Raid the North Extreme World Series AR

The above picture doesn't quite do it justice....this was how my legs looked after 6 days of tough as it comes racing in the West Kootenay wilderness, except believe me they are actually more blue and purple with more scratches than it appears! I had earnt the nickname 'sexy legs' by day 2 of the race....

After the disppointing finish to the APEX race in May, I was on the hunt for a use for all the endurance training I have been doing this year. I had it sorted, a Bob Graham attempt on the last weekend in June should do it!
Then 4 days before this I got an email from Eoin Keith (Irish AR), who I had met at APEX, asking if I would like to race at Raid the North Extreme (RTNX) with him and Thomas Etter (USA). I said yes and joined Eoin, Thomas and Nick Harper (Team Accelerate) in Canada to form Team Breast Cancer Awareness (BRAT)!

This was a bit of an unknown in terms of racing for me. I had done up to 3.5/4days of non stop Adventure Racing (AR) before but this would be slightly different, a true wilderness expedition race..

On Friday 22nd July we were all in Nelson, registering and packing! We got the maps on the Friday evening and immediately set to work. With the aid of some yellow highlighters and google earth we plotted what we thought would be the best route through the thick forests we had to negotiate en route. On Saturday it was time to leave Nelson and head to Kaslo, the pre race base. We were amazingly chilled at this point, boxes packed and handed in, maps and routes plotted, bikes fettled....what do you do the evening before a race without a last minute panic? Eat and sleep!

10am Sunday was start time! The first leg of the race was on bikes and it wasn't a gentle start with over 1500m climb and no descent! 3.5hrs later we had transitioned onto the first trek and this is where I got my first taste of 'bush whacking'. The trek started fast and I felt good, walking fast up the hills and trotting along and down. Nick was suffering a bit with the heat so we needed to make sure he was drinking lots and dipping his cap into every available river. Not long into the off road section we saw a team that Thomas got excited about, aparently they were probably going to do quite well so it was good to be up with them. The first part of the creek had a trail which made things relatively easy going. We caught Team Technu here and now I knew we were going alright!

Then came the bush bashing, we started into this in the daylight (just) at the end of day 1 and emerged from it well and truely in the light....The forest was made up of lots and lots of dense trees, some of them fallen, occassionaly sporting rhododendron type plants as well and where it looked nice going, it was actually covered in devils club, one of the tallest spikey plants I have ever had the pleasure of running through. We moved at less than 500m per hour that night - and that was good going!

Towards dawn we spotted the French team high above us on the slope and being tired figured it was time to climb. A slight nav error, oops, we lost a couple of hours here which possibly made the fight with the undergrowth worse, but eventually we made it out of the woods and onto the snow! Checkpoint 2 in 12th position despite the error!

After a long descent (on which I saw my first sleepmonster, a bus waiting to take us down the hill) and a transition not to be proud of, it was off on the bikes again. Another few hours climbing but this time we got to descend (very fast :-) ) down to a couple of ghost towns, the last sign of civilisation we would see for days! Next, you guessed it, up up up to Idaho Peak. By the top the weather had changed, we were soaked, there was snow on the ground so a few bits of hike a bike and day 2 was over. Early on Tuesday we were 'whizzing' carefully down the single track off Idaho Peak, it was such fun but to one side there appeared to be a bottomless pit, the ground dropped away quite dramatically! You wouldn't want to get a crash wrong up there! Looking at the photos of it in daylight there were some stunning views to be had!

(Idaho Peak descent)

At the next transition we rested for a couple of hours - aparently an alarm went off and a decision was made to leave it an hour so we'd start the fourth stage paddle at dawn...I was oblivious. We started leg 4 at about 4am as it was getting light. Our catamaranned up canoes worked reasonably well, but a couple of teams past us using kayak paddles...if only there had been some wind we could have got the sails out (No joke, some thought had gone into this..).

