Well the weather gods must have heard that the Open5 was coming to town as the heavens opened on the latest installment of the Open5 series. It couldn't have been a more different story on Saturday while final preparations of the event area were being made in dry, sunny and warm conditions. Anyone who hadn't checked the weather forecast for Sunday was in for a big shock!

 

On Sunday the event team arose at 6am from their accommodation at the superb National Trust owned Henman Basecamp in Broadmoor to the familiar sound of rainfall. They made their way to The Priory CofE school in Dorking, which was to be the registration location for the day. The school is ideally located for the event area as it was a steady 4km ride away from transition within Redlands Wood at the eastern side of the event area. The bike stretched as far west as Shere. With the northern point being the woods at Netley Heath to the southernmost point parallel with Leith and Holmbury Hills. The run was a reduced section of the same area which was contained within in a clockwise oval from transition of Coldhabour, Leith Hill, Wotton Common, Abinger Common, Broadmoor, Squire's Great Wood and finally Abinger Forest. 

 

There were lots of new faces around registration largely due to this being a new area (and the furthest south yet) for an Open5. It would be interesting to see what new crowd think of the Open5 format. Of course Tri-Adventure have been paving the way for exciting things in this part of the country for some time and it was great to see them at the Open5 on Sunday. There were also a minority of Open5 regulars who had made the pilgrimage south in search of something new and more series points to add to the collection. They weren't to be disappointed. This is familiar territory for 'Mr Open Adventure' himself, James Thurlow. He spent many a day out exploring these parts before moving to the Lakes to setup Open Adventure. Ably assisted by Open5 organiser Dave Johnson they set about creating an Open5 to be proud of. 

 

Anyone thinking that they would get an easy day out free-wheeling round the woods would be very much mistaken. For an area only 30 miles from London, it feels surprisingly remote. The geography of the Surrey Hills is very hilly even though the highest point of Leith Hill is only 294m above sea level. The 18th Century Gothic tower, built to raise the hill about 1000ft (509m), is a prominent feature at this point and featured significantly in both the bike and run sections with high scoring controls on opposite sides of the Tower. On sunny days are views north to London and south to the English Channel. A pity there was no view on this occasion! 

 

Local mountain bikers will be aware that the Surrey Hills area is a favourite among the single-track fraternity with many natural and man-made trails. It would have been rude not to include some controls on such favourites as Summer Lightning and Barry Knows Best! There were 100 points and 35 points available on these trails. The middle one on Summer Lightning and the one on Barry Knows Best were described on the control sheet as 'mystery location'. The planners do this so that the competitor has to ride the trail to find the control, rather than just navigate to it and bypassing the fun bits! Some racers who live locally weren't even aware that these trails existed! 

 

As the rain got heavier and the temperature started to drop (from 8c down to 1c over the day), competitors came and went from transition. Some decide not to go out again. Some made the effort and soon returned. Some had to be rescued by event staff, too cold to get themselves back to registration. Others just got their head down and battled on. Some saw this as opportunity for further competition. For example, when in transition at an Open5 the clock is still ticking. So it is a good idea to minimise the time spent in transition in order to maximise the time spent out in the event area. This is a favourite topic for Mr Thurlow. He encourages this in all events (including the expedition races). Open Adventure publishes the transition times as part of the event results in order to encourage faster transitions. One of the few competitors who has completed all the events in this series, Tom Needham, takes this to a whole new level. He had a reputation to uphold from the previous event in Warcop where he took only 12 seconds in transition! On this occasion he came flying in, grabbed his bike and helmet went flying back out again. This looked more like an F1 pit stop than an AR race transition! It wasn't to be his day though as the results showed he was a full 5 seconds slower than his previous time and the honours this time went to John Hallam who transitioned in 14 seconds. Tom later commented that his delay was due to him being directed to place his bike further away from the start gantry! 

 

Some found parts of the run tricky as lots of unmapped paths existed on the ground which made navigation to some controls a little difficult. Control 31, on a tree deep within the path network of Coldhabour Common was one such control. With a fantastic network of paths providing many different route options it was difficult to get an optimum route around the run. As the race analysis shows there were not many runners who took the same route. Towards the end of the event temperatures hall fallen enough for the rain to turn to snow which took lots of competitors (and marshalls) by surprise. As muddy faced racers finished (mostly with smiles) all that remained was for competitors to bike the icy 4km downhill back to the event centre in Dorking for some well-deserved tea, pasta and crumble and custard!

 

Although series wins in the male solos by Kim Collison and the female pairs by Fi Spostwood and Fiona McBryde are already secured, there is close competition in all other categories. The final event on the 1st April in the Peak District is going to be a close one and will decide the series winners in the three remaining categories. 

 

Results

 

Female Pairs

Name Club/Sponsor Points

Fiona McBryde/Fi Spotswood For Goodness Shakes! 415

Patricia Daas/Julie Jefferies Gears and Tears Girls 300

Marilyn Merryweather/Victoria Starr 280

 

Female Solos

Name Club/Sponsor Points

Rosemary Byde Ronde 520

Mandy Faint Big Bear Bikes 468

Sarah Davies 405

 

Male Pairs

Name Club/Sponsor Points

Andy Wilson/Stuart Lynch 565

Robert Grew/Isaac Griffiths Mud Monsters 509

Richard Craven/Craig Beech Tri-Adventure 455

 

Male Solos

Name Club/Sponsor Points

Timothy Kei Martin Loughbrough students 554

George Neville-Jones Tri Adventure 525

Ian Grace Ian Grace 520

 

Mixed Pairs

Name Club/Sponsor Points

Ben Turner/Sabrina Verjee CamRacers 530

Karyn Burns/Neil Kerrison Pork and Marshmellows. 460

Nicki Adams/Tom Davies TriAdventure 455

 

Thanks - 

The Priory CofE school, National Trust (Leith Hill), Forestry Commission (SE England), Wotton Estate, Surrey Hills AONB, Surrey County Council, Mole Valley District Council, Astounding Adventures (bike hire), Bruce Duncan for putting out the controls (in lightning fast time). Thanks must go to all the hardworking marshalls who give up their time so that competitors can have a good time. A special thanks to competitors who helped us set things up on Saturday and clean the school on Sunday. Lastly thanks to all our sponsors, in particular Haglofs, in helping us run the Open5 events and providing some great prizes.