iROC - inov-8 Run Orienteer Cycle
Ready to iROC
Rob Howard / 17.04.2009
Already these range from groups of large family tents, complete with picnic furniture and family dogs, to small solo tents, but Race Director Shane Ohly is not sure just many people will be camping this coming weekend.
“We know we have about 200 competitors,� he said, “but that could still increase as it’ possible to enter on the day and we may get more local entries, particularly in the two mountain biking races. With Hamsterley Forest so close that one has attracted the most local entries.
Those racers are less likely to be camping of course, but what we don’t know is how many friends, family and spectators will come along. It’s already looking like there are quite a few family groups. The same goes for Saturday night when we have 5 local bands on from a nearby school – we get a lot of people turn up as its free entry!�
The event is well known in the surrounding area already as one of its policies is to use local businesses wherever practical. So the bar is being run by the local pub, in a locally hired marquee, and much of the course preparation has used a nearby builders yard for supplies – lots of them!
“This is a unique site.� Said Ohly, “Off any of the quarry tracks there are no trails or footpaths – so we’ve had to make them. One mountain bike descent is over a kilometre of felled trees and we had to carry in railway sleepers to make bridges here. They are really heavy! Four of us had to carry them 500m on our shoulders. There is another larger bridge on the lower part of the quarry which has been built and the building supplier carried loads of gravel up the hillsides in a dumper truck to make be used in making some of the track. It’s been a busy time!� (He’s been on site on his own most of the time since Wednesday.)
SleepMonsters
