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Sunshine and Showers

Nicky Thomas - Dynamic Adventure Racing / 27.09.2005

Sunday morning, The Dynamic team awoke to the steady patter of raindrops on the roof of Chute village hall near Andover. Gone was the blue sky of Saturday, replaced with dark looming clouds.

At 8.00 am, a mixture of new faces and cheeky regulars appeared at the hall to collect their tea and cakes before settling down to mark up their maps for the first stage of the undulating yet sometimes challenging course.

After first timers, Peter Watler and Stephen Potter had been shown how to plot the control points, they had their map marked in no time and were ready for the off. Susan Schutte and Werner Rademeyer, a mixed pair from Exeter, forgot one of their helmets, but help was at hand and Mick Gurney from Cotswold Outdoor kindly offered the loan of his strimming helmet, complete with full visor and ear defenders!

Just before the race briefing, the rain clouds cleared to reveal a brilliant blue sky. Simon congratulated all the competitors who’d got up early and driven through the rain to spend the day racing, whilst those people who’d given in to the temptation to stay in bed and miss the race would now be regretting their decision. (I might add that all the ‘no shows’ were either male solos or male pairs). Simon also warned competitors against the ferocity of the stinging nettles after he’d spent two nights listening to my moaning about tingling legs after putting the course out!!

As the competitors set off on the run, about half of the group headed off in a westerly direction and the rest took the footpath down to CP 20 at Lower Chute. Almost everybody made it up to CP 30 at Hippenscombe Bottom but only a handful tackled The Slay to collect the 50 points at CP 26, the most northerly of the control points.

Jamie Sutherland collected the highest score on the run, visiting 9 of the 12 CPs and gaining 230 of the 300 points on offer. Close behind him was Gavin Fisher with 220 points and Team Cotswold Outdoor, also with 220 points. Male pair Peter Watler and Stephen Potter were 13 minutes late, taking a 35-point penalty, but they were pleased with their effort, stating, “We were very close to a lot of them!�

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