 controls. The next control was up and over the ridge, an unavoidable climb.
On the other side of the ridge the forest opened out into a network of large forest tracks, which provided us with fast running. With so many tracks about, I completely focussed on the map, constantly checking the compass to ensure we were on the right path. We picked up the next few controls with no troubles. We descended out of the woods down towards checkpoint 16, which was to prove a problem.
Arriving at the location, the map didn't quite relate to the ground. After thoroughly searching the area, we found the control, much to my frustration. Something was amiss. (It was later revealed that the farmer had moved the path across his field! The description was right and the mapped feature was right but the feature on the ground was about 150m out of place!). We moved on.
We climbed back into the woods, picking up the remaining checkpoints, as we made our way back to transition for our bike leg. We'd been moving really well and transitioned exactly on 3hours, great – on target. 28km in 3hours with hilly terrain and no nav errors, things were going well. See All Event Posts
