It seems that over 200 other entrants thought the same way including a good number of first timers new to mountain bike orienteering. The car park filled quickly and it wasn’t long before Hope Sports Pavilion was bustling with masses of competitors, registering, collecting their free Clif bar and perusing the master map. Even before they had seen the detailed map people where trying to work out whether to go clockwise or anticlockwise. As the wind wasn’t going to be a major factor it came down to which way you wanted to do battle with the epic Chapel Gate, up it or down it! Because let’s face either way it’s a battleground and as usual it didn’t disappoint. On the plus side it looked like the going was firm as the field in front of the pavilion was frozen rock solid and everyone was hoping it would stay that way.

So to the start and as soon as the first maps where handed out it was obvious that the route planners had done another cracking job. The mutterings and rumblings seemed to more audible than usual and there was considerably more map studying as competitors tried to figure out the best route. The super fit trying work out if it was possible to clear all 21 checkpoints and collect the 355 points on offer, while the rest of us just tried to work out a route that would give us a decent points tally without climbing too may hills, fat chance there then! There was plenty to think about with a tough 30 pointer at the top of Chapel Gate and a couple of cheeky 25 pointers in opposite corners of the map just to tempt you out that bit further than you wanted to go, suffice to say people headed off in every conceivable direction.

Out on the course the going was pretty good on the firm ground but you had to keep a wary eye out for the frozen puddles and streams at high level which had formed some pretty big expanses of ice. It was a matter of don’t touch the brakes or turn the handlebars and hope you made it to the other side.

As expected Chapel Gate was tough, the hard ground possibly making it a little easier than usual, I’ll let you decide. But not for the quad bikes and 4x4s that seemed to be having a little trouble with some of the drop offs, oh dear never mind, they get no sympathy here! In fact I had to smile as I rode down past them and as they were trying to heave a quad up a particularly large stone step.

As usual it was all over as soon as it had started, where does the time go when you are having fun. Back at the pavilion everyone was tucking into the biscuits and hot drinks to warm up those extremities.
It was a great performance from Mark McPhillips in 1st place overall with 344 points he only missed one control point, a stunning effort. 2nd overall was Mark Stodgell with 325 points. First lady back was Margaret McPhillips with 248 points (any relation? Looks like a family takeover!), closely followed by Zoe Foster with 245. In the other categories there were wins for Killian Lomas (325 points); Sally Lee (210); Derek Appleton (314); Ruth Sutherland (215); Roger DeFaye (250); Neil & Helen Thurston (195); Mark Condliffe/Vanessa Bourne (200); David & Marcus Williams (220) and finally but not least, in the Tandem Class Colin & Jamie Fenwick with 175 points. For once nobody was so late back that they lost all their points, it looks like the friendly advice being dished out at the start “three hours today don’t be late back” is beginning to work, only time will tell. For all the results go to http://www.darkandwhite.co.uk/results-cross-country-fell-races.asp.

For more information on Clif bars go to http://www.clifbar.co.uk

Thanks to Purple Harry’s bike cleaning perfection http://www.purpleharry.co.uk and Buff http://www.buffwear.co.uk/pages/welcome-to-buffera-ltd.php and Squirt http://www.in2dust.co.uk for their event spot prizes.

There are a few photographs here http://picasaweb.google.com/DWChallengeEvents/2011HopeMTBOrienteeringRound4
and a short video here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTjiux0w5oo

To everyone who came along thanks for making it another great event we hope everyone enjoyed themselves and look forward to see you at the next event which is the penultimate round of the winter series, from Biggin (nr Hartington/White Peak) on the 20th February 2011. See this and all our other mountain biking events at http://www.darkandwhite.co.uk/trailquest-mountain-biking.asp.

If you are at a loose end on 12th February then why not check out the Hope Valley Adventure Film Festival find out all the details here www.hvaff.co.uk including booking tickets online.