Category: Competitions

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OO Cup 2010 – Day 1

Click for full mapFriday seemed to be spent constantly drinking. It was so hot, even after 35 minutes spent jogging round the model event I was gagging for water! Saturday morning dawned about 10 degrees cooler and it even looked very ominous for rain as we drove the short distance, past a village name we cant pronounce but seems to us, much to Hollys amusement, to sound like ‘Lettuce’.

OOCup organisation is laid back but slick. Efficient enquires soon got me a hire SI card, mine still attached to my bike back in Stafford, while Holly went off round her course with Cath shadowing and I got stuck into my pre-event preparation before after Holly returned, happy!, as the heavens opened. It really chucked it down and soon, walking to the start, I felt like a drowned rat.

The route to the start passed beautiful meadows and dacha’s built into the hill sides with amazing views of forested valleys shrouded in wispy clouds.

After starting I made a mistake straight away on the way to number one, overshooting on the 1:7500 map. I only lost perhaps a minute though as I quickly realised the map wasn’t fitting the ground and got straight back out to a path junction to relocate rather than thrashing around, went back in and got it without further time lost. I made another small error on the way into 4, again overshooting as I tuned into the scale. After that I had a good clean run. I tried to not go too fast, saving my legs and ankles and making the navigation easier. I had a couple of other lucky legs finging controls just as I was starting to feel as though I was losing contact with the map. I took a good safe route choice to number 20 which I think saved some time before a very slippery run in to the finish where I backed right off after seeing someone in front go A over T.

Holly seemed to have enjoyed sitting in the car whilst the rain came down, rather than going into ‘kindergarden’ taking photos of various parts of the dashboard after we said she wasn’t allowed to take the camera out into the rain, but she got a great one of a chap wearing a chair. Results are not yet up, but I was after a clean run with no big mistakes, which I think I got. Preliminary results at the event had me about 5 minutes down on 2nd place (the leader was 4 minutes clear). The overall cumulative time for the week decides the final result so consistency with no epics is important this week.

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OO Cup – Preview

The OOCup, held each year in Slovenia is the connoisseurs orienteering holiday. Increasing in numbers each year with many of the same faces, orienteers from all over Europe descend on this little country for 5 days of some of the most complex, intense orienteering available with even top elites struggling to run 10 mins per km.

Cath, Holly and I have arrived to some fantastic accommodation at the Korosec wellness centre near the event centre in Nazarje and after a model event tomorrow start the event for real on Saturday. So do I try the headcam for foot O ?

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Montalegre, Northern Portugal

The venue for this years World MTBO Championships was Montalegre, in northern Portugal near the city of Chaves. Nestled in hills of forests and open scrubland, the vistas seem to remind me of a mixture of various UK landscapes. A sort or Dartmoor crossed with the the Peak District (but bigger), all with a distinctly rustic Portuguese flavour. The area is famous for its tourism: outdoors and the lakes (created by great dams), smoked meats (which feature on all the menus) and witches

Montalegre itself is based around a castle perched on top of a spur overlooking a river valley. Its medieval, narrow, cobbled streets are lined with a mixture of old and new buildings sitting comfortably together and seemingly endless cafes and restaurants, little shops and small squares. The Event centre was Montalegre Pavilion, a huge exhibition centre/theatre in the heart of the small town, a great asset for an event like the MTBO World Champs.

Team GB enjoyed the landscape for its spectacular views, and its towns and villages for their old world charm. The owner of our appartment showed us a gorgeous, not quite secret, swimming river with a series of waterfalls and sink holes, creating a perfect place to unwind after a race in the cool water.

A family adventure holiday in this region would be simply fantastic and I would love to return, but perhaps with a decent phrase book as I have been

doing much pointing and gesticulating this week. The food has been good value and the residents warm and friendly. A great World Championships, well organised and in a wonderful location.

