British Adventure Racing Championship Final
A Fall in the Forest
Rob / 29.09.2002
From the end of the rowing to the first overnight camp was a long, long ride, most of it in Coed-y-Brenin Forest. However, early in the ride there was one very wet, very high adrenalin diversion – the ropes section at the Pistyll Cain. After an 11km ride the teams had made their way down part of the Sarn Helen track, an old Roman road, now a cycle track, and into the forest. They were looking for Pistyll Cain in the Eastern half of the forest among a maze of forest tracks, which proved a challenge to some of the teams. At one point 3 teams arrived from different directions all at the same time, one of them, appropriately named ‘Gorillas in the Mist’ coming down out of the trees.
Most came in along the road and caught a glimpse of the falls as they rode over a bridge spanning a 25m deep canyon, which they would soon be coming down. Climbing up to the top of the falls the view was intimidating, so much so one competitor decided not to go down at all. Despite the recent drought the falls looked impressive, dropping sheer into a deep pool at the head of the ravine. After crossing the river on a rope above the falls the abseil started at from a group of tress to one side then dropped directly into the curtain of water. At the bottom came the drop into the pool – literally. The rope was 6 feet short!
Some teams were still in cleated bike shoes, not ideal on wet rock, and all were in their cycling kit too – so no wetsuits for warmth and protection. Eddie Winslow of ‘Last Minute’ said at the bottom, “I’m glad I did it, but could do without being so cold!� ‘Gorillas in the Mist’ were shivering severely by the time they got back on their bikes for the downhill ride to the Coed-y-Brenin visitor centre and needed to get warmed up.
Most teams were naturally apprehensive, some staying quiet (or scared) until it was all over, others letting the adrenalin take over. Team ACE Races were happy in the pool at the bottom, cheering each other on, and energised by the whole experience. Mike Poole was grinning broadly and shouted, “That was great fun!� as he headed down the canyon. By the time they were out dusk was approaching with 2 teams still to come through (Sealskinz High Five and Apex) and a lot of riding ahead, including the 36km Karrimor Trail.
All the teams had many hours of riding in the dark, some on steep singletrack, and to make matters more complex they were only told the checkpoints were on the trail markers, not exactly where they were. They had to keep a careful lookout and concentrate on the tricky night navigation before heading south into Dolgellau and starting the long climb up to the overnight camp. The leaders were still Team Lythgoe, followed by Team Wales, then Salomon X-a, but by 22.00 only those 3 had made camp. Here they could relax, let their support crews look after them, and then think about the next days route, which was given to them on arrival.
The start time is a leisurely 9.00am but they have tough climb to begin with, going straight up Cadair Idris …. and most of the teams will not be in for many hours to come. The final cut-off they have to make for stage one is 01.00am.
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