After a gruelling 6 days of racing, with little more than 7hrs sleep, Team Helly Hansen – Prunesco consisting of Nicola Macleod, Nick Gracie, Tom Gibbs and Warren Bates with support crew James Thurlow and Nicola Wiseman were crowned Adventure Racing World Champions 2009. It has been a nail biting time trying to follow the 59 teams progress through the course with both mandatory checkpoints (CP’s) to visit and the “bonus” CP’s thrown into the mix. This made the event even harder for the teams, having to meet the strict cut off times and working out the strategy well in advance. Lack of information from the organisers and faulty GPS tracking devices made following the teams almost impossible on the race website. It was only through the power of Twitter that we could communicate with the teams support crew’s on the ground and other people supporting the event that enabled us to piece together the team’s positions.

On the back of winning the Wenger Patagonian Adventure Race win earlier in the year and now crowned World Champions the recently expanded Helly Hansen – Prunesco team have certainly put this squad firmly onto the Adventure racing map and are already looking forward to 2010.

2009 Adventure Race World Champions

Last night i headed down to Manchester to the Arndale Centre, where our team sponsor Helly Hansen were opening their first UK Brand store.

Team shot at the end of the Wenger Patagonian Expedition Race

Helly Hansen have many stores all over the world, but in the UK you could only buy HH kit in other outdoor shops, now it is possible to view their full range from High Street Fashion items to Technical Mountain and Sports Clothing.

I had never been to a launch before, so was a bit worried about it, what do i wear? Most of my kit is outdoor branded, but i don’t have any casual HH kit. I turned up to be met by a lot of very smartly turned out people, HH staff, VIP’s, including Theo Walcott’s girlfriend who is the face of the lifestyle range!

With an ice bar rapidly melting and lots of cameras flashing away, the store was opened with a few speaches and presentations. Howard Lowe, Fiona Patterson and myself were the sole athlete representatives, and many of the other folk there were impressed to hear exactly what we all do.

Following on from the store opening, we were set a wee challange to get to the Champagne Bar where the party would continue. It was a mini urban race, with 15 questions needing to be answered involving getting to a number of different shops with the map provided. We didn’t take it very serioulsy, but wandered around the shopping centre managing to get lost, but finally got out and found the answers and made it to the party where we were presented with a lovely buffet and champagne!

It had been a great night, very different from anything i’d been to before, but good for us to have been there to show our support in payment for the support they give us.

I wish the shop lots of success, which i think it will have in such a prime location.

This past weekend saw the biggest and oldest Mountain Marathon. The Original Mountain Marathon has been running every year since 1968, and is the forerunner to all other mountain marathons and adventure racing, as such it draws competitors from all over the world.The OMM

Gareth Craft, a friend of mine had called me up a few months ago asking if I fancied racing the Elite class at the OMM, he caught me at a weak moment and I said yes!  So finally when Gareth had got round to sending off the entry form I got the details in the post, it was happening, no getting out of it now.

I had done some good long runs and plenty of shorter runs, but didn’t feel that I had prepared especially well for the rigours of an OMM elite course.  So arriving at the race on Friday night I felt unprepared, but on seeing lots of friends milling around I started to feel a bit better about the whole weekend.

Gareth arrived soon after me, and we registered, popped the tent up and grabbed some pre race food.  We looked over the map briefly, and then headed to the tent to sort all our kit out, and to prep the lightweight tent for the next night, this involved almost pitching it inside our bigger tent, which was far from massive, so gives you an idea of how small the tent is!

All set we got a pretty good nights sleep, and woke at 6am to get food in before an early bus to the start.  Arriving in good time for our start time we chatted to other friends and got set for a tough day out in the hills, and how we would work as a team.  We had never run together, not even round a park, so it remained to be seen how we worked as a team in the thick of a tough potentially 8 hour day of running.

It was uphill to the first control, and soon we found ourselves passing many competitors on the other courses, I was concentrating hard on hitting the first control cleanly as there was nothing to lead us into it.  We nailed the control but sadly pulled about 6 other teams in behind us.  Pushing on we dropped anyone behind us and settled into a pace and style that would suit us for the rest of the day, hitting the controls neatly and economising our effort.

We had some big names starting not too far behind us, and we were very happy with our progress that it took them almost 2hrs to pass us, they did so at a heck of a pace, and there was no way we could keep with them.
Race pictures available to view here : OMM Pictures
Leg 4 to 5 was a tough one, across some horrific tussocky boggy terrain with very vague contour features.  I spent most of the leg unsure where we were, but on a bearing and having major catching features to rescue us if needed.  Luckily just as I was getting very confused I heard a team ahead shout that they had got it, so we nipped up and bingo, there it was, relief!

The weather was pretty miserable at this point, drizzly rain and head wind, and at the far reaches of the map I was pretty low, some food and a nice road to run along got me going again, and soon the sun returned, well for a bit at least.

Heading back towards the finish we made a route choice error, what looked like the best option turned out to be awful due to the tussocks on the valley side we were on, but looking across to the other side a lovely path ran almost all the way to the control.  Nothing we could do about it but push on and limit our losses.

Soon after this we were caught by the eventual winners.  Steve Birkinshaw and Jethro Lennox and Jon Morgan and Al Powel were running fast, and James Logue was sticking with them too.  We did the same, with Gareth struggling with the pace, but it got us across the awful ground fast.  At one point, Steve, James and myself all turned to each other expecting someone to be on the nav, it turned out all of us had presumed the other was on it, oops, cue a wee error and sadly Gareth and myself had just dropped too much height and couldn’t get back to the group.  The wind dropped out of our sails and we slowed right down over the last few controls.

Running into the finish we were very relived to have run well, pretty cleanly and were happy with our position.  The weather had been kind, we had been soaked, but the wind had dried all our kit, meaning a much more pleasant night.  We got the tent pitched, but managed to choose a pretty wet spot, we were too tired to move it, and most other places were bad too!

Finishing at about 3pm we had loads of time to sit around and not do much.  The weather took a turn for the worse, so we had to cosy up in the tent.  When the rain cleared we got some lovely supernoodles on the go, and soon had polished them all off, and still wanting more.  Such is the balance of racing, you carry as little as possible, and know you will more than likely be hungry.