 

 

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World Championships MTBO Relay 2010

As we lined up for the start I knew that with my big mapboard I could get away quickly, though I was a little surprised to be in second place at the bottom of the first descent. As we got onto the first singletrack I was buzzed left and right by two overtaking riders and this, togehter with the pressure of being put in GB1, upset my concentration. I turned left instead of right going into the first control, getting confused by the two football pitches, losing time and ended up at the back of the field. I hadn’t lost much time so got stuck into the long climb up to number 2 giving it my all, trying to close down the gap. I managed to pull past a couple of teams but just as I caught the chasing pack again most of them turned back down the hill, having an shorter gaffled control. I ground on up the hill to my control feeling very demoralised before also turning back down. We then had some fast descents. I nearly lost it on a corner (see headcam footage), the higher tyre pressures I was running losing grip on the loose surface. I had to straighten up the bike and head for outside of the apex trying to scrub off as much speed as possible until finally committing to the turn amongst the vegetation on the edge. We then weaved our way through farm land picking up controls until eventually we had another control in a small village. Although after losing time on the previous races in villages and going very cautiously riding up through it I soon lost contact with the dense alley network and fell back on contours which got me into the control cleanly if a little hesitantly.
I took the safe fast route down a road to the next, taking time to rest my legs and have a gel in readiness for the final steep climb after the spectator control. I tossed my water bottle on the spectator loop and got stuck into the ascent. We then had a bonkers-loose downhill before I lost another 20 seconds or so taking a bad route choice to the penultimate control, finding some mud in this dry landscape !

Handing over to Andy Conn I was quite a few minutes down on GB 2 rider, Andrew Windrum, who had a good ride with the big climb favouring his stronger legs. Andy had a fantastic ride to pull us back ahead of GB 2 and up quite a few places. Ben kept up the pace on the last leg to bring us home 13th.

The men’s race had a fantastic ending when at the spectator loop Denmark’s Lasse Brun Pederson had caught Russia, but Anton Foliforov kept up the pressure and brought the team home 50 seconds clear of the Danes.

So for me another not so great result, although I lost only perhaps a minute on the first control and 1 more on the route choice to the penultimate my legs have just not been strong enough on the punishing climbs these Championships have thrown at us day after day.

To add insult to injury I also found when packing my bike I had broken two spokes in my front wheel on the relay too!

I have only 3 days at home now before, as a family, we go to the OOcup, a 5day foot orienteering competition in Slovenia. With no bike for a week I intend to get back to my orienteering roots in some relaxed multi-day competition, before returning to training in preparation for the last World Cup races of 2010 in Italy in September. A few hill sessions might be in order I think!

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WOC MTBO 2010 – Travel Day

Getting up before 6am on a travel day to me is a psychological barrier. So, 6.01 & I was up, breakfasted and in the car to pick up Beth on the way to Gatwick.

Beth got into the car complete with flask of coffee and piece of toast with peanut butter and jam. On a china plate!

We had a good trip down with little traffic, Beth supplying the coffee all the way down. We dropped our car at Cophall Farm Parking (very good value and I would recommend them). As I loaded my bike bag into the minibus I noticed what looked to be a piece of toast on the ground, looking a little squished, half way between our car and the office. Much later on, on the airport shuttle Beth mentioned that I must remind her to find the piece of toast in my car when we got back which must of slid off her plate, and I realised it must have been hers on the ground. Beth had no idea but mentioned she might have stepped on some chewing gum and had shaken it off whilst walking to the car park office. She then looked down at her sandal and foot. It was covered with peanut butter and jam!

The slightly late take off gave Team GB a chance for its first bit of competition. Who can get the best value Boots Meal Deal. After a tense round of receipt analysis Andy Conn won by a clear margin, his vast international experience paying off with a massive £2.85 saving, the key being the £1.34 pudding option.

From Porto the drive to Montelagre was quiet apart from 10 minutes following a heavily laden small lorry carrying straw bales. Beth and I felt guilty watching the lorry balancing on the edge, one rear wheel almost off the ground every time it went round a corner, almost wanting to see it tip over but eventually we thought it better to overtake and get out of its way.

We arrived to find the accommodation booked by Emily to be fantastic. After some food in a local restaurant and a walk round the castle we spent the evening bike building on a huge balcony overlooking a river valley and wooded low mountains. There was even time for a shakedown ride whilst looking at the sunset.

Looking forward to the rest of the week, now.