Transitions were much more slick by now and we left on leg 6 in around 10th position, hot on the tail of 2 teams, the French team from the first trek, and Team Checkpoint Zero. Before leaving we had a bit of banter with Geoff (Race Director) who promised us worse bush whacking in the aptly named Valhalla Provincial Park....I showed him my legs and his eyes nearly popped out :-P

This was the decider! The toughest thing I have ever done! The trek started off with 15-20km on trail up through the woods. We were moving well and caught both teams ahead, I was feeling amazingly good and strong at this point. At Beatrice Lake the decision came, which way round the lake to bushwhack? The French went left while we, along with Checkpoint Zero went right. We found a bear track for a bit which made life pretty good....but eventually it ended. Pete from Checkpoint Zero took the lead, I need to practice my bushwhacking skills! He can move through that stuff almost like it isn't there... If it was fern based, rock based or even thick fight based I could keep up, sadly most of the bush was fallen trees covered in devils club...and it was all I could do to keep up. This meant 8-10hrs of extreme effort with little or no time for food and drink as my hands were needed for climbing over trees! Then we reached THE river, freezing meltwater and a dodgy looking tree to slide over. On the other side the forest became fight, much to my relief as it gave me a bit of time to eat and drink! I wasn't last anymore!

However not long into this and it was time to make camp (10pm day 3) as Paul from checkpoint was hypothermic. A fire was made and I decided to change the plan of leaving my wet trousers on until we were out of the bush as I got pretty cold the minute we stopped...On with the dry fleece leggings!
We spent the next few hours getting thoroughly warm and watching headlights on the oposite side of the lake weave up and down and up and down and stop in a fire....

At around 1:30am we started to make a move - there were some steep climbs interspersed with thick fight to negotiate before, just as it was getting light, we left the forest for another challenge! There was another option around a lake. Right was a steep scree slope or 2 with some more bush to negotiate, ending it what looked like a silly climb without a rope. Left was some even steeper slightly melting snow which ended in the thickest forest to climb through imaginable.....We went right...thankfully the climb wasn't half as bad as it looked, although still a bit of a challenge. At the top we crossed the river and there were the French team who had gone the opposite way around both lakes, not much in it then...

(Valhalla - above the tree line..)

All three of our teams made it over the snowy col together then we took differing routes down the massive hill to Ice Creek Lodge - next checkpoint! Eoin got it spot on, spiked it and we took time out of both of the other teams. In the lodge was excellent! There was soup and a fire and beds, could have stayed there all day, some teams did!....but we limited ourselved to half an hour then it was off again!

This was where Nick started to have trouble. After getting out the bush I was feeling great, ready to tackle the next two massive snowy climbs! However it was soon aparent that we needed to stop again, so around 5mins from the Lodge we kipped for 40mins. After this Nick could move again so it was onwards and upwards, then downwards (weeee shoe skiing!), then up even more, before bumsliding into the next control! It took around 10-12hours to reach the next checkpoint, which was a nice relief after the 25hrs it had taken to get the last one! By now Nick was properly struggling, so we got some food into him and I got the tow out. We left the checkpoint with the French in joint 7th/8th place. 20minutes later and Nick bonked. Survival bag out, sugar and caffiene pumped into him, run tow out and we pushed on down the hill. Nick had been complaining about not getting to see sleepmonsters...well now he did....my shoes were apparently fish and were chatting to him all the way down the hill!

Then came the most bizarre bit of racing I have done. 18km of flat forest track - utterly shattered, Nick was towed by Thomas but it was too fast to keep up, I propped Eoin up as he was falling asleep, but then I was falling asleep....sleepmonsters in every bush! Then we hit a bridge, this woke me up, I knew where we were! I knew how far we had come (7km) and how far to go (11km) doh! I also knew that my feet were trashed. I hoped it was just swelling but it felt like a massive blister all over the bottom of both feet. It got worse and worse as we counted down the kilometers. My arms did most of the work through my poles...
Nick suggested we stop but I wanted more than anything to get to transition as I wasn't sure I'd be able to start on foot again...at least the next section was a bike!
At 3:30am we made it! Tent up, we all collapsed...the deciding leg over, we were out of Valhalla!

