On Sunday, 12th September, Myself, Trev and Wayne competed in the Hi-Tec Challenge at Trentham Gardens in Stoke. We are the Alternative Solutions ATP team. Originally, it was to be me, Trev & Mick but unfortunately due to injury super sub Wayne has stepped in. Full report below...... !
********** more Pictures Coming Shortly ! *************
Race Day. 12/09/99.
The briefing and pasta party on the Saturday night where little more than marketing but one should applaud Hi-Tec for bringing the challenge over here, and Ranulph Fiennes' speech was a gem ! Also, hats off to the BCF, an organisation that has taken a lot of flak for not having MTB (mountain bike) interests at heart, they obviously understand what its about because the course was better than some MTB races I've been in !
The race, Trev, Wayne and I got to the transition area in plenty of time to allow us space to chill before the event. None of us had done an event like this before, but we have a lot of experience between us, Wayne being a Royal Marine PTI (physical training instructor), Trev being a competition runner and me ? I race mountain bikes. Between us, we climb, canoe, walk, run and ride although not everyone all !!
Mixed teams set off at 10:00 prompt, with the helo circling overhead, and the rest of us at 10:05. We're off ! first we run to the transition area, about 700m, to collect our bikes, mount up and off we pop, lookin' good and feelin' fine, we maintain a brisk pace. The climbs, whilst all are rideable theoretically, prove difficult when strewn with competitors ! So everyone walks them. Some of the descents are really quite rapid and Wayne our least experienced rider, proved he was a natural, even nailing the steps ! We completed the 9.7 mile ride in just over an hour, stopping only once, for any period, to offer assistance to a guy who'd broken a chain, unfortunately, despite having a splitter, I had neglected to take the allen key required, Doh ! Fortunately we didn't need it, but apologies to the guy who did !
Into the transition area, we dismount and walk to our kit, quick refresh, and we don the life jackets and trainers before trotting to the kayaks. Now we have to inflate them, two, by mouth! On completion we're up and running again, carrying the kayaks and the one paddle to the lakeside.
We tie the canoes together and all get in the first one, with Trev rowing from the rear and Wayne & I doing our best not to move too much to maintain balance. On reaching the other side, we collect the other 2 paddles and disconnect the boats. I get in one and Trev & Wayne in the other. Now we sprint down the lake and through the islands to collect some line, suspended over the water, taking one each, for good measure we are off to the bottom of the lake, negotiating the boom extremely quickly and smoothly. Rounding the bouy at the lake end, its through the slalom course, smooth and accurate, negotiating a number of jinking kayaks in the process. As we carry the kayaks out of the lake and jog up the hill to the deposition point, our posse is there again! Cheering us on, now we are pumped! Thanks Kim, Helen, Natalie, Mick, Helen(HT) and Michael. We ditch the boats, and jog off to the transition area.
We ditch the life jackets, take on some more fluid and we are off and running. Soon we reach the first Para-produced event, we are issued two poles told to nominate a casualty (me, as the lightest for the first stint) and build a stretcher using the line we collected and the poles. I was then carried, in our outstanding stretcher (well it worked didn't it ?) to a lakeside, in we go ! I'm then half floated, half carried to the other side, where Trev gets in. coupla 100 metres and Wayne gets a ride, just as I'm feeling like an orang utan, we hand the stretcher back and we are running again. We are in good shape, we're still talkin' and still have a sense of humour. Good job really, 'cos next we get a log, complete with 2 carry-loops, first we take it through another lake and up a hill, alternating carrying and sides, to the foot of the scramble net on a vertical face, ah, the Paras want their log back, excellent ! So up we go. Now we are into the grind, back down to the lakeside and a good pace around the bottom of it into the next Para event. A tunnel, just high enough to crawl through, in mud, with a water feature in the middle. As we emerge from the other side a kind hearted Para showers us gently (yeah, right) with a fire hose ! Off and running again, we jump a fence and make excellent time down the far side of the lake, Wayne offering encouragement and advice to every competitor we come across, in true PTI style! A Geordie Para then escorts us into the next event, A series of low and high bars in a pool, the low ones the same height as the water. We are instructed to go under the low ones and over the high, now we are really wet and the pool is gopping (rancid), so dont drink any! Very well supported obstacle this, loads of spectators cheering us on as we emerge from the pool dripping ! Then its the home stretch, open out the pace, and cross the line three abreast. Lots of whoooo harrrrs, flesh pressing, and kisses off our support posse (well, not all of 'em !) Feels excellent, we really worked as a team, all went well, its a hell of a buzz, we finished ! What a team !
Our time ? About 3hr 15mins (pending official results).
We really have to thank the organisers, marshals, Para's, other competitors, our supporters and everbody elses for a truly excellent experience. See ya'all next year.
Official results are :
19th in Male category !!!!!!
3 hours 16 minutes official time
Check out Channel 4, Saturday 6th & 13th November, at 16:30 (thats 4:30 pm)
and see if you can spot us !
Apologies for earlier dodgy data, C4 re-scheduled @ last minute !
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