Category: Competitions

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JK Day 3 – Braunton Burrows

After the mud and rain of Day 2 near Oakhampton the JK circus moved to the coast near Barnstable and complex sand dunes. With a busy few weeks of MTBO coming up I had decided to run M35 short and just get out and enjoy some of my favourite terrain type, having grown up orienteering on areas such as Merthyr Mawr and Penhale Sands.

Running short and being a bit of a sand dune specialist I was expecting to win by acomfortable margin but coming out of the start I had a big reality check on my cockiness. A combination of 1:15,000 map scale, 5 metre contours and lots of unmarked water from the torrential rains of the last few days saw me soon fumbling around trying to get back in contact with the map on the way to the first control. After approx a minute of blundering I decided to get out and get a decent attckpoint. Even after carefully fine navigating my way in from the path I still lost time in the circle so 4 mins lost. Number 2 was fine but I lost yet more time on number 3 and 4, probably another 4 or 5 mins.
Luckily at this point I seemed to tune in and ran the rest of the race without incident thoroughly enjoying the complex sand dunes and getting fastest splits on most legs, however Im not sure about the 1:15,000 map. I know the national guidelines specify the preference of scale for events of this standard but the map was practically unreadable in places and I found myself using the general shapes and the control description in the circle rather than the fine detail at times. A 1:10,000 map would have made it much easier or a map drawn specifically for 1:15 thou rather than a shrunk 1:10.
My foot though a little sore held out and I am now looking forward to running again on the same area tomorrow at the relays. I was second when I left but being honest I just lost too much time on the first 4 controls to be happy with my performance today. Good fun though and as I cycled round to Croyde afterwards as a warm down the views out over the dunes and the bay beyond were spectacular.

Full results available at http://www.siresults.co.uk/2010/JK/

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JK Orienteering Festival 25 years on!

Sprint Race

Today’s race at Bicton College, Devon was a sprint format. Lots of controls in a short distance, complex navigation requiring constant decision making and a winning time of approximately 20 minutes. Sprint racing is relatively new to orienteering, only appearing about 10 years ago, loved by younger generations but many older orienteers are put off by it’s name and

 not seeing it as value for money. I’m glad to say this attitude seems to be changing judging by the huge numbers running today.
With the event in Devon I was sort of on home turf as I grew up in Taunton and we are staying with my parents for the weekend. Mum dug out a big photo of me taken at the 1985 JK where I was 2nd on M13B, scary to think it was 25 years ago…..

With a late start, looking at the finish times posted when I walked to the start, I knew I was in with a chance and luckily the rain held off whilst I was out (although my map was like a dishcloth when I picked it up). I started well and nailed the first 5 controls not going too fast, but lost perhaps a few seconds on the slippery boardwalks on number 6 . The run back across the fields to number 8 was very muddy and I struggled in trainers, wishing I’d packed some dobb spikes. Then we were into the complex layout of the college, lots of small buildings, hedges, walls, little alleyways and fences. Great fun! I spiked every control except number 10 where I lost about 5 seconds going in via another control on a tree and number 12 where I perhaps lost another 10-15 seconds getting confused by the complex path junction. We then had a great control in a court yard down some steps before turning for home. Coming into the last control I was on my own. Chris Poole did a great bit of commentary over the tannoy, talking about my foot injury and subsequent return to form and MTBO. Punching the finish I was in the lead 1 minute and 35 seconds up, a big margin in sprint racing. I was very happy. Unfortunatley for me, fellow ex-South West Junior Squaddie Julian Simpson, then came in 18 seconds ahead pushing me to 2nd, but I was still chuffed though looking at splitsbrowser its the two mistakes that cost me the win as I was leading till that control.

I really enjoyed the complex navigation in the college, probably some of the best sprint racing I have done, its a shame about the rain because everything else about the event was first class.