A couple of hours later and I had my feet inspected - thank god it was just swelling...although I got another comment or two about the colour of my legs!

I was sorted and ready to go! Nick looked like he was a gonner....he sat looking at the pasta meal in front of him, trying to work out how to eat it....
We were pretty sure this was it! But somehow he worked it out and the pasta made the world of difference! I patched up his blisters, we got him onto the bike and were off, next stop, zip line with bike! As we left checkpoint zero arrived in transition. A wrong turn at the end of the track meant they had bivvyed out.

(Zip wire with your bike)

Then came the, now classic, climb. Nick couldn't get himself and his bike up it, so we adopted new tactics, the guys took 2 bikes each and I got the run tow out and pulled Nick upwards. On the steeper sections I dropped Nick off as it flattened off and ran back to help push the bikes. Amazingly we didn't lose much time to surrounding teams here. 100m from the top Nick crashed big time! Food shovelled in again but it wasn't having an effect. After 15mins I suggested we move, I got yelled at, 5minutes later I attached the tow and we regrouped at the top. A bit more food and a sit and Nick was back on the bike. Down to transition in 8th position, where we discovered no gear boxes....

A logistical nightmare with 2 teams needing rescue from Beatrice lake resulted in 12hrs of sitting in transition without gear bins. A good rest later and we levered Nick into a canoe. We left the catamaran bars behind opting for the 'faster' kayak paddles....mistake...Nick was cooked and Thomas had to paddle them both down the 8-9hr leg...me and Eoin got to look at the pretty sunny views :-).

(I think we could have all done with JD's paddle for the second lake..JD Team SOG)

We lost some time (20-30mins? probably more...) to the other teams on this leg which was disappointing, more disappointing, but not unforeseen, when we got out of the boats Nick's first words were 'I can't carry on'. However it was an amazing effort that he had gone further than the end of Valhalla. We had made his body move for 2 stages further than it was actually capable of, amazing! The three of us then set off on the last leg - a very long bike leg as we were now waaay too late to make the trek cut off.

We flew round this leg, I don't know if I have ever ridden a bike as fast! When we reached the seven summits - the final climb and single track - my stomach gave up and I felt very rough for the rest of the route (6.5hrs). Still the views at dawn on the seven summits route were fantastic! A blast down the forest tracks (after we added in a last bit of extra climb by accident oops) and into Trail for the finish. The best feeling in the world was getting to the end!

It was a bit of a case of so close yet so far, but this race has given me loads of confidence for the longer, tougher races. I found I felt stronger as the race went on, which is good to know, and although there were some very low points, I came through them and got to that finish line.

When I got home I found our new house was pretty much an adventure race, you had to climb over things to get anywhere and sleep on the floor....Now we have a bed so proper recovery can begin...in between building the furniture that is :-). I can't wait for the next adventure!

Pictures courtesy of Raven Eye Photography.

The APEX Race

(Me with the Eiger)

On Saturday 21st May I flew out to Switzerland with John Cunningham, Alasdair Bruce and Stuart Walker to race at the first edition of the alpine expedition race (APEX). The base of the race was Interlaken, from which we could get a good view of the Jungfrau, and what we were in for over the 4 day non stop XPD race!

It wasn't until the Tuesday that we got the race maps, so we spent a few days organizing kit and speculating with the information we already had about the course. When we finally saw the route it was very exciting!

The course started with a 10km run through Interlaken to the Brienzesee lake where there was a 30km paddle. Out of the kayak and onto the bikes, the route then went into the hills and to Kandersteg for a short trek, before hitting the climbs (and descents!) on the bike to take us over to Lauterbrunnen for stage 3, a proper mountain trek up the Schilthorn from just over 700m to just under 3000m! With a few more controls bagged on the trek the route then went over the Eiger Traverse on the bike.

Next came a trek with some canyoning, followed by more trekking back down to the other side of the lake, a 25km paddle down the lake and finally another trek (and paraglide if you timed it right) back to Interlaken.

Before any of that however, there was the prologue to deal with. 4 activities, 1 trotti biking, 2 treks and some rafting with restarts for each section every 90minutes. Our aim for this part of the race was to be within 45min-1hr of the leading team overall.

