British Adventure Racing Championship Final
Ridge Runners and Tunnel Rats
Rob / 30.09.2003
Before the start of the running stage Brian Elliot made life easier for the teams by saying their climbing equipment would be taken to and from the abseil site for them. For 3 of the teams this confirmed a decision to tackle the mountain stage of the run first and visit the compulsory abseil on the way back - now they wouldn’t have to carry their climbing gear over the hills. Saab Salomon stuck to their decision to go to the abseil first and run the hills last, and South Downs Mountain Rescue decided not to go up the hills at all.This was because Emma Linford was struggling with the running after yesterday’s long trekking stages. “I’m much better on a bike,� she said, “but after an injury a few months ago I’ve not really built up my running fitness.� So the team collected the 3 forest checkpoints and the abseil, took the penalty for missing the hills and headed back to camp, where Emma was soon standing in the freezing river to ease her aching muscles.
They were second to arrive at the abseil, after Saab Salomon, and were one of the quickest teams on the ropes. Saab Salomon were slowed up a little as they forgot one figure-of-eight descender, and once Pete James was down the rope he had to tie it on so it could be pulled up and used again. It was a dramatic descent into a small, abandoned slate quarry, now heavily overgrown with mosses. The abseil site was clean of greenery, though a little slippery in patches, and it was an impressively straight 40m rock wall.
The quarry was not marked on the 1:50,000 maps, and was not easy to find, especially from above. It was hidden in forest broken by open ground covered in deep tussocks and sodden moss patches, and not visible unless you arrived right on it. This Saab Salomon did and Tom Gibbs said, “That wasn’t easy to find – not that it bothers us now we’re here.� Thorlo One and Sealskinz High 5 were not so lucky. Thorlo missed it by perhaps 30m and were heard shouting in the woods, but their support crew, who had cycled out and were waiting at the abseil, couldn’t call to them to help.See All Event Posts