We wondered about the camp and chatted to number of friends, catching up on stories from the first days racing.  Checking the results we saw we were in 9^th place, and just in the chasing start, both of us were very happy with this and knew we could push hard the next day and catch some places as there were 4 teams within about 10minutes.

It got dark and we squeezed into the tent after blowing up our balloons for out balloon bed, it’s a bit of a faff (but when you have hours to waste, its a good time filler!) Balloon Beds, but is very comfy and really keeps you warm.  The tent really was tight, and if one moved the other had too.  10hours of fitful sleep were finally ended when the siren went off at 6am to wake us all up.  We had a leisurely time as were not off till almost 8am.

On the start line it was dry but very windy, and the first leg took us straight into this wind.  We went for a high route worried that the valley could be very tussocky, but failed to take into account the wind issue.  Spiking the control we caught the team that had started ahead of us, we were off to a good start.  We then chose different route, opting for the easier going, but slightly longer path route, arriving at control 2 together there had been no advantage, other than maybe some easier running.

We ran for most of the rest of the course with Bruce and Alan, often taking slightly different routes, but seeming to always meet at the control again, we couldn’t shake them.  We caught and then dropped another team, and we were feeling good about the day.  The nav was going well and on the whole the running was much nicer.  There were a few stings in the tail, control 8 was a viscous decent down almost 10 contour lines just to then head back up again!  It was here however that we dropped our tough Scottish counter parts.  We pressed this advantage to ensure that there was no need for a sprint finish.  The last few controls went smoothly and were almost all downhill, which at this point was very painful on my knees.

Running to the line I was very relived to be finishing, but I was also really happy to have not only completed the Elite OMM, but to have finished in 5^th place as well, this far and away exceeded our expectations.

Racing with Gareth had been great, we worked well together, gelling almost immediately and working to our strengths, who knows maybe we will be back!

It had been a great weekend, pretty good weather, a top result even getting us some prize money!  Catching up with so many friends was brilliant too, some folks I hadn’t seen for a long time, sitting chatting in the sun was lovely.

After such an epic OMM last year I think the organisers did a superb job this time to ensure nothing could go wrong, the courses were good and tough, the weather was kind and it was almost fun!

As I sit here writing this, my legs are elevated, I have ice on my ankles and right knee, but I can walk pretty well and my feet feel ok, maybe I wasn’t trying hard enough.  Next year????

View our routes and all other courses here: OMM Maps and Routes
a wee podcast interview of me shortly after finishing. OMM Podcast

I have just returned from a great weekend in Edinburgh.  I was up there for a number of different things, and as I usually manage to do, fit in as much stuff as you can in one weekend.

First up was getting to Edinburgh, and as Friday was such a stunning day I decided to head up to Innerleithen and ride the mountain bike trail on route north.  It was an amazing evening, the sun setting, the trees all turning, and a dry trail with no one on it.  I rode really hard to ensure I got back before it got too dark, needing my lights for the last 5 minutes in the trees.  I wimped out on lots of the bigger drops, but riding on my own I thought it would be a sensible to get back in one piece!

I stayed outside Edinburgh at Marty and Bec’s house on Friday night, it was good to catch up, and in the morning Marty and myself drove into town to help set up some of the areas for the Men’s Health Survival of the Fittest race that I was competing in on Sunday.

My friend Rob then came and met me and we headed out for an hours run over Arthurs Seat and round the Meadows, it was a tough run up to the top of the hill overlooking the city, but the views were stunning, and it certainly blew the cobwebs out of Rob’s head!

After a shower and change a few of us met for lunch at the Outsider, a great wee restaurant in town.  It was 10years ago that we all started at Edinburgh University, and my friend Cav had organised a reunion to be held in Teviot and the Caves.  After a few beers in Teviot I walked down to Leith to meet up with some other friends for a surprise birthday meal for my old Aberdonian flatmates 29^th.  It wasn’t such a surprise, as Rob had to get off his duty rota, so needed to be told what was happening.

We ate at a great sea food restaurant, and I even tried a lot of the dishes, even though I’m really not a fan of fish at all.

I then headed back up to the Caves to catch up with my other Uni mates, to finish a crazy packed day.  I was only briefly at the Caves, as I’d drunk more than I intended to, and had to get up early to race the next day.

I woke early on Sunday, and headed down to Princess St gardens to get set to race in the Edinburgh leg of the Men’s Health Survival of the Fittest 10km races.  These are 10km races with a difference.  Spread over the course, at approximately 1km intervals are a succession of obstacles, some small, some big, but all designed to slow you down and knock you out of your rhythm.

The start was a mad rush down the Royal Mile to leap over a load of straw bales, then down a narrow alley way to the station.  A short very sharp climb up some stairs took us to Carlton Hill, where we had a bunch of military style obstacles, cargo nets, rope swings, tyres and monkey bars.  Running down from Carlton Hill we were met with some huge tyres, and 2 wrecked cars we had to crawl through, followed by a skip!

A wee waterslide in Holyrood Park cooled you down before a long run all the way up the hill of the Innocent Railway tunnel.  A short run then took us to a spiders web of ropes with some firemen hosing us down as we ran up another hill.  Arriving in the building site just off the Cowgate we had a series of jumps and scaffold towers to clamber over before running all the way up to the top of a disussed building doing some dancing, and then back down again.  Stairs are a real killer and really give you a huge lactate buildup.

Follow this with a run up a steep close to the Royal Mile again, and I think it was here that my heart rate maxed out at 199bpm!  After regaining my running ability I pushed on towards the entrance to the Gardens, over a few wee obstacles just after I’d been overtaken by 2 guys I’d passed on the slippery wall.  The last km was really tough, running up to the castle and back down again on very slippery paths.  Coming into the finish I was surprised to find that I was in 3^rd place, I couldn’t believe I was so high up.  Just as I got to the last obstacle, an 8ft wall with a slippery top, one guy got up and over, after a few attempts I managed to get up, and Murray was still at the bottom.  Another lad was approaching fast, and I thought Murray deserved to be ahead of him after he took his wrong turn.  So I helped him up and over and we crossed the line together.

