The adidas Terrex Adventure Race
Time and Tide
Rob Howard / 26.08.2010
I asked him how he had found the role of course planner. With a wry smile he said, "It's a lot of work!" Adding; "It's good to see it from the other side and to see just what goes into planning a race.
"We started work last December and it’s amazing where the time goes. The route was easy to put together as I know the region so well and could decide where I wanted to go and link those places up. I also wanted to keep the logistics simple, so there was no hauling kayaks around a busy Lake District on a Bank Holiday Weekend.� (The race is not supported.)
"As always the biggest problem was talking to so many land owners and they all asked why we were doing on a Bank Holiday! Even the day before the race we had to change a canyoning stage on the route due to a late permission problem. The best bit was putting out all the controls last week in awful weather. At times it was so bad it was hard to stand on the summits and I took a few major tumbles as I raced round to put everything out.
"Keeping the course secret from adventure racing friends was not a problem at all. Until today I think only 3 or 4 people knew of our mystery start across Morecambe Bay but many will have guessed at much of the rest of the course as it’s a compact area for a 400km race."
The start he is referring to is a racing first in the UK, a run across the sands of Morecambe Bay, which dry out at low tide, but which are renowned for a dangerous and potentially deadly crossing. The area has shifting quicksands and floods with the tide at a frightening rate, and as a result the bay has seen many fatalities. (It is said the tide moves across the bay faster than a galloping horse.) The race route is going to be marked by Cedric Robinson, the Queen's Guide to the Sands and the 7am start tomorrow is timed with low tide. This means teams will have a 5am start to catch the coaches to take them to the start from Keswick.
However, there was one concern still niggling the relaxed Course Planner. At the end of the run across the bay a visit is planned to Chapel Island and there was some concern the tide would come in before this was possible. As we were discussing this Duncan answered a phone call, smiled and said, "I'm fully relaxed now!"
The call was from volunteer marshal Jim Rownsley who had been dispatched across the sands to the island to sit it out and check when the tide came in. Even before the start he had been stranded, but it was all in a good cause and he did confirm the run to the island could go ahead, albeit with a cut-off for any slower teams. However there will no delays on the start. Time and tide wait for no race.
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