planetFear Open 5+ Coniston

Thankfully the colder days earlier in the week gave way to a warm sunny morning with clear views over Coniston Water and the surrounding hills.

Checking maps and deciding on tactics before the start of the race.

 This was the setting for the first PlanetFear Endurance Series event, the Open5+. Five hours of multisport, navigation and teamwork to get as many controls and points as possible in pairs.

A mass start for the first race in the 2010 planetFear Open Adventure Endurance series.

The PlanetFear team were lined up in the mixed class and already had a prodding on the news pages that they better win!! Gulp! The competition was tough in all classes and will definitely be getting pretty hot as the teams progress into the longer 12 and 24 hour races.

Today's event was going to be fast and furious made up of trail running, orienteering, kayaking, mountain biking, scrambling, cliff jumping, ice baths and a small pinch of pain and suffering.

Some people clearly enjoying themselves way too much around Tarn Hows.

The race started with a 5km trail run out over the hills to Tarn Hows, which was a stunning setting for the opening section. The planetFear Open 5+ has been run in conjunction for the first time with the National Trust, in a partnership which aims to show the range of land protected and managed by the NT, the planetFear Open 5+ was given exclusive access to a number of locations throughout the race. Without the partnership of the NT locations such as Tarn Hows, Hodge Close and Cathedral Quarry would not have been possible.

pF's Dave MacFarlane spoke to John Atkinson, the Upland Access Advisor for the National Trust at the event regarding the partnership for the race, John said;

‘We have encountered problems in the past with races having been organised over National Trust property, where we [the NT] have not been informed. We are working with event organisers such as James Thurlow, to establish links so that we can work together in solidifying access to the National Trust's land and open it up for the enjoyment of more people.  With speaking to James from Open Adventure, we have managed to suggest sites to use that wouldn't have been available without our partnership. We are also trying to show the public that the National Trust isn't just stately homes and gardens, and the range of land managed by the trust includes open land, fields and footpaths and bridleways etc.'

In to the race and the pace was steady for most of the way to Tarn Hows, with only one or two pushing it on at the front up the long, long drag. The inbound leg to transition was a fast fun descent and quickly the front pack was into the next optional stage after about 36 minutes.

Navigation, navigation, navigation, oh and don't forget to take your compass off your bike!

This was an Orienteering section, clearly the work of Dr Evil and the sly Mr Fox, with a health warning for those choosing to venture into the woods. It was labelled as hard navigation, due to the close proximity of the 3 different category courses, with Sly Mr Fox giving no markers to say you were at the right control, your navigation had to be confident and accurate. With 2 more controls next to every one of yours with only a 20m difference, it proved the undoing of some. In addition to this, the Dr Evil rule stated that you could only punch 4 controls and if you punched the wrong one you would not be able to collect your 4, thus losing a whopping 60 points effectively, ouch!

Well this is where PlanetFear's Team met its first problem. Anthony was navigating while Helen was marking up the controls for the next section. However Helen managed to mistake the bums of all the guys and started tagging along with Tom Gibbs doing the male pairs course. As Tom dibbed so did Helen! Doh! Doh! Doh! Helen shouted for the correct backside to follow, informing the neighbouring counties that she had dibbed the wrong control. Anthony decided that this meant they could now only collect 3 controls from their course due to the Dr Evil rule! However this was an error that with hindsight should have been clear to them. As only 1 had dibbed it wouldn't count and they should have collected all 4 controls as planned. Balls!

The next stage for the female and mixed pairs were the return of the Yellow Submarine/barge sit on tops collecting up to 4 controls spread on the shores of Coniston Water! While they played happy boaters the male pairs set off on the mountain bikes first, returning later to the kayaking as their last stage.

Team planetFear members Helen Jackson and Ant Emmet.

With a heavy heart Team PlanetFear boarded the yellow barges, sighed and set off. Unwittingly straight into their next mistake of the day, paddling straight past the first control!! Doh! Watched by journo Dave from PlanetFear, Doh! Taking pictures of their stupidity, Doh!  This now meant we had to zig zag back down the lake to pick up the annoying dropped control. Doh! Doh! Doh! Remarkably all was calm in the team who are normally well versed in the art of heated "discussion" in remote places.  Having already put both these mistakes behind them , it was time to get on with the next stage of mountain biking.

A busy lake when the mixed and female pairs took to the water.