The Final Wall

It had been a beast of a race, super tough on the body, but great fun all the same.  It was good to catch up with lots of friends and see how all the other people got on with the obstacles.  Murray and myself finally finished in joint 3^rd place, I was very happy with this place, and shows my training is going well.  I just have to hope I can keep it up for the OMM this coming weekend!

This weekend I completed a 2 day, 16 hour outdoor first aid course with Vital Signs.  The main reason for completing the course was for my Mountain Leader and Trail Cycle Leader certificates which require you to have this qualification.

It was a great 2 days, a small group of 7 likeminded people, including a 7yr old lad.  His dad had brought him along, and we were all amazed at how attentive and responsive he was, and his memory was astounding, often pointing out errors that the main group had made!

First Aid being given to a mountain biker

The course covered a variety of things, but the main section focused on the ABCDE of first aid, which was repeated a lot, it sounded like it would be tedious, but it all went very smoothly, and the repetition really drove home the skills you need.  With outdoor scenarios set up in the park opposite the theatre, it really made you think about how to approach different injuries and situations, be it on your own or as a group.  CPR, drowning, major blood loss and broken bones were also covered.

Nick Green who ran the course was very professional and highly experienced, filling in the core course work with stories of his own and asking the group for their personal experience.  The ratio of sitting down looking at slides and demonstrations to hands on practical work was very good, and the breaks allowed us to discuss many topics further.

The venue of the Keswick Theatre was great, and very handy for me, with easy access to the outdoors and adequate facilities inside.

Overall the course was great; it has given me a lot of knowledge that I hope I can retain and call upon if needed.  With all the racing that I do I think it could well be invaluable if anyone has an accident in the remote places we go to.  The price was very reasonable, and I’d highly recommend it to anyone needing a first course or a refresher.

The website for Vital Signs can be found here  Vital Signs First Aid Courses

adventure racing is the most challenging team endurance sport – requiring navigation with a map & compass through wild & remote regions using non-motorized means of transportation (ie: paddles, ropes, peddles and your own two throbbing feet all while operating a sleep-deprived mind & body).

Last night was the first time i’d been out riding with the group that meet at the Pedlar on a Tuesday evening.  I had been so busy over the summer that i had missed out on all the daylight evening rides, so it was time to get the big lights out and go play in the dark.

I had no idea what to expect as a ride, i had heard stories of huge hike-a-bikes, gnarly rocky descents and crazy mountain tops summited.  And i wasn’t to be disappointed, as the large group (over 25 people) gathered i heard people talk of a ride up to Force Crag Mine, and then a yomp up to Coledale Hause!  I immediately regretted my choice of shoe, the rigid soles i had would not be great for a long walk! oh well.

As we set off i got chatting to the few people i knew, and soon enough we were off the road on a tricky bit of singletrack, where i managed to roll down the hill in the bracken after slipping trying to get into my pedals, my new shoes are very slippy, hmm not ideal.

The track to the mine is very easy and was another chance to chat and ask about the route, it sounded like a walk almost all the way from the bottom.  As soon as we crossed the ford i looked at the track and thought it was rideable, so i gave it a go, i quickly pulled away from everyone else and managed to ride a good long way up the hill.  It was tough work, but i’d much rather try and ride stuff than go for a walk with my bike.

I waited further up, where it really wasn’t rideable, for the others to catch up, then we walked up to the hause.  The route had been changed on the way up, we still had more climb to come, luckily it was almost all rideable to the top of Crag Hill, and with stunning 360degree views it was worth it.  The moon was out and with 20 sets of lights it looked really cool, what people from Keswick must have thought if they’d have looked up i have no idea!

After all the climb it was now time to drop back down, having run the ridge between Crag Hill, Sail and Causey Pike i knew it was pretty interesting in places, and i wasn’t to be let down.  The first drop was very steep, and any error would have been costly, so a bit more walking was employed, and in my rigid shoes i had more fun!  After riding a bit, then getting to the top of Sail it was a fast, but very rocky decent to the col, this was great fun, but with a cool wind blowing my eyes started to water and made things all a bit blurry, not ideal.

Regrouping at the col, we then dropped down some tricky singletrack with a huge drop to the left then hurtled at a silly speed down Stoneycroft, an apt name for a very rocky track with wee jumps, washed out channels and wet slippery corners.  I was very grateful of my tubeless tires as this was snakebite heaven.

People gradually joined us at the bottom, and my friend Paul suddenly realised that his chain had not just slipped off, but had actually gone somewhere on the decent, so instead of waiting for everyone we headed back towards Portinscale, with me pushing him along the road for which he was very grateful.  I left him in Portinscale to wheel the last bit to Keswick and i sped back for some food as it was 9.30pm by now and i was hungry!

It was a brilliant first night ride of the season, my legs were pretty pumped and i was sky high with adrenaline, i can’t wait to get out and play some more!

Route of Night Ride

So I got up, and fancied a long run, I had thought about doing a big ‘round Derwentwater run’, not the usual Walla Crag, Chinese bridge, and Catbells.  I had had a day off on Sunday due to a slight sore throat, but was feeling better and rested after the big ride we did on Saturday.

Route of my run, going anti-clockwise

I set off from Portinscale up along the side of Catbells and then started going uphill.  I got to the shoulder of Catbells and Maiden Moor, and took in the stunning views, and stripped off some layers, it was not just lovely and sunny, but hot too.  The climb up Maiden Moor and High Spy was good, with lovely views, and very few people.  Dropping down to Honister I passes a lot of tourists, many giving me odd looks as I ran quickly down the hill.  The climb up round the side of Grey Knotts and Brandreth was tough, it’s a sharp up from the pass, but I soon got into the groove of running.  Getting to the top of Green Gable I saw just how much climb is still had ahead of me, the pull up from Styhead tarn was much more than I had remembered.

The run down from Windy Gap to Styhead tarn was really rocky and harsh on the ankles, but I made it down fast and shoved some more food down my throat, and wished I’d packed a few more cheese and jam butties!  Getting to Esk Hause the clouds were filling the valley below me, and I as I dropped into them and past Angle Tarn I was stopped by a guy asking how to get up Bow Fell, he was planning on going direct, but think I persuaded him to go for a safer route as you could only see about 20m!

