One Step Beyond
Yesterday was the Untamed Adventure end of season Spiffing Ales Brewery event. A low key, fun end to their season of races. Apparently.
They are mad. Maaaaaaaaad, I tell you. The winner covered 46km and climbed 1,600m of cross country terrain, off trail, all the time navigating to natural feature checkpoints (i.e. not flags or anything). The selection of maps looked something like this. A general topographic map in two parts, three detailed (really, really detailed) orienteering maps, and the special blank map.
I arrived at 11, signed the disclaimer, and got my maps. Spent the next hour and a half trying to plot my route. Different checkpoints had different point values, with further away ones tending to have more, but also others that were presumably harder to find or further off a straight line route earning more. The contours added another dimension to things, with the potential for the 500m difference from the start to highest point to be covered multiple times. The checkpoints were only on the big maps, so had to be transferred to the smaller ones, using the clue sheet as well.
Set off about 12:30, for the special hidden checkpoints - big map blanked out, cut sections only showing. Found two of them, couldn't find number three ("red bench" - I found lots of those but no number). Gave up after 20 mins and got back on the start of my route.
I progressed reasonably well, my biggest problem seeming to be overestimating distance on the ground - overshot a couple of times by 100m or so and had to backtrack. About 15:00, realised I wasn't going to get nearly as far as I had thought (based on my legs), and started plotting contingency routes. Picked up a few more checkpoints on the way back in, and finished nice and early after 4:07 hours with 350 points. For a short while that was first place, but I rapidly dropped to 9th out of 17 overall by the end of the evening.
The guy who won had 760 points, and is really on a different level. The field was split roughly between Pro's who knew the organiser, and locals coming along for fun. The Pro's are the multi day type adventurers, used to running across deserts and mountains for 5 days at a time. And boy does it show. They eat Ironmen for breakfast. Actually, they don't, because they are a really sound bunch of people who are just out to "beast themselves and have fun". Just as hardcore as Tri people, but strangely, without some of the burning intensity.
I had an awful lot of fun doing it, and could see myself getting into Adventure Racing. It's a great way to see fantastic landscapes, the orienteering means it's a mental challenge as well, and it seems quite a social sport. Bit like LRP - running around in funny outfits using clues to find something.
My Camelbak Octane 8 performed brilliantly and was the perfect size (zipped down) for an autumn event with changeable conditions. I wore my Merrell Moab's - not really a Trail Running shoe, but it worked well for me, apart from on the road. It's a bit heavy there - but there was very little road yesterday!
Feeling my calves today (it was hamstrings when I finished), but no joint issues thankfully. Time to up the mileage over winter I reckon.
They are mad. Maaaaaaaaad, I tell you. The winner covered 46km and climbed 1,600m of cross country terrain, off trail, all the time navigating to natural feature checkpoints (i.e. not flags or anything). The selection of maps looked something like this. A general topographic map in two parts, three detailed (really, really detailed) orienteering maps, and the special blank map.
I arrived at 11, signed the disclaimer, and got my maps. Spent the next hour and a half trying to plot my route. Different checkpoints had different point values, with further away ones tending to have more, but also others that were presumably harder to find or further off a straight line route earning more. The contours added another dimension to things, with the potential for the 500m difference from the start to highest point to be covered multiple times. The checkpoints were only on the big maps, so had to be transferred to the smaller ones, using the clue sheet as well.
Set off about 12:30, for the special hidden checkpoints - big map blanked out, cut sections only showing. Found two of them, couldn't find number three ("red bench" - I found lots of those but no number). Gave up after 20 mins and got back on the start of my route.
I progressed reasonably well, my biggest problem seeming to be overestimating distance on the ground - overshot a couple of times by 100m or so and had to backtrack. About 15:00, realised I wasn't going to get nearly as far as I had thought (based on my legs), and started plotting contingency routes. Picked up a few more checkpoints on the way back in, and finished nice and early after 4:07 hours with 350 points. For a short while that was first place, but I rapidly dropped to 9th out of 17 overall by the end of the evening.
The guy who won had 760 points, and is really on a different level. The field was split roughly between Pro's who knew the organiser, and locals coming along for fun. The Pro's are the multi day type adventurers, used to running across deserts and mountains for 5 days at a time. And boy does it show. They eat Ironmen for breakfast. Actually, they don't, because they are a really sound bunch of people who are just out to "beast themselves and have fun". Just as hardcore as Tri people, but strangely, without some of the burning intensity.
I had an awful lot of fun doing it, and could see myself getting into Adventure Racing. It's a great way to see fantastic landscapes, the orienteering means it's a mental challenge as well, and it seems quite a social sport. Bit like LRP - running around in funny outfits using clues to find something.
My Camelbak Octane 8 performed brilliantly and was the perfect size (zipped down) for an autumn event with changeable conditions. I wore my Merrell Moab's - not really a Trail Running shoe, but it worked well for me, apart from on the road. It's a bit heavy there - but there was very little road yesterday!
Feeling my calves today (it was hamstrings when I finished), but no joint issues thankfully. Time to up the mileage over winter I reckon.