---

The Red Needle Points North

Jane Cooper (Team America) / 02.09.2005

The morning of the race broke cool, overcast with the promise of rain. Ace Base seemed quiet and organised; with a civilised start time of 11 am there was none of the frantic repacking of race-sacks and last-minute bike repairs that you often get pre-start. With the closing strains of The Final Countdown Phil Humphreys gave a succinct briefing with a few oblique tips about taking pens and buffs as extra necessary equipment. It’s worth listening to Phil’s tips.

As start time approached the day warmed up and we had perfect race weather; muggy and overcast with occasional cooling drizzle and, later, the odd heavier shower to give you a more ‘epic adventure’ feel as you were slogging away through some lonely forest.

Emphasis on Fun

I am one half of Team Moonha, we normally compete in the two day events but, due to one thing or another, mostly DIY and injuries, we haven’t raced for two years. To get back into it we decided to race at Cannock Chase and drag a load of unsuspecting friends along too; emphasis was on FUN; no-one was fit, some were on borrowed equipment and four had never done a race before so our aim was just to have a hilarious day out and hopefully convince the others to take up adventure racing.

As there were eight of us we split into four non-ranking pairs, Team America, Moonha, Double Trouble and Two Beasts with the vague idea of running together. This idea got trodden into the dust at the start. There is always a sprint start as competitors jockey for position; keen teams don’t like being stuck behind slow runners on the narrow forest footpaths and I find this fast pace is very demoralising, especially for novices.

See All Stories On This Race