I had to quickly get the map out at this point, 2hrs50mins in, it was the only section of the route I hadn’t really been on before, and as I came very close to a big drop I thought I’d best check out the best route.  After 15mins I popped out of the gloom and could see everything again as I started the run down to Stake Pass and back up to Pike of Stickle.

Cutting back towards High Raise I was finally headed back to Keswick.  It felt good to have turned the corner, but little did I know the last section had a real sting in the tail.  All the way so far I had been on paths or good ground.  But over the ridge from High Raise to High Seat the ground is really really boggy, with no real path and undulating terrain that really takes what little energy you have out of you.

The views were absolutely stunning, and it really helped me keep going, it was here that I also goaded some mates by sending some texts, cheeky I know, but sure they’d do the same to me!

Eating the last few bits of my food, I put my head down and battled the last few hours, the time between hour 4 and 5 was really hard, but was perked up by passing a few walkers struggling over the really wet ground, I wasn’t fussed about getting wet feet, but these people were trying desperately to stay dry, mission impossible I think.

I took the wrong route from High Spy, and ended up dropping down to Ashness Bridge, when I wanted to get to the top of Walla Crag.  But I dropped down to the lake road and began the last few km back to the house.  These were really tough, with no big vistas and cars driving past, but the thought of getting home and eating a big piece of cake and having a sit down kept me going.

It had been an epic run, 45km 2300+m of climb, and 6hrs 13mins of running.  A great day out, tough on the legs, but well worth it, and brilliant OMM training!

Looking back from Maiden Moor to Keswick

View down to Braithwaite

Looking down to Crummock Water and Buttermere

Styhead Tarn and the climb up to Esk Hause

Looking back at Green Gable and the decent down Aaron Slack

Gt Gable and Green Gable

what greeted me as i looked down to Angle Tarn!

Skiddaw in the distance

The gloom i had just run through

Pike of Stickle

looking a bit tired and warped

Pike of Stickle and the ridge line to Harrison Stickle

High Raise and Sargent Man

Scafell Pike

Amazing scenery looking down the valley from High Raise

The last 15km were mostly like this!

Blea Tarn

Watendlath and Keswick

Stunning light as i looked back up to Seathwaite and the head of the valley

Derwentwater and Catbells

Route of my run, going anti-clockwise

Most people over the August bank holiday weekend usually relax, go to the park, enjoy bbqs and have a nice time.
For 100 people however this was the last thing on our minds, we were set for a 4 day stage race from Whitehaven on the West coast to Robin Hoods Bay on the East coast, travelling by foot, bike and kayak with a wee swim thrown in for good measure.

Starting on a cool windy morning in Whitehaven we set off on mass to St Bees, the original plan had been to kayak, but the sea was too rough, so a run over the cliffs was put in instead.  I felt good on this first run, up near the front, but mindful of the fact I had a long day ahead, and also another 3 days of racing after this.

Starting the Coast to Coast race in Whitehaven

Getting into St Bees in 2^nd place I had a quick transition, and headed off on the bike to Crumock water.  I had a good ride and finally caught the leader, Mike Bradwell just short of the kayak transition.  A slow transition here as I’d had no food on the ride, so wanted to stock up, and then my boat was a bit of a struggle to get to the water.  A nice tail wind blew us down the lake, and then the worst part of the entire race for me, the portage to Buttermere, it was a tricky rough track, and my boat was just too heavy to move at any sort of pace and I had to stop a number of times to change shoulders.

Starting run from Buttermere day 1

It was on this stage that eventual winner Liam Drew came past me very fast in his surfski, something I will have for the next event like this!   I pushed on hard on Buttermere and came out about 15mins down on the leaders.  The last section was a run up Robinson, Dale Head, Maiden Moor and Catbells.  I was feeling tired and sore on the climb up Robinson, and with the worsening weather I was struggling.  Near the top the clouds came in and the rain started with a strong wind, full waterproofs were needed to keep feeling reasonably ok.  I caught Ant Emmet up just after the top, and we pushed on together, and then as we dropped off Dale Head and the thunder and lightning were in full force Tom Gibbs and Nick Gracie caught me, we were all pretty scared of the lightning which was striking only a few hundred metres from us!  I stayed with Tom and Nick for a while but couldn’t keep up their pace, I reeled in Team Accelerate at the top of Catbells and dropped them on the decent, a run I knew well living only a few minutes from the hill.  I was slow at the transition at Nichol End getting into a wetsuit, maybe if I’d run straight into the water I might have been ok, but I was worried about cramping and really suffering on the swim.

The final run into Keswick was tough, I was very light-headed after the swim, and my legs were trying to cramp, but I held on and finished wet and cold in a time of 5hrs 52minutes

Day 2 started near the centre of Keswick, with the first ride up and over to Thirlmere it really got the legs and lungs going.  I didn’t feel great on the paddle and Team Helly Hansen/Nuun (HHN) were catching me quite fast.  Another slowish transition saw me go out last onto the run, and I was determined to get back amongst the others.  I followed HHN up through the forest to take a wee shortcut, and got back ahead of Liam.  We raced together for a while, and when I realised he wasn’t going as fast as I could I pushed on to try and take some time out of him.

End of first stage day 2

I couldn’t quite get back to HHN on the climb but I soon caught them and a number of other teams and solo racers on the decent to Patterdale.  Having to change shoes and put on a spray deck really slowed me in the transition compared to Liam in his surfski who ran in, put his BA on and was away running with a super light boat.

I pushed hard and felt good on the paddle and managed to stay with HHN, but Liam came flying past me, I kept my eye on him, but it was all I could do to only lose about 10minutes to him over the length of the lake.

Getting out I felt ok, and wanted to push hard on the bike to Kirkby Stephen.  I was at the back of a wee group of people after losing a few minutes going the wrong was out of the transition.  I pulled ahead on the climb, and as I had knobbly tyres on I was fast on the downhill off road section, whereas those with slicks had to hold back to ensure no punctures, this probably made up for my lack of slicks on the road.

