Dynamic Adventure Racing Challenge
Dynamic Downpour!
Nicky Thomas (Dynamic Adventure Racing) / 09.12.2007
As usual the sun had shone through for the Endurance racers in the North Downs on the Saturday event, and the weather, true to forecast was looking grim as we peered out of the village hall in Peaslake on Sunday morning.
The hall was soon buzzing with excitement and some trepidation as the racers prepared themselves for the day. Many were new to the sport and were slightly bemused by all the different colours and lines on the maps in front of them. A quick whiz through the legend, a discussion about route choice and some sound advice on how best to keep hold of the map soon put them at ease, rounded off with a demonstration of how to punch a control card, preferably in the right box!
The 10:00 am start slots soon arrived, along with the rain, and how it poured! We felt so sorry for them we allowed the competitors to stay in the hall until the very last second, when we called them out for their start. Most of the field headed south to bag CP 19, in Bentley Copse then they split, some choosing the inner loop of the course, heading down through Winterfold Wood and round to Pitch Hill and some heading out west towards Woodhill.
The 2 hours whizzed by, for us anyway, sat in the warmth of the hall, and the drenched competitors raced back through the finish. Six teams cleared, with three of them, male solos incurring small penalties for coming in late. The penalties in each case were less than the points they’d picked up making themselves late, so it was a worthwhile gamble. One of our regular race pairs however, was late back and we were surprised when we received their call to say they’d got horribly lost. They were still cheerful though and didn’t accept the offer of being collected.
Back at the hall, the racers stripped out of their soaked clothing, (though Flossie was pleased that today, no-one stripped right off, like one of our most prominent racers had done the day before … and bent over, right in front of her hatchway! Lets just say one or two bacon butties were missing the bacon.)
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