Wan Dae Series
Drumlanrig - King of Castles
John Laughlin (Wan Dae Organiser) / 21.09.2006
After the midge-fest that was Carron valley two weeks ago, the atmospheric 17th Century home of the Duke of Buccleuch formed the perfect backdrop for a sunny day of one day adventure racing. There were a fair few familiar faces who had been there for the whole series, but it was refreshing again to see so many first time racers curious enough to see what this adventure racing was all about.
Teams were presented with maps, already marked up with checkpoints at registration and the keen few had turned up early to make us much use of this time to plan as possible. The Cask Strength class had 8 hours to get as many points as possible, but with the kayaking at one side of the map and the running section at the other, with an array of biking controls in the middle it was going to take some careful planning to get round them all.
The race format allows racers to enter in pairs, threes or fours and in single or mixed gender teams, so there were all manners of combinations on the start line. The most important part was that everyone was giving it a go, mostly for the first time. With a score format allowing teams to choose whichever route they like and whether to go running or kayaking at all, then everyone was in for a different racing experience.
To the Four Winds
The race began with a mass start run towards the dramatic Drumlanrig Castle, where teams picked up a random orienteering map marked with one of four courses prepared in the woods by Solway Orienteering Club. The style of map was always going to cause a steep learning curve for complete orienteering novices, however, the course was set at a relatively straightforward standard so teams only had to navigate themselves around the many tracks in the area.
SleepMonsters