I caught and past Kim Collinson who looked to be struggling, and was going hard when Team Accelerate caught me up, I stayed with them, then took a better route choice at the end to beat them to the finish line.  I was also very surprised to see a yellow jersey behind me, Liam had left the transition a long time before me after the paddle.  He had made a very bad route choice, with the northerly flatter route being the far faster route.  He was also very surprised to see me, my Dad had confirmed that it was me ahead.  Dad later told me he wished he hadn’t said anything, Liam might not have pushed so hard!

I had managed to only lose 8minutes to Liam on day 2 finishing in a time of 6hrs and 4mins, with 2 long kayak stages I was pretty pleased with how I had gone, but now I was 45minutes down overall, if I was to compete for 1^st place I was going to have to push really hard the next 2 days.

Getting some much needed food in, lovely apple crumble and custard!

The first stage of day 3 was a long run up over the Nine Standards and down to Keld.  As usual I felt rough on the first stage of the day, but as I started to see people and slowly catch teams up ahead I felt better and pushed to try and catch them.  Going over the top in the 2^nd fastest time I carried on as hard as I could and arrived pretty tired at the transition to the mountain bike stage pretty wiped out.  I took a bit of time to eat and drink before setting off, heading out with Team Accelerate, (we seemed to race a lot together over the 4 days.)  The ride was rough and took its toll on the body, and with a bike carry up a steep hill I caught a lot of the other solo racers, spurring me on to push harder.  The climbs were going well for me, and I was really enjoying the downhill sections.

Coming into Castle Bolton I quickly topped up on food and drink and raced off for a long road section.  I started with Steve Fisher, who is a great rider, but sadly with my bike having gear issues, and my legs having fatigue issues I couldn’t hold onto him.  The rest of the ride I was on my own, having no idea what speed I was riding at, and not seeing any other teams to judge my progress.  I rode as hard as I could manage, and with a tough head wind for the last 5km I arrived really tired at the finish line, I’m not sure what happened but all of a sudden I was going over the bars, and landed in a mangled mess with my bike on top of me, I tried to crawl to the finish punch, but luckily Lisa Thurlow saw my predicament and brought to me to finish in a time of 5hrs 38 minutes

I waited painfully with the new indents on my shin after my finish line antics, for Liam to finish, he took longer than the 8 minutes he started behind me, finally finishing almost 13minutes slower than my time, I’d managed to eat into his lead, but had still a long way to go to get back to anyway near first place.  Liam and myself discussed our tough day, and he said he was struggling on the run, and had had a few mechanical issues, something I has been lucky enough not to have had yet.

Landing in a heap after going over the bars on the finish line of day 3

Day 4 dawned with the slowest teams setting off at 5am, with a 5minute start stagger I was off at 8:35.  As I waited to go, Liam hadn’t arrived which got me wondering, and as it turned out was his plan to get me thinking what had happened to him.  On the first cycle I had to tell myself to ignore him, I had my own race to do, push as hard as I possibly could and hope for the best.

The first ride was tough, a fast flat section then a gruelling climb followed by a slippery steep road decent.  Coming into transition I saw Liam’s support crew, so I knew he was still in the race.  Tom, my stand in support crew had everything totally set up for me and I had a super fast turnaround and was out up the road on the run before HHN came into view.  I ran as hard as I could on the long section over Carlton Bank slowly catching the teams up ahead of me.  I didn’t quite get Team Accelerate, but after another superfast transition back onto the bike I was right with them.

The mountain bike section started with a tough carry up a steep hill, and then a nice steady climb on a good track then onto a flat very fast old railway line.  Riding with Team Accelerate spurred me on and they were encouraging me to go as hard as I could.  We raced this section together recording the fastest times of the day.  The ride was great fun with technical single track and fast rough descents.  Dropping into Glaisdale for the last transition I changed my map over and exchanged water bottle and headed straight out.

Right from the word go the road went up, very steeply, and with

no granny ring I worked really hard on this hill.  I kept in touch with Accelerate and passed them after seeing other racers up ahead.  The fight was really on now, everyone became a target to get past.  Kevin and Dave from Accelerate couldn’t believe how fast I was still going, but I knew this was the last section of the race, I had to give it everything.  Overtaking Mike who was placed 3^rd over all gave me another spur, and then near the end when I just squeezed across a busy A road before the lights changed I spied the 4^th and 5^th placed solos, Ant Emmet and Andy Conn.  I gave it my all on the last wee section along the old railway line, and luckily came through the town of Robin Hoods Bay with Andy Conn who knew the route, which saved me a minute of having to do some fine nav.  I sprinted to the line, stopping my time at a total of 22hrs 2minutes and 14 seconds.

Now the wait.  I’d done all I could over the last 2 days, pushing my body to the limit, I was exhausted, my legs felt like jelly, and if I’d had anything in my stomach I think I would have thrown up.  I started to do the sums, I was 31mins 49seconds behind after 3 days, so the race clock needed to read 1:41:08 for me to win.

Then cheers went up, and round the corner the yellow top of Liam Drew appeared, 6 minutes 11seconds too early.  I had taken almost 26 minutes back during the day, but it wasn’t enough.

Congratulating Liam on an excellent victory and close race

It had been a brilliant 4 days of racing across stunning scenery, with great competition and a great atmosphere both during the race and also in the evenings.  Event director James Thurlow and his wife Lisa had done an amazing job, the race ran like clockwork, the course was brilliant, and everyone had loved it.

The race will return in 2 years, and I will be champing at the bit to get back to it and see if I can improve and go one better than this years result.

Massive thanks must go to my Dad for being my support for the first 2 days, and then to Helen Jackson, Anna Gracie and Tom for being my support over the last 2 days, and all the other people who helped me out too, Paddy’s porridge must get a mention!

Here is my un edited report on the Sweden Race we did in July.

1069km of Mountain biking, Inline Skating, Kayaking, Trekking, Orienteering, Swimming, Canoeing, White Water Rafting.

Months ago we decided to race in Explore Sweden, the longest Adventure Race in the world.  It was billing itself as ‘The Monster’ so we knew we were in for a tough ride, but that was all months away, plenty of time to train and prepare, it’ll be fine we thought.