Coach Ada was worried about me seizing up after a sprint running race, so I had to get 30 minutes on the bike on the way home. I’m not sure he will approve of the monstrous hill on the way back over to Exeter but the run down the other side was nice. Traffic was heavy though, with everyone leaving the event and I was forced to bunny hop a pot hole on the road bike whilst someone overtook a bit close !

I decided several months ago not to run M35 all weekend as it will take too much out of my legs and put me at risk of injury, with the Swedish training camp next weekend and only two weeks to the first MTBO selection race, so a day off for me tomorrow, before running M35 short on Sunday and the relay for Chasers on Monday.

Results available at http://www.siresults.co.uk/2010/JK/

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New Draft Map Standards for MTBO

At the European training camp next weekend many of the maps will use the new draft MTBO mapping standards due for approval in May 2010. Only a  few differences as you might expect but the inclusion of the extra rideability track symbol and the new out of bounds symbol seem a good step forward.The former “slow riding” symbol has been replaced by 2 types of dashed lines, one representing 50-75%, the other shorter symbol for 25-50% speeds.

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Event Report – Rugeley and Cannock Chase MBO Score

Round 2 of the British Mountain Bike Orienteering Score League came to Cannock Chase. Although I was organising, fellow Chaser Neil Lawford kindly planned the courses and updated the map allowing me to compete locally for the first time in years.
With the clocks changing, a houseful of friends on Saturday night for my birthday and feeling generally tired after organising and planning the middle race the day before, I stood in ZipVits car park feeling decidedly ropey but I soon felt better after a quick warm up.
There was, again, lots of interest in my Corratec Bow, many taking in the fine curves of it’s frame and having a quick squirt round the car park.

After helping Neil set up it was time for me to get going. I decided I would hits the lane network north of Rugeley first with fresh legs and really get them spinning. I pumped up the tyres really hard, knowing I could handle anything on the chase like this and as I zoomed through Armitage and in to the lanes, the Pythons were howling on the smooth tarmac. It felt great. Although I tend to ride the road bike on some of the lanes, many were new to me, as were all the off road sections. I looped back towards Rugeley, flying, feeling I might be able to clear the course.

I made a small error at #173 when I went down the wrong side of the canal, losing me a couple of minutes but then came th cluster of 3 30 point controls all on bridleways in farmland north east of Little Heywood.

Essentially the map going into #151 from Coton needs some work and the bridleway is not obvious on the ground. I, like many, lost the track and ended up jumping ditches and fences trying to get back in the right place. I’m not sure how much time I lost but it was very slow riding on the edges of ploughed fields.  The going got worse on the way to #152 and the map round all the farms again needs some work and I lost time making sure I wasn’t straying onto private roads or footpaths. Coming back-out, again confused, I decided Id lost too much time and binned the last 30 pointer and headed for my comfort zone, Cannock Chase. Luckily I know this part really well so I didn’t really need to navigate, just head down and blat the hills.

I knew I was going to be late but desperately didn’t want to get later than 10 mins and start hemorrhaging all those hard won points. In the end I skidded to a halt at 3hours, 9 mins and 59 secs, phew !

I think those competitors entering the farm track section from the west probably had a slight advantage but I was very happy with my 3rd place.

Many thanks toZip Vit sport for hosting us in there car park and donating a gel to all the competitors and thanks to Neil for planning , enabling me to ride.

No GPS today so no idea how far I rode, full results on the Walton Chasers website

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On the telly!