We started with trotti biking and it was clear fairly quickly this wasn't our finest discipline....We finished about 7mins down on the Scandi team who most certainly knew what a trotti bike was before they turned up!

Next came the shorter of the 2 treks which we hit hard! It was over 30degrees by this point and we hammered it round, I don't think we lost too much time to any teams on this one! A short sit in the shade and it was out on to the longer trek. This is where the heat really started to tell. By the end we had had another good section but I was verging on heat exhaustion and desperately needed to sit in the shade....but no time, it was rafting next, so instead I put a wetsuit on. I didn't come back to life until the first wave hit my face but from there on it was great fun, paddling well as a team to overtake the other 2 rafts going down at the same time :-).

Overall we had smashed the target, finishing 32mins down on the leaders. 40minutes after finishing the prologue, we started the main race! The run over to the lake was uneventful and a much more steady pace (phew) although I think Stu was feeling having raced in the heat at this point. In the kayak it was me feeling the exertions of the prologue, every hr to hr and a half I felt terrible, but then within 10-15mins was fine again. One thing I was glad of was that, with plenty of strapping and a tiny feathering of my paddle, I got through relatively unscathed! Arm intact!

Onto the bikes and I felt really good going up the first hill, good to get the legs moving again! We flew down to the valley on the far side (here I was finding it hard to stay awake when peddling wasn't required) and started the undulating riding along the valley. This is where things went wrong. John stopped suddenly with a pain in his hamstring. We had a rest, debated what to do and had John on Als Tow for another 3.5km before coming to the start of the climb proper. Here we happened across another team, one of which was a physio. As John couldn't stand, walk or pedal without great discomfort it was apparent he was going to have to stop. We called for a van and set the tent up to wait. It wasn't quite cold enough to fit the 4 of us into the 2man tent :-).

Whilst waiting team Quechua came past, I had to confirm this wasn't an early sleepmonster as they had been 4th when we were paddling! Then we realised there was only 3 of them left as well.

A couple of hours later we were off again as a 3. It was a loooooong climb and by the top we were cutting it fine to do the trek and get back over the hills on the bike to the Schilthorn trek in time for the 14:00 cut off. As I was also finding it hard to keep my eyes open even now it was light, we put the tent up again and slept for 40mins. It made the world of difference! I think I still hadn't recovered from the 2nd trek in the prologue until this point!

We then took an ad hoc route, via Interlaken to see JC had clothes and food etc, round to the Schilthorn!

Here 3 became 2 as Al decided he would protect a slightly dodgy ankle. So me and Stu set off just before 2pm. What a trek! We took it steady, stopping for photos, food and to shelter from the random hail thunderstorm that happened 2/3rds of the way up. We had timed it perfectly, getting to the control below the summit (at a closed restaurant) as the hail started, so we stayed dry! We made it to the top in 6hrs 44, the 10th fastest time which we were more than happy with...
At the top it was beautiful sunshine once again, complete with rainbows. Great views of the Eiger and Jungfrau!

We had 30mins to decide whether the carry on before they stopped allowing people across the traverse to the next control. This was quite an easy decision as we hadn't intended to be out at night for any length of time at 3000m so hadn't taken as much kit as was needed. We slept for a couple of hours at the James Bond restaurant before getting the telecabin down again - well it wasn't like we were even vaguely in the race anymore, having missed controls on the bike, and the previous trek!

In the telecabin we came across Irish AR and Team sleepmonsters/likeys.com who were down to 3. It was decided on the stroll back to transition that Stu should carry on with them as a 4 as continuing any further would mean I had to do the final paddle, and my wrist wasn't perfect. So I waved them off on the bike and went to bed, end of the race for me.

Stu and Team sleepmonsters/likeys.com (can you have a shorter name next time please :-P) continued and were looking good, if not a little tired after the bike, canyoning, trek and paddle. They made it most of the way round the final trek before Gary got hypothermic and was helecoptered off. They arrived back having done all but the last few Km of the course! Irish AR came over the finish line around midday Sunday as a 2! It was straight into the hot tub from there!

