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Peak Performance

Tim Fairbrother / 30.04.2008

The third event in the 2008 Skins \'Six in the Peak\' adventure race took place on Sunday 20th May. Competitors were welcomed by ominous weather, which seems to be rearing its ugly head at each of the Dark and White events in the series. After fierce, cold winds and the odd bit of snow on the higher ground in the first race in February, the second had to be reduced to five hours due to torrential rain in the preceding week. This also put paid to the additional challenges lined up, resulting in a more traditional bike and run score event. Thankfully the threatening, overcast skies retained any potential deluge throughout the course opening times, though persistent light drizzle was encountered by competitors throughout.

For those unfamiliar with the series, it\'s basically what it says on the tin: six hours (or five in the case of race two) of adventure racing in the Peak District. The staple diet is biking and running with the nations most visited National Park offering a broad variety of terrain for each, from complex patchworks of limestone-walled fields to featureless open upland moors. Further challenges are included within each event, the exact details of which are not known until a few days beforehand at the earliest. Entries are available for both solos and pairs across a wide range of categories based on age and gender.

Carsington Water in the southern White Peak was the venue for the latest round offering a good base and facilities. The organisers certainly didn\'t miss out on the opportunity to use the reservoir with an optional canoeing stage on offer as the extra discipline here. Start times for this (due to the limited supply of boats) were allocated on a first come first served basis, with times selected by competitors once they had started. Those quick off the mark managed to grab the opportunity to paddle straight away, thereby avoiding the restriction of returning back to base more than once later in the race.

Early paddlers also had the benefit of not having to contend with a multitude of windsurfers also out on the water later in the day for a concurrent event. Whichever way competitors went about the controls on the water, there was a strong headwind to contend with for those seeking to capitalise on the 100 points available.

Most were along a line of buoys crossing the reservoir though one of these was subtly on an adjacent yellow buoy and only the astute found it straight away. Others – who only used the map and failed to look at the control descriptions – lost a few critical minutes wondering where it was! The wind (or perhaps just the paddling) was too much for some and they stuck with the few closer controls in the lee of an island not far from shore. Whichever the option, competitors were keen not to pick up a penalty of 50 points for being late back off the water. (This was applied as the boats were required at intervals for the next round of canoeists.) This wasn\'t a problem for the more proficient, who managed to clear the course in around half an hour – a very healthy ‘points efficiency’.

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