Event Details
![](https://www.bmbo.org.uk/images/event/0f40f2ca526b566d72464ad3efe7386a.jpg)
Club: | Dark & White |
Event Name: | D&W Winter 09/10 - Peak District |
Date: | 14/02/10 |
Format: | MBO Score |
Mapping: | Ordnance Survey |
Time Limit: | 3 Hours |
National League: | - |
League: | D+W Winter MBO Score 09/10 (Round 6 of 8) |
Electronic Punch: | SportIdent |
Event Report
Valentine’s Day Special
The number of bikers was slightly down compared with the last event, but 150 people chose to ignore the fact that it was Valentine’s Day and half term. They were rewarded with some fantastic weather and riding for the 5th round of the Dark & White winter league. Again it was extremely cold morning and several people waited for it to warm up a bit before setting off.
A quick look at the area map revealed a diagonal split with the eastern side being flatter than the western side which was cut by some deep valleys. So the dilemma, go west first while the legs where fresh and risk not having enough time to get round the “easier” eastern half later on or go east first then get stuck in a valley bottom with nothing left in the legs. I decided to make the decision once I got the competition map and go whichever way offered the most number of return/bail out options.
Time to get started and pick up the map. Great no obvious route back, dark mutterings about the bloody route planner. OK, look at the points grouping; two x 20 and 4 x 15 points in the hilly western half clinched it and never mind all those little brown contour lines.
We’re off in the wrong direction! All that planning must have overloaded the grey matter, still never mind, nothing too serious just a couple of minutes wasted, until I couldn’t find the first bridleway. What’s going on, 5 minutes gone by the first checkpoint. Luckily the organisers had realised that the navigation was a bit tricky around this point and had added a couple of helpful direction arrows so it was back on track, darting in and out to checkpoints.
By now the sun was making the riding very pleasant, but it was also softening the ground. So I was really please with my route choice when it came to the two 20 pointers. I slipped and slithered at speed down 1.2 km of tracks to the valley bottom with just a short 200 metre push up to the road on the other side, great fun and no pain.
A slow start was now looking up 55 points in the first hour and 75 in the second hour, but I was getting tired and beginning to make mistakes turning into someone’s drive instead of the intended track. Luckily the friendly owner was on hand to point me in the right direction. I wasn’t the only one to do this on getting back to the hall at least one other competitor had been pointed in the right direction by the long suffering owner of the drive.
Into the last hour now and planning the route back wasn’t going to be easy, more dark mutterings. I had my plan and was off up the Tissington trail which should have been quick, but I was really finding the going hard. What’s wrong, then it dawned on me, the frost was gone and the surface was extremely tacky. As soon as I hit the cutting and solid ground I was off again. 35 minutes to go and I realise I have made a mistake missing 15 points and I now had a long ride back to the finish with only 30 points available. This turned into 20 as I decided not to risk the last 10 and conserve the points I had collected.
Back in the village hall the tea was flowing and the biscuits were disappearing at a rate of knots. Everybody seemed to have suffered with the route planning dilemmas saying it had been an excellent and challenging course. So much so that one poor rider managed to get totally lost arriving back 3 hours late after deciding not to be beaten and go back for checkpoint 11. He looked total knackered when he walked into the hall, much to the relief of the organisers. All that was required to revive him was tea and biscuits, cancel the man hunt.
Top scorer was Liam Corner with 242 points well down on the 303 points of the previous event. The top lady was Ruth Shedden with 185 points. For full results (overall & split times) and the excellent route browser information go to http://www.darkandwhite.co.uk/results-cross-country-fell-races.asp.
See you on the 28th February for round 6 at Sherwood Pines/Notts Forests which promises to be a different event altogether. Virtually 100% offroad navigation will be crucial; all those trees look the same, you have been warned.