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A Long Ride

Rob / 28.09.2003

Teams may have come off the water at CP1 fairly close together, but that was soon to change, and by the end of the first day there would be a huge gap between first and last.

The mountain run soon had the teams spread out, taking different tactics and different routes at different speeds. The team that took the shortest route were ‘No Worries’. They only did 3 of the 6 checkpoints (missing one more than originally planned), and luckily the extra one they missed was CP7,which had gone missing. Other teams spent some time looking for it before giving up. No Worries took a 5 hour penalty, but were first back onto their bikes, setting off over the old roman road across to the Ogwen valley.

Saab Salomon took the long route, gathering in all the checkpoints, as did Thorlos One, but Sealskinz High5 missed on of the high (2 hour penalty) checkpoints out. Anthony Emmet of Thorlos said the route, “was exceptionally rocky but a fantastic run�, and CP9 at Aber Falls was one of the highlights.

North Downs Rescue stuck to their plan to get all the checkpoints even if they were slow, and they were, finishing the stage at 17.45, hours behind everyone else. As a result it seems likely they’ll have to miss out a significant part of the course just to reach camp by the midnight cut-off.

After the run it was mountain biking all the way to camp. First across the Roman Road, high above the coastline and with great views across Anglesey, then down the Ogwen Valley and the up, up, up to CP13 beside a small lake. The steep, gated, single track roads seemed to go on and on, and even after reaching the checkpoint there was another big climb.

First to arrive were No Worries (at 15.56), who were delighted to be told the orienteering stage would not be held. This meant they could hope to finish the Marin Mtb Trail, which came next, in the hours of daylight, which is why they’d cut short the mountain run earlier on. Next came Saab Salomon (16.47), then Sealskinz High5 (17.58) and Thorlos One (18.34). They shook their heads in amazement at the speed Saab Salomon were moving at. “They are not human,� said Anthony Emmet, and Duncan Grant added: “This sport should be like horse racing, they should put weights on them!�

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