As soon as we knew it, it was on us, breathing down our necks, time had come for us to head out to Sundsvall in North Sweden to take on the race Mikael Nordstrom had set.

First we had to get there, with a lot of kit needed for the event we decided to drive a van out from the UK, John Laughlin (JB), Marty Lee and I took on this task, and over 3 days of driving we made it to the race hotel.  It was a long journey, but we were fresh, could rotate the driving and the roads were clear.  Nicola MacLeod, Nick Gracie and Nicola Wiseman flew out to meet us there.  Being a supported race we had 2 able bodies to look after our every whim, neither Marty nor Nicola W had done anything like this, so they were in for a shock.

Many people ask me why I do these events, and at times its hard to explain, but when you are standing on the start line of a huge race like this, with 80 other top athletes, knowing you are about to race for 5 days non stop with little sleep, to fall asleep on your bike, have your team mates shout at you, be in terrible pain, be very cold and hungry, it kind of feels good.  Where else could you get that feeling, to push yourself to the limit, to see what your body is capable of doing, all the while with 3 great friends, I think that’s why I do it, but I often question myself mid race as to why I’m not sat on a sofa playing computer games!

There were the usual pre race kit checks for all teams, this was carried out in the centre of town under a very hot sun, everyone was worried it would be this hot during the race causing us all to struggle.  The pre race briefing was held and the race director told us we were in for the ride of our lives, it was going to be really tough, he had pulled out all the stops on this one.

Friday was another hot day, and with teams stood around for an hour before the start for the parade and introduction, every bit of shade was being sought.  At 10minutes to go we got the maps for the first section, so after a quick check of what we were doing we were off and running to the first control, and the start of the uphill inline skate section.  Sadly it was mandatory for us to wear the skates all the way up the hill, and due to this we were dead last, not really the start we wanted, but the start we expected.  The Scandinavians were flying up the hill in supreme fashion, and we could only look on in awe as they eased into a big lead.

A short orienteering section followed, getting back to town not quite in last place was good, then it was a roof top traverse, with some great views over the city.  A longer orienteering loop followed heading into some technical terrain, followed by a run to the harbour and swim across the mouth and back to the main transition.  My flippers got broken here, and I handed them over to Marty who did an awesome job of mending them for the next section.

Setting off on the first bike section, a 100km loop we were going well, in touch with a number of teams, but then John was sick, too much fluid consumed in the heat and it all came back, followed by some bad cramp, but then we were off, all feeling ok and getting through the section.  We were still way down the leader board, but feeling not too bad about it, we still had almost 900km to go!

The 2^nd inline skate section was a simple mainly downhill road, again we were very slow, with little confidence in our ability, and the knowledge that if we fell we could really hurt ourselves.  With that over it was a short swim across a marsh and river into Mid Adventure, a wee adventure playground type place, with ropes course, water slide, running track and some pumping tunes coming out from the party tent, all in all a pretty cool atmosphere.

With this out of the way it was back onto the bikes for the first Monster Bike 250km on the bike.  The navigation was very easy, and the road surfaces were good, so it was just a case of churning out the distance.  We started the section at midnight, so we had the tiredness feeling of the first nights missed sleep, but we pushed on as hard as we could while it was nice and cool.  We had a few wee rests, 15minutes maximum to get some sleep, but kept the pace going the rest of the time.  Sadly I was having a bad day on the bike, there seemed to be nothing in my legs, I had a hollow feeling and couldn’t seem to put down any power as we rode along.  This was not a good time for this to happen as it made the ride really long.  The ride wasn’t very interesting, we rode past some nice lakes, through a lot of trees, and then at the end we had a lot of climb, it was a tough last few hours, and the transition was at the top of the steepest hill.  It was only when we crested this that we could actually see into the mountains and what lay ahead.

We had been racing for over 24hours at this point, so we quickly put our heads down for 45mins of sleep, slightly refreshed we donned mountain kit and heavy bags and yomped off into the 60km mountain stage, glad to not be sitting down!

The sun was beating down on us, and with no shade it was going to be a tough section.  A wee rest at the Helags Hytte almost saw me stop, they were serving an amazing buffet, and I was very tempted!  But we pushed on up the mountain, not taking the best route sadly as I misinterpreted where the checkpoint had moved to.  We were due to do an ice climb up a gully, but it had been cancelled due to rock falls minutes before Lundhags had been due to ascend, a very close call.

The wee glacier walk we did have was fun, but turned out we didn’t really need our big boots, and as a consequence of everyone else doing it in trainers we were a bit slower, and had to carry them the whole way too.  After the glacier we ran well to the next cp, overtaking a number of teams, this is where our race really got going, sitting in 17^th place we steadily overtook teams for the next few days.

Climbing up to the next ridge was tough going and the mosquitos were incessant, but once up onto the snow it was ok.  The sun had set and the sky was amazing, (light really wasn’t an issue in this race, I think I used my head torch once in 5 days), and as we reached the next cp we were told to rope up for a long ridge line section, it was a tough climb but then the views we were rewarded with were simply stunning, soon after the clouds rolled in, making navigation tricky on a ridge line with many spurs leading off, but when the clouds cleared we were given even more stunning views.

After a number of hours of the ridge, we had to drop back to the valley, this was either to be tip toeing over many rocks, or sitting on bums and sliding down a huge snow bowl and using our ice axe as a brake!

A long trek to transition followed; with the sun still beating down it toasted John, who had to call in the favour of pushing me the day before, so with JB on tow we pushed out of the stage to get to cool water as soon as possible.

The cycle stage from here was really rough, small fist sized gravel made for tricky riding, and drafting, flicking stones up into following faces.  After 10km the gravel turned into brand new tarmac, the smoothest road in the whole race, for a fantastic downhill clocking a speed of 65km/h.

We pushed hard on this stage as we knew we had a sleep card of 8hours coming up at the next transition.  Our superb support crew already had the tents up ready for us, so with the sleep card handed in we grabbed a few hours sleep, thankfully out of the awful midges.  After the rest we jumped into nice and damp wetsuits, body armour and fins, and jumped into a lake. There followed a few kilometres of flat water, during which Nick and myself were towed behind JB and Nicola, a tougher ride for them than they expected.

