Haglöfs Open5 Adventure Race Series - South Downs

Open 5 on the Snowy North Downs

Ian Grace / 07.03.2012

Having had a 3 week layoff since returning from holiday in NZ, it was time to see how much fitness was lost at my local Open 5 in the Surrey Hills. How nice to have a lie in and only drive 25mins to the start!

The event base was a short drive away in Dorking and knowing the area well, I could guess a lot of the route before seeing the maps. As expected, the transition was located about 2 miles away from Dorking in the forest just outside of Coldharbour. At about 225m this provided a nice little warm-up climb.

The weather was not looking promising, with cold temperatures and the possibility of snow according to the weathermen!

Having not done any running for a few weeks, I decided that I would go for the bike first and see if I could clear the course and then pick up whatever I could on the run. This strategy proved to be a wise one, as the weather got worse as the day went on and I felt a little sorry for those embarking out on to the bike as the snow blew across the area later in the event.

I plotted a good route that would allow me to pick up all but one of the bike check points within about 2hr 40mins. I knew about 85% of the trails on the map, but although I ride in the area a lot I tend to stick to the trails that I know. It was a surprise to find the “Summer Lightning” and “Barry Knows Best” trails – I have ridden past these so many times and never knew they existed. You learn something new every day! These were fast and fun single track sections that had a check point somewhere along the route. If you didn’t ride the trail, you didn’t get the points!

Knowing the area led to a bit of complacency as I rode straight past the turn off to CP11. I had probably ridden past the pub about 30 times and knew exactly where the checkpoint was, but there you go! Hopefully, this was my mistake of the race!

Following a clockwise loop, (I think a lot of people did an anti-clockwise loop) I quickly knocked off the check points. Leaving CP 9 I noticed a pair carrying their bikes over a stile and riding off into the distance. I let them know they were cycling a footpath, but I had no time to stop and dibbed and headed off for CP 5. It was now decision time, head North of the A25 and get CP 2 and 3 before heading for CP 8 and home or follow a twisting route avoiding the A25 and get CP 6 before heading home.