So, whilst the race didn't go anyway near plan, I learnt a lot from the part I did and will be back next year to finish it! Thanks to Staffan and co for putting on a fantastic race in a stunning area!

The run up to the APEX...Fell racing wins and MTBO selections

Over the last 5-6weeks I have had one main target, get the use of my right wrist back. After kayaking a couple of times in training I ended up with tendonitis which has ruled out biking and kayaking...and typing on a computer, spreading butter on toast and many other things that used to take a lot less time to do!

Training wise it was down to running! So after the British Champs race in Ireland, an attempt at the Kinder Dozen with the APEX team followed the weekend after. We set off a little late and so completed 8/12ths of a kinder dozen, getting in a good 2000m climb around kinder - the Swiss alps are going to be big! I will be back to complete that at some time, so much of it is through proper terrain it's a good tough training session!

Herod Farm fell race came next where I went eyeballs out from the start thinking there was somebody in the race I recognized as rapid! The three mile race has a fair bit of climb which slightly counteracted my lack of short running recently and I finished 1st Lady by nearly 3minutes, with a PB by a minute! It turns out it wasn't who I thought I had spotted at the start...

The weekend after I was back in Ireland for the JK orienteering festival. With a highly competitive elite field on the W21E this year I was very pleased to finish 20th overall. I surprised myself with 19th in the sprint as my legs felt like dead weights, an ok middle race on sand dunes and I finished 28th, then I was 20th on the open fell long course on the final day of individual racing. This was sooooo much better than last years 2nd and 3rd to last in the middle and long (after which I gave up orienteering officially...).

To finish the weekend off I had the race of my life in the womens premier relay, back on the sand dunes area from the 2nd day. I came back in a pack in 6th position, ahead of many people I've never even got close to beating before! Anwen came back in 5th after having pulled up to 3rd at one point, then after Laura came through spectator neck and neck with 3rd it was a tense wait. This time it was a bit much to ask, 25seconds to be precise and we came 4th, missing out on that podium spot...

Last weekend was the MTBO world championship selection races and British Middle and Sprint. Sadly I headed down to Cannock without a bike as I still couldn't ride. I ran the sprint on the Sunday and discovered that running is faster than biking.....until the straight line undergrowth becomes too brambly and thick to battle through....I finished 7th on foot :-)
Today the selections are out and I am off to Italy in August :-)

This week I ran burbage skyline fell race, my favorite evening local race! By -Higger Tor I was really feeling the bad left over side effects of having been on diclofenac to reduce the inflammation in my arm. I almost cut straight back to the finish, then somebody shouted '2nd lady' so I had to carry on really. I finished 2nd and missed a PB by 15seconds which, considering how much easier this felt than last year I am very happy with.

A strategy meeting last night highlighted the to do list before we fly to Switzerland next weekend, so this weekend is last min shopping and bike packing...Oh and the ShUOC ladies relay team are out in force at the British Orienteering Relays this Sunday, on home ground! Watch this space :-)

9th at Mourne Peaks Race - British Championships

(My old descending skills, coming off Slieve Donard in 2009 - courtesy of Zanthe Wray)

The Mourne Peaks Race is a long counter in the Fell Running British Championships. At 12 miles, you might be forgiven for thinking its an easy counter.....but the terrain makes up for that! It has everything from grassy runnable parts (although fairly scarse) to leg eating bog and plenty of tussocks with some good rocky ground thrown in for good measure. And oh yes, there is very little of the course that could be described as a 'flat' section....most of it is steep up, or steep down making it a tough race.

I wasn't sure how this weekend was going to turn out as last weekend my legs had completely gone and I'd finally done as much as my body could take by the open5 with a disappointing (but not unexpected) result. I'd accepted that 5 days is not really enough recovery time, a 3mile jog on Friday wasn't great and had nowhere near 2000m climb... I was fully expecting to have to take it steady and just enjoy one of my all time favourite race routes! Another 'training' race for the APEX adventure race.