The rapids we finally hit were awesome fun, zooming down over big waves, the odd crunch on a rock, and fast flowing water.  JB had a huge smile at the end of the section; he’d loved the boating down the river.

It was back onto bikes again, with a transition next to a main road, many drivers got to see more then they bargained for, Marty told us that a previous team had stripped naked and wondered around for a minute or 2, causing a slightly slower queue of traffic!

Another blast along a road, to get to Åre, with simple navigation it was a case of peddling in a nice line and moving as smoothly as we could.  For this ride we were almost wanting to cycle backwards as we knew there was another inline skate section coming up.  The transition was in the centre of Åre, bringing some interest from passers by wondering what all the commotion was about.   This transition was used later, so we saw a few teams coming down off the mountain on their downhill bikes, it looked great fun and we couldn’t wait to get onto them.

The inline skates beckoned first, and with a tricky downhill bumpy start road, Nick had a coming together with the road after clearing most of the obstacles, but he quickly brushed himself off and carried on.  Most of the section was uphill however, so we soon ditched the skates and set off walking, this made even more sense when the heavens opened on us.

Dropping the skates off at the gear zone we carried on running into the hills, this was to be the 2^nd and only other trekking section, it was only short, but had a lot of climb in it.  We took a great route choice missing out the biggest hill and coming yup the valley, slightly off the best line, but we still caught 1 team up, and almost another.  With a final scramble over some snow and a steep climb we arrived at the top of the cable car for the final section of the Åre loop, a downhill mountain bike.  900m of vertical descent separated us from the town, and we were looking forward to getting down the mountain.  As we got our kit ready a huge storm was moving in, stunning lightning and thunder was crashing around us, we wanted off the mountain.  The top section was great fun, some good jumps and berms, but with brakes on the bikes set the Euro way you had to really concentrate (or just not brake!)

Nicola had a wee fall, and struggled to get the bike off her leg, JB was on hand to help.  We had hired full on downhill bikes for this section, to great relief seeing the course, but none of us were used to the weight of them, we gradually warmed to them with JB having the biggest smile I’ve ever seen on his face.  Sadly the storm caught us, and halfway down we hit cloud and couldn’t see a thing, then the rain came, it was like buckets being poured over our heads, and we were totally drenched, then with fast sections down gravel roads we became covered in mud, our eyes stinging with the pain of rain and stones being flung into them.  Keeping together was very tricky, and with the lightning cracking overhead we were briefly lit up, but otherwise it was very dark.  I managed to miss the turn into town, and had a 2km ride added on to get back to the centre.

Once we were all back, soaking wet, but happy we decided we needed to seek some shelter, an open canoe section followed, and we didn’t want to be on a lake in the lightning, so Nicola found an outdoor shop with a porch and balcony, so our super support crew put our tents out, and we crashed for a few hours, waking up to good dry conditions.

We got ready and carried out boats to the lake, I don’t think we took the best route, as we ended up crossing the trainline at the station, but soon we were in the water and away in the fast canoes we had.

It was a beautiful morning, nice and fresh, and perfect for a fast paddle.  We had about 20km to go with a few sections of rapids.  JB was helming our boat, with Nick and Nicola in the other.  Hitting the first set of rapids, just grade 1, we had a great time, JB was doing really well, and we looked forward to the grade 2 section.  As we hurtled down the next rapids, we crunched onto a rock, but it caused no problems, and we were very glad to get through it, passing a team at the side getting changed after an early morning swim!

Marty was on hand with instructions at the end, and was we carried the boats to the transition he filled us in with what lay ahead.  A quick change to bike kit and climbing kit ready for a traverse across the huge waterfall in the river followed, but as we approached the staff they told us the crossing was closed due to the weather, maybe a blessing in disguise as they are tough work, but it looked pretty cool.

We jumped onto the bikes and headed 4km round on the road, and climbed a large hill heading for the white water raft, we didn’t expect too big a climb, but the river turned out to be the steepest runnable river in Sweden, so it was hard work on the bike.  A super fast transition to paddle kit, aided by millions of midges saw us almost catch 2 other teams.  As we ran along the road to the put in, we were reeling them in.  We changed into wetsuits, doing so very quickly in a midge infested forest, a short safety briefing followed, then it was into the water.  We had a guide, but he would only paddle in the white water, and couldn’t help carry the boat.
Once on the river it was welcome relief from bugs, and as we approached the first rapid we were getting excited, the rapids were big, but the river is a spring melt river, so we were about a month too late for perfect conditions.

After an hour of great paddling our guide leapt out of the boat and we were on our own for the final few km, this was a tricky shallow river with lots of rocks to hinder our progress, followed by 2km of a lake.  White water rafts are not designed to for this and it was tough work getting it back to the end of the section.

At this transition we had to wait out our remaining sleep card allocation of 8hours, we had about 2 left, so it was straight to sleep for a bit and recharge out batteries for the longest section of the race, a 270km bike stage to Solefteå.

Jumping on the bikes again was tough, knowing we’d be on them for such a long time, but we started out well, sitting tightly together for most of the first section, and with just 1 wee route error we overtook one very tired looking team and raced on to catch up Team Explore, a very good team having a bad race.  We caught them at a ferry crossing, one of 2 we had to get, a 10 minute crossing to an island, then a timetrial 3km to get to the other side of the island for the next ferry, Nick managed to hang onto the fast Swedes and held the ferry up so we could all get on.  I think it must be one of the fastest bike sections of any expedition race.

Once off the ferries it was a further 160km to the end of the stage, so we chatted to Team Explore for a while, then set up a rolling line so we could take it in turns at the front, this meant we were both a lot faster than we would have been, and it was great to ride with other people, we had some great banter, some interesting singing, with the Swedes putting out their National Anthem in euphoric style.

Frederik from Team Explore was from the area we were riding through, and his mum, dad and cousin were all out at the road side cheering us on, it was brilliant, so good to have support from new friends.

Stopping at a petrol station our hopes for some food were dashed when we discovered it was an automatic petrol only stop!  A kind lady filling her car did give us some chocolates, and we met the local burger bar owner, who had sadly closed for the night.  He told us it would take too long to open up, but he’d pop home, grab us some hot dogs and catch us up.  15 minutes later he pulled up alongside us and handed us some cold ‘hotdog’ sausages, and boy were they tasty.

