Mountain Hardwear Open 5 - Peak District
Open5 In Peak Form
News Release / 09.03.2011
Race four of the Mountain Hardwear Open5 Adventure Race series commenced in the early hours of Sunday morning at Bakewell in the Peak District. Two hundred and eighty seven outdoor athletes showed up eager to explore the tracks and trails by foot and bike in this beautiful area.It was a crisp, cold morning as the racers gathered at the Bakewell Agricultural Centre. This is a fantastic venue which lends itself to putting on this style of event, with a huge foyer for registration and attached to it the Farmers Feast cafe which had bacon butties ready to go from 8am.
Racers opt to either bike or run first - which is tactically more beneficial is hard to judge but most competitors play to their strengths and choose the discipline they are most skilled in first. The biking tracks and trails in this area are fantastic - the climbs are smooth with swooping descents through the countryside. The bikers climbed from one escarpment to the next collecting points on route, some of the trails got pretty muddy but that is half the fun. Bikes were exchanged for running shoes or vice a versa on completion of the first discipline. The run was just as challenging following trails nearby the centre that ran alongside the river or along the railway line.
The event ran very smoothly with great weather, a spectacular venue, amazing scenery and great tracks and trails. A few of the competitors managed to clean up the entire course which is an incredible achievement and a credit to their swift navigational and route choices. This included the top 3 male pairs, with Stuart Lynch of New Zealand winning on time ahead of Andy Conn and Tim Fairbrother. Top male pair David Lawrance and Warren Mason also cleared the course and all the results categories were close.
Post event a competitor was heard commenting that the route offered an unexpected safari element as they had passed through a llama farm and then through herds of deer in the land surrounding Chatsworth, not to mention the scattering of sheep.
Event planner and adventure racer Ian Hughes said “You only had to see all the smiling faces to see what a great day everyone had in the Peak District National Park! “
Special thanks must go to The Bakewell Agricultural Centre for allowing Open Adventure to host the registration and to the Farmers Feast for providing great food, especially the bacon butties. Open Adventure would also like to thank all the local land owners, especially Chatsworth Estate and the Peak District National Park Authority who enabled the racers to visit some of the area’s most beautiful locations. Thanks must also go to the marshals for all their hard work on a demanding day.
The final race in the series will be held at Grizedale in the Lake District on 3rd April. Full details of this and results and race analysis of the Peak District race are on <a href="#" onClick="javascript:newsitewindow('http://www.openadventure.com')" class="main">www.openadventure.com</a>. See All Event Posts