However, somehow, as soon as we set off I felt like I had a completely new pair of legs :-).

I took the first climb steady but found myself in a position I hadn't expected at all. On the first descent me and Ali Raw went back and forth a bit, I wasn't descending like I normally do at all, guess my legs were a bit tired after all, but I still felt reasonably strong! Then Jackie Lee came past, I caught her up again on the next climb and the three of us were together until it became a bit more runnable. This is where I could have done with more than 5 days rest, as I discovered that I just had one pace and that pace was the same whether it was steep and rough or slightly less steep and runnable.

Thankfully coming off Doan it all gets rough again then there is the biggest climb of the race, so I caught a fair bit of time back up here and Ali was back in sight. All the way round I had Slieve Commedagh in the back of my mind. 3 years ago I got to that final beastily steep climb and the top just never seemed to get any closer! This time, it was over before I knew it. All that was between me and the finish was one looooong descent. I kept with the theme of the day and didn't pull it off particularly well....although the person behind me thought I didn't do too bad. I finished in 3hrs 1min, 30minutes faster than 3 years ago, just outside my aim of sub 3hrs but I can live with that for now. I was 9th lady (best senior result to date) and 1st U23 (although that wasn't the hottest competition of the day :-) )

I'm glad I went to Ireland in the end, I almost thought twice about it last Sunday, but the Mournes are definitely still my favourite mountains!

Open 5 Final - and how to pedal a bike when your legs are destroyed part 3

After Edale I was able to walk almost properly again on Wednesday, on Thursday it was the final bike testing and it probably won't surprise you that I did not make it to 23km this time. I made it 20.9km in 30minutes at 30 degrees not wearing skins. Whether this was down to the skins (or lack of them) or the lactic acid in my legs I wouldn't like to comment...

On Saturday the APEX team got out in kayaks on Windermere - it seams I had forgotten everything I ever knew about paddling, but after a couple of hours was getting back into it (was much more natural the following Tuesday so hopefully the technique has stuck). After this I was nackered and should really have taken this as a sign not to start the open5 the following day....

Sunday morning was lovely and warm, I set off to the start with my bike at the ready. Sadly my dibber was not ready, nor was my inhaler. A hired dibber solved the first, and I chose to ignore the second problem. The route choice was a great challenge and I think I picked a good route for the bike. It was a shame I couldn't move fast enough to get the final control I wanted but I don't think it was too much of a disaster...As long as I could get a half decent run in.....Well the effort I had had to put in to cycle reasonably showed here and my legs finally gave in. I ran about 10% of the route, walked a large amount and shuffled the remainder.

Overall I got 445 points which was a little disappointing, but you can't race everything well :-)

A week of little walking/running/biking seems to have improved my legs a fair bit, off to Ireland later for the British Champs Fell race, it may go well or it may be a nice holiday in Ireland, we will see. Either way I will get some good climb practice in for Switzerland!

Edale Skyline - and how to really destroy your legs on a bike...part 2

(Running round to Grindslow - Picture courtesy of Lizzie Adams)

Last Thursday I did the second part (of 3) of the dissertation study that involves cycling as far as you can in 30minutes. This week there was a twist, it was 34 degrees in the environmental chamber. I also had to wear full length skins...

I set off and boy was it hard to keep the rpm above 125! The first 5 mins I tried to keep over 120rpm which was hard as the hot air felt like it was burning my throat. I quickly settled to a less fast rpm, probably averaging 110rpm overall.

I had a target of 20km in mind as previous performances in heat have not been good, but I surprised myself by getting to 23km, 0.3km shorter than last week! Apparently my core temperature shot up at the start, but progressively came down as I went on, showing I can actually adapt to/cope with heat!

2 days later and I was stood on the startline of the Edale Skyline which originally had been planned to be a race I would target as my first long race of the year...ehem...

The minute we set off I thought 'oh dear' as my quads were not happy with uphill! The start up Ringing Roger was fast and I almost set off too fast until I heard somebody say 'Hi Nicky', turned round to see Nicky Spinks and so slowed down....