The Adventure Show covered the Strathpuffer 24 and it aired on Scottish BBC2 over the weekend. Look carefully at the start and you will see me slip on the ice as I grab my bike in front of Dougie, plus lots of Alan & I fiddling with bikes in the background on the left during the cooking scenes. Oh, and my best man, Paul McGreal, doing solo gets to say hello towards the end.
For anyone thinking of doing the Strathpuffer 2011  its a must see…. Runs out in 5 days.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00r9xdc/The_Adventure_Show_2009_2010_Strathpuffer_24/

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Event preview – European Training Camp Sweden

The weekend after Easter I will be travelling via Copenhagen to the annual European MTBO training camp, this year held in Åhus, Sweden – just south of Kristianstad and about 1 hour east of the airport.  The pre-season camp, sponsored by Merida Bikes, has a packed programme of races and training. The camp starts with a night sprint event on the Thursday evening, which sounds exciting, followed by various middle and sprint races culminating with a mass start long distance race on the Sunday.

Emily Benham, Great Britain’s female elite, is also attending the camp together with approximately 100 other athletes from around Europe.

Apparently the camp is also known for its social side but with the training commitment I’ve already put in this year together, with Swedish beer prices, I think Ill be concentrating on the racing ! 

                                

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Event Report – Dark & White MBO Score – Linacre

I woke to a surprising inch of snow this morning and, for about 30 minutes, wondered if I ought to attempt to get to Chesterfield for the event. A quick look at the traffic cameras on traffic England for the M1 showed no snow so off I went but some of the roads, particularly the A38 near Burton, were treacherous until I got north of Derby.

I have ridden here twice before and knew a few of the tracks but the area to the south was new to me. I decided to head north first after clearing the centre. After a scrappy start getting into the map scale (I had been riding on 1:15,000 for the previous two days mapping) and making a couple of daft errors I hoovered up the central controls so as to keep my options open at the end. I think perhaps I should have left #6 as the tracks were awful and it involved a stiff climb back out. A particular problem in this area is the horses and the way they churn up some of the tracks. They were everywhere, and I spent a couple of frustrating minutes getting past a particularly large group on a lane going to number 4. I was going to leave number 21 but decided at the last moment to blast up and get it, which lost me about 4 minutes, as I had to double back. My route then took me up on to the moor where I was treated by amazing views in all directions and fast riding with a small tail wind. After being worried I was biting off more that I could chew I started to cover the ground much more quickly and had lots of options on the way in to get the timing right.

In the end I was 3 minutes and 1 second late and in 5thplace, but was very pleased with my ride overall, particularly the way I was climbing the hills. It seems the winter strength training is starting to pay off.

Stats – 55km riding, 1100 metres climbing.

results available here….

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Anti Doping – Good News for Athletes with Asthma

After several months of aggro and general anxiety I have finally got to the bottom of the use of salbutamol with regards to drug testing, and the rule change which came in on 1st Jan, 2010, is also going to save me lots of money!

Last year I had some TUE (Theraputic Use Exemption) forms half filled out (£25 to the GP) prior to the Europeans and essentially didn’t use my blue inhaler for several months. However the day in Israel when the start was next to a field of horses put paid to that and I would have had to risk a post drug test provocation test if needed.

I never completed my TUE application as I was struggling to find someone to do the required provocation tests for a sensible amount of money (one quote over £300) and have been trying to persuade the GP to refer me for some NHS tests with no success.

Since Christmas I have been making a renewed effort to get it sorted for the new season and eventually found an approved testing facility in Newcastle that would do it for £150, but today Dr. Martin from Leicester responded to a request for a test quote to say it was probable I didn’t need a test as the rules have changed.

I’m not going to try and explain the new rules here and anyone this affects should really get some professional advice but essentially if you only use brown (Beclometasone) and blue (Salbutamol) inhalers you just need to make a declaration on 100%me  and then use them within certain defined limits.

https://www.ukad.org.uk/forms/declaration/

Dr Martin was very helpful on the phone giving me lots of advice about my asthma in general and if you are under the age of 35 he would be happy to consider you for inclusion on his trials. “There is a lot of confusion out there about the new WADA rules and I am always happy to recruit new test subjects,” he said.

Dr. Neil Martin
Clinical Research Fellow, Institute for Lung Health
Glenfield Hospital, Leicester
nmartin@doctors.org.uk