They were now 1 hour 20 into the 5 hour race and it was beginning to look worryingly clearable. As they had made the earlier mistake and were now 30 points down on a clearable course, hindsight began to set in about the wrongly punched orienteering control. 

Normally they would have relied on a strong mountain bike leg to negate the mistake, but on a clearable course there is nothing you can do once you've made that mistake, apart from get back early for tea and cake. So they ramped up the effort and hit the trails hard.

The trails were in perfect condition, dry, fast and amazing fun. Swooping through the woods and valleys, constantly mindful of the day dreaming rambling masses as these grinning idiots rode by.

Hodge close, icy water and a jump from a good height - which we know some were pretty anxious about - added to the excitement of the day.

All this trail fun was momentarily haltered as the teams had to take on the Hodge Close and Cathedral Quarry challenges. The news update had highlighted these as being pretty full on, which could mean a change of trousers for all successful competitors.

Jake Morgan - planetFear blogger and team member, touches down.

We needn't have worried as they seem to have mellowed in their old age, the jump was calm in comparison to previous events. They missed a trick of perhaps offering a small bonus to give people the option of doing a much bigger jump to fill the trouser. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kq2E6sXYF0s).

The ladder which enabled the exit from Hodge Close...

The water was absolutely freezing and to ensure no one went into cold panic, you were forced into a cold dunking to acclimatise to the icy chill. Gasping for air, cold shocked competitor's resurfaced with the unenviable task to head across the water, up a ladder, through a tunnel and back on the bikes for challenge number 2.

...and the exit tunnel the ladder lead in to, exposure to yet more cold water sapped strength and slowed down the fastest of competitors.

Here the team were hoping for an abseil or a climb for a bit of fun and adventure (plus lots of time killing!), but as it was only a relatively short race a scramble and tunnel search would have to suffice. In any race the challenges are a big unknown in time commitments, so with these two out the way in fairly quick succession the clearing seemed even more probable now.

Taking on the mountain bike stage of the race, making quick progress out after Hodge Close and Cathedral Quarry.

The course now took them out towards Elterwater, Skelwith Bridge and over to Randy Pike! The trails were amazing and even the climbs were fun without the usual rear wheel spin out. With only one checkpoint to go and under 4 hours on the clock this was not a good position to be in. However there was one small saving grace, a wicked fast swooping descent back into race-base via the last control...brilliant way to finish.

Don't worry, it's all in good spirits...

With huge smiles and heavy hearts PlanetFear went to try every possible way of rectifying their situation having finished after 4hours 11minutes. They asked if they could complete the whole orienteering stage again. They offered to put the controls out again, they offered to do it 2 times. It was all to no avail and they swore a bit, laughed a bit, and then went for the final solution of tea and cake. It didn't change anything but it did make the world a better place!

Lactic acid...by any chance?

 Without their orienteering mistake PlanetFear would have, could have, should have won outright. But that is what makes teams come back time and again as there is no such thing as the perfect race and you always feel like you could have done better with the classic, "coulda-shoulda- woulda" , what ifs and maybes! In the end two male pairs and two mixed pairs cleared the course with sprint finishes for both categories after hours of racing. They will be looking back at where they could have saved 10 seconds here or there (over tea and cake of course).

It was a great event and an amazing location supported amazingly by the National Trust for land access with the representatives in attendance. I hope Adventure Racing showed what can be achieved with responsible competitors on their property as I think everyone would love to come back again.

Team PlanetFear took 3rd place in the end and will have to work hard to overhaul the deficit in the 12 and 24 hour races.

Female pairs winners:

1st (centre) - Barbara Lonsdale/Jackie Scarf

2nd (left) - Jenny Allen/Judith Hughes

3rd (right) - Liz Barlow/Sally Ozanne

Mixed pairs winners:

1st (left) - Steve Fisher/Fi Spotswood

2nd (centre) - Julia Baron/David Spence

3rd (right) Anthony Emmet/Helen Jackson (team planetFear.com)

 Male pairs winners:

1st (centre) - Tom Gibbs/John Houlihan

2nd (left) - Andy Mitchell/Phil Scarf

3rd (right) - Kim Collison/Neil Hamblin

Gallery of images coming soon, check back later for details.

To see the full results or to find out more on the rest of the planetFear Open Adventure Endurance series, see the Open Adventure Website.  

All Images - Dave MacFarlane