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Shugborough Relay 2010 Results – now out

The Shugborough relay results have now been published on the Stafford Harriers website:

http://www.staffordharriers.org/page3/assets/Shugborough%20results%202010.pdf

http://www.staffordharriers.org/page3/assets/Shugborough%20results%202010.xls

The gob smacking news for me is I ran 10:42 for 2 miles but I’m not sure this time can be correct. ITU Triathlete Jaqui Slack who I was running with and eventually beat me did 11:37 which is much more like it.

Walton Chasers mens open came 12th !
Still a great result though

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Shugborough Relays 2010

shugborough relays course mapIt seems daft that I have lived less than a mile from one of the region’s biggest running club summer races for nearly 10 years and have not managed till now to run at the Shugborough Relays. In it’s 22nd year (we know this because Walton Chaser Andy Yeates is one of the very few who have done all of them) the race consists of teams of 4 runners in various age, gender, mixed and junior classes running a 2 mile circuit after a mass start round the picturesque grounds of the Shugborough estate. With the cream of Staffordshire’s running clubs turning out their best teams this race is very coveted and the two mile circuit is regularly completed in less than 10 mins by the top runners.

This year Walton Chasers managed 4 teams which again shows how well the current club development strategy is working at bringing in new blood. I was running last leg for the Chasers men’s open team with stalwart Iain Stamp on first leg in the frantic sprint off the line, newcomer Matt on second and junior (15) Sam Musters on leg three.

The Stafford Harriers organisation was first class, well I suppose the format has had 22 years to get right, with a great atmosphere, club feather flags flying and a rainbow of coloured club kit on show.

From the gun Iain settled into a steady pace in about 30th position and came through strongly to hand over to Matt. He showed his class and put in a great time before the feisty teenager Sam took over and showed a few older runners a clean pair of heels (I wonder if he beat his Dads time).

I started on last lap on my own, but by this time quickly hovering up 2nd and 3rd leg runners that we were starting to lap. This gave a great feeling as I surged through the slower runners. As I crossed the railway bridge near White Barn Farm I was aware suddenly of heavy breathing coming up behind. I increased pace a little more. By the time we turned into the woods the breathing was on top of me again and it sounded very female. Right then, no girl is going to beat me. Up the pace again and I managed to pull a few metres clear down through the woods but there she was again, faster and faster we went continually catching and overtaking slower runners.

As we exited the woods she came right up on my shoulder and I (probably a little condescendingly I feel looking back but at the time I was genuinely impressed) said ‘go on girl’. 30 secs later as we slowly climbed into the wind she kicked away and dropped 5 metres on me. Nothing I could do would reel her back in. As I neared the final lap of the finish field at about 2/3rds distance I backed off a little as I was in danger of blowing up. I cruised a little to recover and then had one more go at getting her on the line as we turned for home, with shouts from team mates that rivals Stafford Tri were reeling me in. My max HR of 194 showed I couldn’t have done anymore, but it was no good she beat me good and proper, a great run. There is no way I would have run that fast if she was not there.

The last time I ran anywhere was a day of orienteering in late May, the time before that Easter, so I rode home the long way via Great Heywood over the Essex bridge getting a good warm down so as not to regret the race for the next week, very happy with my performance just wondering if I managed to sub 6 min mile.

The Shugborough relays will now form part of my yearly race calendar as it was a thoroughly enjoyable race. The other chasers teams did well in their various categories and there was some good club bonding going on. (oh and did I mention I think we beat Stafford Tri !!!)

No official results up yet

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Micro Maze – Fete Orienteering

With our 7 year old daughter country dancing at the local parish fête this year we thought it was a good opportunity to publicise our club, Walton Chasers, which already has many members in the parish.

After getting the go-ahead from the organiser, Cath and I came up with a micro maze orienteering format using electric fencing posts and orange safety barrier mesh fencing. Cath drew the map in OCAD and planned two courses, a practice where people could go round as many times as they liked, and a prize course where competitors were only allowed one go.

We had about 40 competitors with a fairly equal split of children and adults running and walking round, some getting very confused. Using Autodownload I ran a live Sportident results system with a screen showing positions on the prize course as they downloaded. There were lots of cheers and groans as groups of friends and family ran against each other and crowded round the screen to see who had beaten who.

The summer sunshine made the fete very busy and I’m sure we might have a few new members to show for our efforts, too!

Results at www.walton-chasers.co.uk