The adidas Terrex Adventure Race
From Ullswater towards the Finish
Rob Howard / 29.08.2010
The transition in Pooley Bridge was in a field just off the main street and teams rode in right through a busy famers market to leave their bikes and prepare to paddle. Most had made it up onto High Street, though not all had completed the full distance, but all agreed it was a fantastic ride and descent. Phil Humphreys of Team Exposure Joystick , who is suffering from an inflamed ankle after the overnight trek, said he was grinning all the way down. Ivan Park of Cooleyraid.com said: “It was rideable pretty much all the way once you got onto the top, so definitely the right decision to go up ... but we nearly turned back as the climb was so bad.� While they were in transition his team mate Steve Curry went shopping for a chicken sandwich and coke on Park’s advice. “Steve has been on all fours retching several times,� his team captain explained, “and I know from past experience chicken and coke stays down.�
It wasn’t all easy going on the ridge however. Leaders adidas Terrex had reported that all were blown off their bikes, and Erica Hensen of Team SleepMonsters said, “I was blown off into the heather several times, but the views both sides and all the way along were fantastic. The SleepMonsters team have been making steady progress around the course, ensuring they make transition cut-offs in good time and completing as much of the course as they can. This is true for more almost all the teams now, as no one has any clear idea which other teams they might be competing against in the rankings!
This is not the case for Accelerate B and planetFear.com who have racing closely together the whole way, and aside from the leaders are the only other teams to complete all the checkpoints, so they are competing for podium places. Once again they arrived in transition together at Pooley Bridge, but while Accelerate were in and out quickly planetfear.com took their time, leaving over 30 minutes later than their rivals.
They were in a small group of teams in transition at the same time and when they set off they did so along the shallow river flowing out of the lake. To begin with the kayaks had to be hauled as the racers walked and pulled them upstream, and from just below the town bridge they could paddle, if they were careful to keep to the main channel. Then there was another short section of river before emerging in the lake by the steamers pier where they had to wary of the tourists haphazardly piloting their hired motorboats. Navigation was easy as there were no checkpoints on the lake, teams just had to get to the other end. They had an increasing tailwind to help them surf southwards too.
SleepMonsters
