With an entry at the JK Sprint foot orienteering coming up at Easter in Devon I thought it prudent to get some new running trainers as my old Asic Nimbus’s were practically falling apart. Luckily Ultrasport were at the Chasers orienteering event on Sunday and seeing as the sun was shining I had time to try on a few shoes
. Eventually I decided to go for another pair of Asics but this time something with a little off-road grip, the Gel- Trail Lahar G-TX which has a good aggressive sole and a gore tex liner. My first gym session and short run on Tuesday in them felt good, so hopefully they will help me to a good performance in the sprint.
Thanks again to Ultrasport for helping me out.
Dark & White MBO – Sherwood Pines – National League #1
When I looked on Friday evening, 
the weather forecast for Sunday was horrendous: 29 mile per hour North East winds, sleet, hail and 2 degrees celsius. Winter boots and a gillet then….
I’d had a fairly hard week of training, particularly after perhaps a few too many squats at Chasers training on Tuesday night! I’d also had a big interval session on the turbo on Friday and 3 kids under 4 staying with us over the weekend, so I was not exactly in tip top condition for this, the first event of the National MBO league of 2010. The day dawned cold, but the predicted wind was nowhere to be felt as I queued up to start at Sherwood Pines.
Great for us MBO types was the inclusion of a 1:15,ooo map with 16 controls as well as the standard Dark and White 1:50,000 OS map with a further 13 controls. I decided even if it was detrimental to the rest of the event that I would really push it on the smaller scale map and get some MBO training in. I picked an OK route and rode cleanly, just getting confused by some rogue red and white tapes near to some of the controls, and chose to exit She
rwood Pines at the West Entrance after I had cleared it. In hindsight this was a mistake as the route out was a tortuous snake through a country park requiring very careful navigation. I also made the mistake of trying to cut through the housing estates of Clipstone, frustratingly not finding the route through (Killian Lomas also had the same problem). In the end I had to go right up to the roundabout, and looking at the GPS tracks lost about 4-6 minutes.
My route after than was sound, and other than a small mistake on the mad dash for home at number 20 which cost 45 seconds and another 30 secondss lost on the way to number 25 after crossing a road accidentally, I rode really well. To be honest, as I entered Clumber Park with only 35 minutes left I thought Id bitten off more than I could chew and had set myself up for another classic ‘Stodge back very late’ performance, but with the wind behind me and a real effort pulling out all the stops I ended up just over 5 minutes late back.
Results when I left for home showed 2nd in class and 3rd overall just behind Liam and Killian which I was very happy with. It was good to see how on an area that required more complex nav than normal that the three of us MBO specialists showed all the normal mountain bike whippets a clean pair of heels.
Good to see as well was another cracking performance for Great Britain Slalom Canoeist Campbell Walsh ( just back from a 6th place at the Oceania Open in Australia) in his first year of orienteering and adventure racing, luckily just behind me. Just don’t ask for a return match on the water at Nottingham, Mr Walsh……
Full results available at http://www.darkandwhite.co.uk/results-cross-country-fell-races.asp
Event Stats : 64km – 500m climb
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 !
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 t
he 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.
Event Report – Worcestershire Beacon – Malverns
Straight away I’ll point out this is a bit of a strange posting as I retired, so for a change the map below is my 6 yr old daughters yellow course…..
The mist cleared as we headed down the M5 to Malvern for the National Interclubs – Compass Sport Cup qualifier, held on Worcestershire Beacon. I had a very early start and after a quick bus ride to the start area, a very steep climb brought an exposed start area and cold hands. I started ok but after 4 controls of contouring my old right foot injury started to hurt, so much so it was also distracting me and I made a couple of daft mistakes. Knowing there was good representation from other club members on the Brown course and I still had most of the course ahead of me I decided to retire and jogged back to the finish. I then shadowed Holly round her Yellow course which enabled me to enjoy the awesome views to the East and West from this ridge.
Retiring is always something difficult to do, particularly when representing the club but I could not risk another long term foot injury. With some good results under my belt in foot orienteering recently I was being tempted to do more and more but I have decided to reign in the running and get back to the bike which has to remain my core focus this year.
Unfortunatley Chasers did not qualify in the end but hopefully the new crop of very young juniors will start to come through over the coming years and we will regain our strength in depth.
VJs in the Pink = run fast!
After finally throwing my 5 yr old VJ Falcons in the bin after the sole eventually fell off (Ive been gluing them since the summer) and the National Compass Sport inter clubs competition this weekend I thought Id better purloin myself a new pair rather than running in 15yr old fell shoes.