I found the edge running ok and downhill fine, my legs felt well rested, but the minute it got even slightly uphill it was a battle with my quads.

I was happy to be within a couple of minutes of Judith at Win Hill (she was coming off the top as I was heading up), with Nicky and another woman between us. The descent to Lose Hill went well however on the next climb I was aware we were not even half way and my quads were screaming. So I had a nice chat to Robin from Pennine all the way up.

When I glanced behind Sandra Cooper was gaining at speed, so I ran fast down and along to Hollins Cross. My legs still felt fine for flat or down. The climb up to Mam Tor however seemed to go on forever and I really struggled to keep moving which was worrying, there was a stream of people coming past me including Sandra.

Thankfully by the time we reached Brown Knoll, the quads were happier with the softer ground so I started gaining a few places back. I hit the edge path to Grindslow and for the first time felt my legs were a bit tired for flat running. I forced them to keep moving trying to keep relaxed and by wool packs had caught up most who had overtaken from Hollins Cross.

This was decision point, nobody was taking the cut through behind wool packs so should I play it safe and stick to the path, or go for it anyway......
I went for it and for a moment worried I'd got it slightly wrong, before seeing the target exit from the groughs! I came out ahead of where I had been and Sandra was back in sight :-).

The little climb up Grindslow nearly finished my quads off and it felt like I was barely moving along the edge path back to Ringing Roger. But I was overtaking all the way and gaining slowly on Sandra! I suddenly realised how many people had set off too fast!

Heading down from the last checkpoint was almost too much for my legs and I lost a place, it also meant I was not going to catch Sandra downhill like I'd hoped....

I came into the finish in 3hrs38 in 5th position, very happy to not have blown up en route!

For the last two days I have found walking difficult, so have managed to destroy my legs much better than last week! Whether I can cycle on Thursday for the final study visit...well watch this space...Would quite like to be able to move for the Open 5 on Sunday :-)

3rd in BUCS relay - and how to destroy your legs on a bike part 1....

(Images courtesy of Chloe Haines)

This weekend was the British University and Collage Sport (BUCS) orienteering championships hosted by Edinburgh University (EUOC). The individual was held on Balkello Hill and the relays on Gullane Dunes. My preparation for the weekend turned out to be less than perfect as so far this year I have definitely concentrated on long distance (with 2 ultra races in the last two weeks), have done zero hours intervals and 70mins foot orienteering in total!

It's fair to say I was heading up for a bit of a run but, with a couple of new faces in Sheffield Uni Orienteering Club (ShUOC), had no expectations what so ever!

By Thursday plans were changing a bit as the start lists for Saturdays individual race were out and I was off second to last, a strong position to be in for someone who can run fast but not think fast! Hollie Orr was starting 2minutes behind me and it was inevitable that she would come past at some point, so my new target was 'how many controls can I get before I see Hollie'. This was a good target as it required me to concentrate and not mess up the first few controls!

However, before Saturday came I had to get through Thursday and a cycling test at Hallam Uni - how far can you get on a stationary bike in 30mins. This formed part of an undergrad dissertation and this first session was just an orientation session, no recordings would really be used. Helen looked a little exhausted after finishing and the guy before me sounded like he was working really hard when I arrived. So I decided to be sensible and save my legs for the weekend so as to get the most out of my start time.

This plan lasted all of 10minutes (warm up) as then I was told the distance other riders had got....and set myself a target. The max anyone had got was 20km and the girls seemed to be getting 18-20km so I told myself that if I could get near that I would be happy! Once I set off staying over 125rpm seemed easy...well for the first 5mins anyway...things steadied out to around 115rpm average over the 30mins I think and when I hit 20km at around 24mins I knew my plan of taking it easy was out the window, so thought I might as well see how far I could get! I managed 23.3km taking a comfortable lead on the study....

