Event Details
Club: | Lakeland Lanequests |
Event Name: | Lakeland Bike O - Endmoor |
Date: | 03/06/14 |
Format: | Bike O |
Mapping: | Ordnance Survey |
Time Limit: | 2 Hours |
National League: | - |
League: | Lakeland Bike O 2014 (Round 1 of 6) |
Electronic Punch: | No |
Event Report
Lakeland Lanequest Event 1: Crooklands Hotel 2nd June
Organiser: Dave Hollingham
Charity: Crosscrake School PTFA
Event Report
Firstly, the Westmorland Gazette report (if they print it in full)
Secondly, comments on the route by the organiser, Dave Hollingham, the overall highest scorer, Tom Gibbs, and a few comments from others.
If you have any interesting experiences to relate, we would like to hear from you , preferably by 10 am the morning following the event. e-mail: philipjsmorgan@aol.com
You can also keep up to speed with the events on the Lakeland Lanequest page on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/533101300084139/728064763921124/?notif_t=group_activity
The Westmorland Gazette Report:
Lakeland Lanequest off and running with record turnout
If it's Lakeland Lanequests , it must be summer....at least that is what it seemed as a near record 162 entrants took advantage of a fine sunny evening to tackle a challenging course set in and around the quiet narrow lanes surrounding the start venue at the Crooklands Hotel, Endmoor on Tuesday evening: event one of the six event Lanequest series running every Tuesday evening in June.
Highest score on the evening with 334 points predictably went to the last two series' winner, and current European Adventure Racing Champion, Tom Gibbs, who cleared all 30 controls an incredible 17 minutes inside the 2 hour time limit, covering over 29 miles of narrow lanes with some 2300 feet of ascending in the process. Behind Tom in the male solo class came Anthony Emmet in 2nd place (320 points) and Ben Dowman in 3rd (312 points), both of whom also completed the course in under 2 hours. The male solo class attracted a healthy 48 entries, including septuagenarian Malcolm Hartley on a creditable 200 points
In the women's solo class, with 27 entrants, 2103 Series ladies winner Helen Jackson tied for first with Jo Cleary and Sally Ozanne on 270 points, whilst victory in the Juniors went to Hannah Cleary Hughes on 250 points.
Paul and Callum Noble headed the 24 strong Generation Pairs class on 220 points, whilst it was the Adult Pairs class that saw the highest turn out of the evening, with 30 couples and pairs being led home in first place by last year's class winners Rachel and Mike Toyn on 270 points.
This year's course organiser Dave Hollingham chose Crosscrake School PTFA as his chosen charity, who are raising funds for improving and maintaining some of the outdoor facilities at the school.
Next Tuesday 2nd June sees the series move slightly south to the Redwell Inn at Arkholme :LA6 1BQ, and course planner Phil Morgan has devised a route that will be enjoyable to serious and fun riders alike . To enter just turn up or enter online at www.wheelbase.co.uk
A full report and results available here: http://www.wheelbase.co.uk/events/lakeland-lanequest/
The organiser Dave Hollingham's route comments:
My optimum planned route was 29.4 miles and 2280ft ascent giving a formula result of 126.96
Route was :
29, 30, 25, 24, 19, 20, 26, 15, 14, 13, 9, 5, 6, 2, 1, 3, 4, 7, 8, 12, 18, 17, 11, 10, 16, 21, 22, 23, 28, 27, Finish
I calculated Tom's route to be 29.15 miles and 2280ft ascent giving a formula result of 126.21 (Tom Gibbs was the overall winner , arriving back 17 minutes inside the 2 hour limit!
Tom Gibsons route was as follows
29, 30, 25, 26, 20, 19, 13, 14, 15, 9, 6, 2, 1, 3, 4, 5, 8, 7, 12, 18, 17, 11, 10, 16, 21, 22, 23, 24, 28, 27, Finish
I was a little surprised to find that Tom had cleared the course with 16 minutes to spare as the 'formula' had been lengthened this year. Hopefully the calculations are correct (3*Dist + (0.017*Climb))
Well done to the riders who managed to clear the course!
The event area was chosen for its fine network of intricate lanes providing plenty of route choices. The start was a little tricky as it was near a busy junction but I think the solution of sending everybody south with the traffic at the start worked well to overcome this.
The chosen Charity for this week's event was Crosscrake School PTFA who are raising funds for improving and maintaining some of the outdoor play facilities at the school.
Thank you to all the volunteers that helped to run the event on the night and to Crooklands Hotel for hosting us.
Tom Gibb's comments
Great to get back into the Lanequest season – great fun as usual. Dave planned a good course which was tricky to find the best line, but I think I wasn’t far off. Dave has my route correct, it took a while to work out my route, then decide which was round to go, but I decided to head for the big hills first as there seemed to be more options to drop on the way back. I measured up the distance and it felt shorter than normal, so I was pretty confident I’d clear it, and within 30 minutes I was sure I would, just how fast I could do it.
I worked out that it was better for me to drop down from 26 through the controls then back up again to 14 and 15 than go for out and backs – though I tend to go for a shorter hillier route than a longer flatter one as it suits my riding. Only thing I would of considered doing differently was to reverse the loop I did up in the north of the area as I ended up coming down a lot of small rough lanes which would have been better as climbs.
I was surprised to get 7 minutes on the next fastest as the area has a lot of narrow lanes which constrict your speed (if you want to live !) and so should level the field.
As for the formula, Dave has calculated it right, but I’ve found with planning my route at Barbon that there can be some anomalies with Mapmyride, I had 1 control (not on a big hill) that I moved a little and the gain reduced by 600ft ! So I think the gain was overstated, if it was more like 1500ft then would have been 113 which feels more realistic. I think that was the reason why I cleared it with 17 full minutes to spare !
Looking forward to the rest of them (bar the stress of organising Barbon !)
And a few others...
From Carol McNeill, series founder:
It suited my old legs perfectly – gentle hills and lots of choice to give the good route planners an advantage
From Malcolm Hartley, who wouldn't want anyone to know his actual age, but its nearer 80 than 70...and showing no signs of slowing down
Thoroughly enjoyed the outing and the views on a beautiful evening but was obviously slow (as could be seen by the number of people that passed me) and would have been so without the self imposed handicap of the mountain bike. Having said that I was quite glad of the mountain bike for the range of gears on the hills and the security on some of the loose and roughish roads.
Having been out of it for a while I struggled to find a route but from talking to Neil Hazlehurst I gather I wasn't alone. His basic route appeared to be much as mine (but embracing more controls). Mine basically was an anti-clockwise loop with a dive in to the west to collect 20,19,13 and 14 between 26 and 15, and then after returning from 3, a loop outwards towards the west of the map and return via Endmoor, to approach the finish from the south east. I was very conservative on my first outing for a while; happy to have omitted 1,2 and 6 but should have got more on the west side of the map on my return, as I was well in time.
We hope to see a good turn out again for event 2 from the Redwell Inn, Arkholme next Tuesday