46 riders and 45 finishers enjoyed(hopefully) the 4 hour event from Cracoe Village Hall. For all but the latest finishers the weather held out and there was the satisfaction of being warm and fed in the village hall at the series prize giving while the rain lashed down outside.
We had a number of debates before the event about the timings for it – originally starting at 3 hours and then toying with 3.45 hours (radical I know!) before settling on 4 hours. With the need to commit to the large loop over Barden Moor and Flasby Fell to score high we felt a shorter length event would lead to lots of late returns. We could have left in the escape route/more route choice by keeping the Skipton to Grassington road in bounds, but the road is fast, narrow, winding and undulating and for safety reasons we wanted to keep riders off it where possible. Hopefully the fast gravel tracks on Barden Moor were enjoyed by all those riders directed by the map in that direction. It was ridden both ways on the day. I rode it both ways during planning – and it is good blast either way.
I think the timing worked well – the course was cleared with a few minutes to spare by a couple of riders – congratulations to Andy Gregg who came in first and to Mike Hayward. Concerns that the Barden/Flasby loop would take too long were generally unfounded. The “Ikley Posse” even had time for a café stop in Embsay!
Given the constraints of the map the idea was to contrast the need for speed on the loop and the need to beast it over Flasby Fell (which has its unique delights whichever way you tackle it) with quick decision making and detailed map work around the villages where there was greater route choice and trail density. To clear required three distinct loops which also added planning challenge – unlike in some terrain you could not simply set off clockwise or anticlockwise and hope for the best.
Many thanks for Tim Evans’ help with the map preparation and Maprun plots – his proficiency filling in my technical deficiencies. Apologies that on the Maprun file we inadvertently switched controls 5 (5 points) and 11 (15 points). The physical map is the definitive version for the event and there will need to be a manual adjustment to scores. Somehow we also missed off the condition of the track between points 19 and 18 – which is by no means a track as those of you who “enjoyed” it yesterday will now know! We should also have included a bit more detail at the Southern edge of the map in Embsay so that it was clearer that Brackenley Lane was a turn off the road out of Embsay - which would have saved a number of riders a diversion to the Skipton bypass. Easily done – I did the same whilst planning. We had a number of riders continuing down the track at the East end of Barden Moor missing the bridleway turnoff. If you did then you paid the penalty of the steep cut back up the road to get to point 15 – it was slower. The pink dashed marking of the boundary of the National Park on the map caused a bit of confusion around here as at least one rider rode down it to point 24 – not a bridleway of course – but hard to distinguish on the move.
When we eventually got in (apologies – the caretaker did not arrive to let us in and we then realised we had conducted the booking via email and had not been given contact details – and it required a bit of research and luck to get them – the hall has a surprisingly limited digital footprint) the venue suited the event well – especially as there was the potential to be cold and/or wet in October. We now have a full set of contact numbers - which means that if we use it again the experience should be smoother. Post race refreshment seemed to go down well - and thanks from Jemima for donations (£39.10) for cakes towards the work of Zero Carbon Harrogate – the charity working towards a Net Zero future.
In discussions after the event we can see the potential for future events from Cracoe Village Hall – potentially next year with the hall towards the bottom of the map and heading North, and at a further remove shifting a bit East and including the Bolton Abbey/Burnsall road which then permits a circuit of Barden Moor.
Adrian Parker