Luckily UltraSport,one of the UKs major Orienteering and Running suppliers is only 15 miles away i
n Newport so I called in on Friday to try a few pairs on. I quickly decided that having run in VJs for the last 20 years or so I’d stick with them but would try their latest shoe the Supra. (Although all comparisons with 1980s Japanese cars end here)
Even better was that Ian of Ultrasport was kind enough to offer to start supporting me with some generous deals on kit going forward. He has just had lots of Craft clothing 
delivered that seems incredible value (see website for details)
So whats with the pink then ? Well Cath and Holy bought me a Pink Canterbury thermal base layer long sleeve top for xmas, and Cath dared me to wear it for a run on The Chase(normally hidden under biking gear). So feeling I’d better at least try out the new shoes before trying to race in them off I went for a 20 min run up to stepping stones and back on Saturday afternoon.
So here comes the top training tip, wear pink and run fast. The looks you get as a bloke running in an ultra tight pink top encourage you to run quickly to justify the wearing of such colours to stop the cat calls, mind you I should probably of picked somewhere less public to run, but I can think of a couple of car parks on the chase I certainly would not wear it in !!!
Anyway back to the Supra’s. Older style VJs although lasting forever, being tough as nails , giving huge grip from the ‘dob’ spike sole have always been very hard on the feet, with what seems only a bit of cardboard between your foot and the sole. The Supra’s however have a proper trainer style mid-sole and give a level of comfort. Everything else is traditional VJ, hard wearing and loads of grip. Lets hope they do the business on Sunday and help get Walton Chasers through to the final.
http://www.ultrasport.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=50_52&products_id=429
New Years Day Score – Rough Wood
After a late night of partying (including Wii Fit at five minutes to midnight for some reason!) the thought of running 
around a West Midlands grotty country park for an hour wasn’t especially appealing, particularly given that the area description in the advertising was hardly flattering, but I de-iced the car and headed down to Walsall as it was only 30 minutes away.
After registration the 25 minute walk to the start, next to a frozen canal, was also not inspiring. The local youth have spent the Christmas break seeing what bizarre objects they could try and throw on to the canal to smash the ice. I think those who tried the rolled up carpet or the loaf of bread didn’t quite have the right idea though!
Onto the area and things started to look good, lots of semi-open heathland, a bit of contour detail and, of course, the canal, separating the two halves of the map. The format this year was to get as many as possible on the first map before exchanging for a second. With an A4 1:5000 map I went out with the strategy of clearing both. After a slightly disorganised mass start, approximately 140 orienteers dived off in various directions. I went hard and fast for the nearest control and, turning after punching, was pleased to see a huge crocodile stretched out behind me. It then settled into a good race with me and a chap in a SHUOC top (whose name currently escapes me). I lead through the first 14 controls until he passed me as I lost 
about 1.5 minutes stupidly faffing about around an unmarked track junction when I should have just looked at the contours. I then just dug in on my own and was surprised at the map exchange to be back in the lead, probably having passed him in the low visibility light green areas of the map.
I then made another silly error which cost me 30 secondss and got confused by the control code which lost me another 20 secondss. Just still in the lead I then 
managed to let “SHUOC top” catch and pass me at number 2 and he pulled away from me on the next two long running legs. I ran the rest cleanly and managed to clear up with 4.5 minutes to spare.
I thoroughly enjoyed then event, but it did turn into an hours hard running and I’m sure I’ll suffer in the morning as the last time I ran was back in late November! In fact it would make a cracking little sprint/middle race area.
I then did the decent thing and collected some controls to warm down and then chatted to “SHUOC top” as we jogged back collecting in the tapes back to the car. No results at present as HOC were having computer issues (they need to get AutoDownload, plug plug!) but, as far as I know, I was second. A great start to the year.
Happy New Year – may you always ride/run in sunlit forests!
Oh, and “SHUOC top” is also known as Andrew Llewellyn – well done to him, good race!
Bye bye to ‘Trailquest’ and the TCA, Hello to MBO Score and BMBO
At last, the words that bring looks of confusion from anyone you tell what you are doing this weekend are gone. At last, we ditch that Dungeons and Dragons, Beard and Lemon Curd branding of ‘The Trail Cyclists Association’. At last, the governing body of the sport I love is brought up to date with a great new image and a fantastic new website.
At last, foot orienteers will sit up and take seriously this growing discipline. From now on all ‘Trailquests’ will be known as ‘MBO Score’ and all MTBOs as MBOs (but I suspect MTBO will stick). The new website masterminded by BMBO Chairman John Houlihan is slick, provides all the information needed by riders and also behind the scenes makes the life of an organiser much easier.
Launched on the 1st of Jan 2010 the site may take a while to fill out with events and content (Iv’e got a few bits to do yet on MTBO) but it looks fresh and the new name ‘British Mountain Bike Orienteering’ follows the trend of British Cycling and British Orienteering, its closest stablemates.
Oh, and yes, I know the acronym is going to be shortened to Bimbo, but why not ! www.bmbo.org.uk