Riding uphill forever it seemed we reached the only CP on the whole stage, and as we did this we caught a glimpse of the Norwegian team a few hundred metres ahead of us.  Team Explore thought we’d drop them as Rick was suffering with a strained knee, but sadly JB’s brain decided it was time for a break, and shutdown, leaving us with 30km to the end, a lot of fast down hill, and drizzle to contend with while trying to keep him awake.  This is certainly one of the toughest things in a long race, managing your tiredness, we knew we had to rest, but if we’d have stopped here we would all get cold and wet and struggle to get going again.  So for the best part of an hour, Nick, Nicola and myself shouted at the top of our voices and beasted JB to keep him on the road, at times he came close to going off the edge, and at speeds of up to 50km/h this would have been a clear race stopper for us.  To keep him engaged I had him describing all he could see, at one point this was some elephants, giraffes and rhinos, he was lucid enough to say that I probably couldn’t see them however, but it didn’t stop him putting his foot down when I told him they were stampeding!

Nicola and Marty had left us some food and drink at the next gear pick up, where we grabbed our canoe paddles, jumped onto a raft and paddled across the river, pushed our bikes along the far bank, and then paddled back.  JB had woken up again after a can of coke and some single-track riding.  I was starting to get very tired though; 13hours of riding was taking its toll.  The navigation on this section was annoying, and I let it wind me up, getting more and more frustrated as we went, finally getting into town and an hour of mandatory rest, bliss.

Going straight to sleep in a big dry tent was great, but when we woke after what seemed like 30seconds my knees had solidified it felt, and I was feeling very low.  With heavy rain outside, and inline skate section coming up and my knees hurting it was that point I wanted to crawl back into my sleeping bag and forget it all.  Nick JB and Nicola had other ideas, gave me no sympathy and told me to man up, which I did with a couple of strong painkillers and telling from Doc Nic.

The rain was lashing down and we had an uphill inline skate, not what we really fancied doing at 5am on a set Tuesday morning.  As we set out up the hill Team Explore came hurtling down the road, we had lost an hour to them with JB falling asleep and the nav issues after the rafts.

The skates were off again soon after, and we walked to the top of the hill and started the orienteering section, this was some of the trickiest nav in the race, and I was very pleased to hit everything very smoothly.  Getting back into town we put the skates back on and got the final checkpoint before doing a fast transition and heading out on the next orienteering loop.  This included a tough climbing wall that 2 people had to complete.  I went first, knowing I only had 1 chance before my arms gave up and ran up the wall with JB pulling the slack rope in as fast as he could, which meant running back a fair way.  The same technique was applied to get Nick up the wall, and soon we were on our way again.

The navigation was tricky again with across slope controls, but we managed to get them all pretty cleanly, and felt we had pushed well on this section forgetting the issues we’d had the previous night.

Back on the bikes we headed to the sailing.  The trails were tricky to follow on this leg with many teams falling foul of a wrong turn, we somehow missed a left turn and added 10mins onto our time, but we still took time out of Team Explore and overtook the Finns for the first time.

We had ridden hard on this stage, and caught Marty and Nicola out, but within seconds they had the situation in hand again and guided us safely through transition and into our ‘Fisher Price’ sailing boats.  The river we were heading down had some good flow, which was useful as the wind was poor, but it soon picked up and Nicola, our supreme sailor, set about catching up the teams ahead.  By halfway we had taken 50minutes out of Team Explore and things were looking good.  We had a wee portage around a bridge, and when we put back in again the wind had gone.   We were disappointed with this, but Nicola kept managing to find a few wee gusts, but then it became aware we would have to use the paddles.

We had had some good rest and food, but the Finns seemed to be on a mission, and they soon caught us and passed us, and knowing there was an inline skate section ahead we didn’t push too hard as they would destroy us on that section anyway.

The paddle seemed to last a lifetime, and then finally the end came into sight, and that great sight of Nicola and Marty greeted us once again.  Once out of the boat we carried it up the slope to transition, and we were all happy to never see it again, it had done us well, but was incredibly cramped for 4 big people.

A leisurely transition followed, we knew we couldn’t catch the Finns ahead, and that we had a large gap behind us.  It was also an inline skate section, so none of us were rushing to get going on it.  After getting warm dry kit on, and once again leaving Marty and Nicola the job of cleaning up after 4 toddlers, we set off across the bridge then up a big climb.  It was a busy road which wasn’t overly nice to skate on with the control we had, but after the climb was completed it was mainly downhill to the next transition.

We took 2 hours for this section, an hour behind the fastest teams; this is something we really need to work on if we are to race on skates again.  I quite enjoyed it, and intend to practice more to get to a reasonable level on them.

Coming into the penultimate transition we started to feel like we were almost there, we could see the finish hotel up on the hill, and had a short pack raft to take us into town, which was very uneventful, and then a climb on the bikes to the finish.

240m of climb lay ahead, but it was all on tarmac, so a gentle pace was set as we rode to the end of Explore Sweden.  We finished in a time of 121hr 39minutes, about 18hours behind the leaders, but happy in 8^th place after a great race.  We had had a few issues, but nothing too major, we had all had fun and enjoyed everything that the race had thrown at us.

It had been a long race, and we were all pretty shattered, totalling about 10hours of sleep we crawled into the hotel and jumped into a shower before heading into town to grab a well deserved steak for lunch.

The race was epic, so much stuff thrown into one race, some of the longest stages ever in a race, and some of the most fun.  We all really enjoyed it, but none of us would have been able to race if it wasn’t for the fantastic support that we had from Marty Lee and Nicola Wiseman.  They had never done a supported race, but right from the start they were world class, catering to our every whim, always ready for us with a smile, a cup of tea, some lovely food and great banter.  I think they had about as much sleep as we did, and drove a few thousand kilometres packing and unpacking the van umpteen times.

So thank you to you both from the whole team.

We’d also like to thank Helly Hansen for the support, 2Pure, Nuun, Paramo, Salewa, Schwalbe, Willow for the loan of his van,