planetFear Open24
Down the Mines on the Open24
Bruce Duncan - Team adidas Terrex / 28.07.2010
As I sit and catch up on the Tour de France, and watch the rain pour down outside, its time to reflect back on the weekend.24 hours is a long time, when you get some sleep overnight, you never realise just how long it is, but when you are outside racing non stop for 24 hours, it seems to take forever.
You don’t just turn up to a 24hr race either, there is a lot of planning and preparation before hand, food shopping needs to be done, kit needs to be found and sorted, equipment needs to be fettled and got to the start line, and as often is the case you need to communicate with your team mate to make sure you have everything you need.
Nicola and I however didn’t manage to do any of this! We were both really busy, and were trying to ensure we were as organised as we could be for the start, this involved chasing people all over the Lakes to get a kayak, and getting all the bits for it.
I had a great few days in Wales near Harlech with my oldest friends, climbing mountains, swimming in the sea, and playing beach cricket! So when I got the call from Nicola to say she was on route I headed off up to Betws-y-Coed.
We registered, chatted with friends, sorted kit, faffed around, ate chips, and finally went to bed for the last time in a few days. We woke early the next day and headed back to Betws to jump on a bus out to Anglesey for the start.
The start proper would be in Rhosneigr, but before this we had a wee coasteering session from Rhoscolyn to Silver bay, which was great fun, if a little jellyfishy! At the end of this we had a quick rib boat ride across Cymyran Bay, this was brilliant, we were all in hysterics as we flew over the waves James Bond style, with a helmsman who looked like a pirate!
The start was altered to a mountain bike as the seas were too rough, so it was a 55km lane quest with a trail run in Newborough Forest thrown in. Everyone had started at 30 second intervals, so it wasn’t long before a few trains formed. We were joined by Ant Emmet and Helen Jackson, and Fi Spotswood and Steve Fisher, so we were moving fast, this could possibly be the top 3 in the race. Sadly Fi punctured, so we lost them, but we pushed on with Ant and Helen. We shared the nav, and the boys spent most of the time being the wind breaks!See All Event Posts