Needless to say this impacted on my leg speed on Saturday so I set off steadily up the hill thinking 'ow my quads'. I was very tentative with the first 2 controls but got them pretty accurately, sped up to 3 and then, en route to 4 Hollie came past! We both fluffed 4 a bit but I got there just ahead, then off to 5 and it was time to try out the staying in contact with the map whilst chasing Hollie part of the race. This lasted until control 8 where I couldn't see her, we must have taken different lines, but I was pleased with how I was navigating and keeping my head as I spiked 8 and headed off to 9. I lost a bit of ground on this leg as it was a long hilly one which my tired legs did not enjoy, but was about 200m of heather behind at control 9. Then came more leg abuse with deep heather all the way across to control 14 and that was it for keeping Hollie in sight!

My legs didn't really want to lift high enough to run over the heather well - a combination of tiredness and lack of terrain running recently - so I concentrated on the nav and spiked the controls, taking some reasonably fast splits along the way even though I felt like I wasn't moving. Control 14-finish was suddenly easy running again but I made the mistake of going a little too fast as the nav was slightly tricky here, I lost about 1.5-2.5mins on the last loop which was disappointing, but tore into the finish to take 8th place, 8 seconds ahead of Hazel Wright and 39 seconds ahead of Anne Edwards. If you had asked me before the race if I would be happy with this, the answer would have been a resounding YES!

It was a good day for the ShUOC girls with 2nd and 3rd place going to Laura and Anwen and me being third counter, we narrowly missed beating EUOC in the points race! A vast improvement on the last few years! And this formed our 1st relay team for the Sundays race.

Gullane Dunes was a big contrast to the previous days heather, it was fast runnable sandy terrain with lots of spikey greenery and densely packed wood....this got me nervous as this is a prime location for me to mess up - big time! Previous mistakes on such areas have ranged from 8-36minutes....so the girly briefing of 'take it slow, especially in the green and don't make any big mistakes' had me a little worried. I could either make or break the teams chances on first leg. I decided to make them and set off with the aim of not worrying about speed (not that my legs had much of this left) or anyone else, but just getting round cleanly, regardless of how long it took....it would be better than 36minutes of hunting on the wrong sand dune....

The pack set off at a very comfortable speed and after opening my map towards the back of the pack and working out where I wanted to cut off the beach I found myself swiftly up at the front with the EUOC 1st and 2nd teams. It appeared their target was the same as mine for leaving the beach so we raced up the dunes, turned left, approached the control.....and all simultaneously turned round 180 degrees and headed from number 2 to number 1.....doh!

At least everyone had followed us but it was a stupid mistake, especially with how confident I was that it was right....
Anyway, it meant a fast split to number 2, then from control 3-5 we (Euoc 1 and 2 and myself) got a gap on the rest of the field. I made a small miss on 4 of about 20s which meant I had to speed up to catch Euoc2 again. A couple of less than perfect line choices kept me just behind EUOC 2, and losing 10-20s on the spectator control followed by an extremely slow but accurate final loop (as I was paranoid about making mistakes on the last 3 controls) meant I handed over in 3rd, 2.5mins behind EUOC 1 and 1min behind EUOC 2.

I was very pleased to have kept it together on an area I normally would associate with a disastrous run, especially as I targeted the controls I thought most likely to be a disaster and concentrated on being slow and accurate. I had seen practically nobody out there, EUOC 1s gaffle was so different I didn't see them after the 4th control and I rarely saw EUOC 2.

Anwen was next out and was going well, pulling ahead into 2nd until the 13th control which proved to be the unlucky number (the main one I had targeted for caution) and she lost a few minutes. She stuck with EUOC 3rd team, handing over pretty much at the same time in 4th! Laura had a stormer of a run and at the spectator was about 200m ahead of EUOC 3rd team, not that she knew given the lack of sightings of other runners. Anwen looked about to explode for the next few minutes until Laura came into view still ahead, we had prevented an Edinburgh 1,2,3 on their home turf :-) finishing in 3rd!

I haven't really enjoyed orienteering properly in about 3 years, and as I enjoyed it this weekend it made concentrating for the entire course seem easy! This is usually where I fall down, but I'm hoping to keep on enjoying it for the JK and British champs which I think I will try and have fresher legs for!