Open 5 - Lake District
Watersports in the Lake District
Aitch Carter / 05.11.2009
Time to celebrate - the long summer days of waiting are over - Open 5 is back! Mother nature marked the day by sending a tribute of rain, rain and just a little more rain. What could be more fitting for the inaugural event of the 09/10 Open 5 Series in the heart of Cumbria's Lake District?
After some, no doubt, tense moments in the days preceding the event, the village of Hawkshead stepped up to the mighty challenge of hosting the race and turned out to be more than up to the job. With high winds forecast for the afternoon and a storm due it had indeed been the right call to move race registration across Windermere. By early afternoon several local roads around Lake Windermere had been closed due to flooding and the ferry to Bowness was cancelled.
As most mere mortals were drawing up their duvets for a Sunday morning lie in, competitors, supporters and event crew alike were amassing, many in Wellington boots, all in waterproofs, preparing for whatever the day had to throw at them ...
So after last minute kit checks were complete and the obligatory "what to wear" decisions had been made we all set off. Despite the persistent rain, the temperature was mild and the going pretty good under foot. The majority headed for Latterbarrow earlier on in the run stage, gaining height early and carried on clockwise to complete circuits of varying length.
Those who opted for the longer run taking in the Lake shore enjoyed a pleasant dip in it's swollen waters before taking the short sharp ascent up to Claife Heights to pick up those few extra points. Running up here was slow going with one step slipped back down for every two taken. However, once at the top the going was again good.
It wasn't long after this that our team had a forced stop. A simple slip on a rock producing a spiral fracture in my fibula marked game over for us. Fortunately I had paired up with the female equivalent of Ray Mears (aka Clare Dyson): no sooner had she hobbled me to the agreed pick up point to meet the rescue vehicle then she had fashioned a warm, comfy bed out of bracken - 12 tog duvet included!
Those who were lucky enough to get to the MTB section, reported it was "wet wet wet". Tales of puddles over your bottom bracket and riding through rivers, abounded in the Hawkshead Primary School event centre where the bedraggled riders and runners came together to hear the results. The route itself offered a natural circuit out of the village heading north and east, again with varying degrees of length possible.
Some hard technical riding combined with plenty of up hill pushing and lots of river crossings to negotiate made for an interesting mix to the riding.
The fun and games was not limited to competitors as event support crew found themselves negotiating car swallowing puddles, road closures and a rapidly flooding car park and finish area - all this and still the task of collecting all the controls in diminishing conditions ...
All in, a great opening event for the 09/10 series, providing enough of a challenge to both new comers and seasoned old timers alike. See you in Hope in a few weeks.See All Event Posts
