planetFear Open24
24 Hours of Fun in North Wales
Ian Grace – Team Ian n Chris / 29.07.2010
After a nasty ankle sprain in the recent Open 12, I had thought my season was over. No team in the Terrex and no one to do the Open 24 with and then, all of a sudden, I am asked to join Erika Henson and her team for the Terrex. Great, but are we going to do a bit of training before hand was the question. Well we can do the OPEN 24 in North Wales and see if we get on before committing to the Terrex. Good idea I thought. Although the Open 24 is a race for pairs, we decided to meet up in the race and go around as a team of four to get used to each others company and work out any issues before the Terrex.
So, with a hastily arranged Friday afternoon off work, I was heading to North Wales. With kayaks coming from London and Hastings and having to negotiate the Friday escape from London it was always going to be touch and go to make the 11pm registration. We were last to load up the kit bags and kayaks and it was a late retreat to the back of the car for a good nights sleep.
An early coach pick up from Betws-y-Coed and we were transported to the prologue start on Anglesey. The prologue stage was an untimed coastal section. Starting with a nice warm up swim across the bay we were soon climbing rocks and jumping from ledges in the jelly fish infested waters. The stage, although not timed, took a few hours and was rewarded with a fast and fun rib ride to Rhosneigr for the start proper.
The first stage was planned to be a kayak down the coast of Anglesey to the Welsh mainland near Caernarfon. Unfortunately, the wind had picked up and the conditions were considered a bit too rough for the kayak leg, so plan B was put into action which would mean starting on the MTB for a few hours warm up. Being on one of the early buses gave us a bit of spare time in Rhosneigr, so we were able to take in a nice hot cup of tea and some breakfast before heading off. Myself and Chris were due to start 15 minutes or so before Erika and Graham, so we agreed to wait down the road for them and headed off to tackle the first MTB leg.
We had until 6pm when the kayak transition closed. There was an optional run to be tackled during the MTB leg, but playing a conservative game, we opted to miss this and head to the kayaks after picking up all the MTB controls. Myself and Chris were in the Necky and Erika and Graham were in the Nelo. It was like a mini racing with a Ferrari as the Nelo pulled away and me and Chris paddled hard to keep up. Again, knowing there was a long way to go we opted to miss out check point 5 near the Britannia Bridge and headed to Transition. We arrived 15 minutes early at transition, but this gave us a chance to get some food down, check maps for the next stage and be ready to hit the road as soon as possible once transition opened.See All Event Posts
