The result, 18th was slightly disappointing for the four of us (Ben, Angela, Tom and Andy), but the long kayak section and the unknown quantities of the “desert hike” were always going to represent a challenge for what is a relatively inexperienced adventure racing team.

Unfortunately the strong winds, virtually promised by the organizers and so longed for by the weaker kayaking teams (i.e. pretty much anyone not from New Zealand), were never to rustle up (at least not whilst we were at sea), the sails had to be kept stowed away, while the eight scrawny runners’ arms that we put to work were made to look to be just that, as the kiwis (and pretty much everyone else) pulled away into the distant horizon and setting sun. Eleven and a half hours later we were out of the boats and repeating phrases similar to those previously uttered by Redgrave as we mustered up the few remaining ounces of force to heave the boats ashore…just…

Battered from a day and a half at sea and with a resulting much-reduced recovery period the “desert hike”, wasn’t to become our forte either. The heat, terrain and tactical nature of sand running make for a very different event to our favoured sport of “hill running”. We soon learnt that it was all about looking after ourselves in terms of food, water and the heat, running with the optimum water quantities so as not to carry too much whilst keeping fully hydrated, avoiding the heat of the day and optimising the 6 hours of compulsory rest. Teams were playing tactics, waiting for each other, as no one wanted to beat the way through the sand, essentially setting the trail for the 35 following teams. As a result, the first four teams were to finish within a minute of each other (after 110km!). In 24 hours we must have climbed and descended thousands of sand dunes which apparently accumulated to about 3000m of climbing – multiply that by 1.5 for the backwards nature of sand climbing makes for a quite a considerable amount of assent… having said that, I think we’d all have rather climbed the Ben a few of times instead! During the desert section, as elsewhere, no litter was left and nothing was taken from what I have to say was a pretty amazing set of sand dunes. However, I would like to apologise for the sand dune (approximate equivalent) that I inhaled during the course of the run and have since been releasing onto European soil/toilets.

The mixed stages of the sixth and final day of the race were the first time that pure fitness came into play. A steep 12km climb on the bikes, followed by a couple of hours of rocky running, broken up by some abseils and rope work. We enjoyed the chance to finally put our running shoes to use and went well on both runs. It was good to finally win a section, but unfortunately it was a bit late to make up for the hours lost at sea and in the desert!

All in all a lot learnt and a great experience… next time we’ll really have to work on that kayaking technique though…!

Andy

This marks the adventure racing debut of female fell legend Angela Mudge. She joins AR stalwarts Ben Bardsley, Andy Symonds and Tom Owens for the December event. Team manager Tim Lloyd explains, “It won’t be best suited to our team as most of the running will be in the dessert and there is a lot of sea kayaking, but we are treating more as a fun event as it has been a long year, so we’re just hoping to enjoy the occasion and see how it goes”

With $236,000 of prize money on offer I’m sure that the team will be focused for that one!

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Record number 7 for Jebby!

Most notable recent performance must go to Rob Jebb, as he claimed a record 7th (count ‘em!) 3 Peaks cyclo-cross title.

He also broke the course record, held by former MTB global legend Tim Gould, so no mean feat. This will go down as one of the cycling performances of the year – full stop.

Speaking of his victory he said, “It was a great day, as ever. I couldn’t have wished for better. I didn’t have a puncture and I didn’t have any problems. It couldn’t have gone better.”

“I went really hard over Ingleborough and got a gap on Nick Craig, who was on my wheel. I didn’t kill myself on the descents, but I knew I had a chance at the record, so I kept the pressure on.”

A huge congratulations must go to Rob for this performance, also crowned English fell running champ and winning the Langdale Horseshoe race he has had yet another superb season.

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Recent race results have also seen other members of the team cleaning up in many areas and disciplines.

Tom Owens and Andy Symonds were equal 1st at the Saab Salomon Glasgow Turbo X race http://www.saabinmotion.co.uk/turboxtrails/.

Angela Mudge was 1st lady and Natalie White was 2nd.  Nick Sharp was 2nd at the Saab Salomon Sandhurst Turbo X with an injury!

Natalie also won the Dunnerdale Fell Race and was on the winning team at the British relay championships.

Finally at the OMM (Original Mountain Marathon ) a few team athletes started and not a single athlete got lost or perished and their only confusion was why the media created such a frenzy. The less said about it on these pages the better!

All members have chipped in over the last few weeks making the job of picking out the highlights even harder! Here are a selection of the performances:

Rob Hope - 2008 British Fell Running Champion for the 2nd year running
Rob Jebb - English Champion, 2nd at Ben Nevis
Angela Mudge - British Champion and winner at Ben Nevis
Natalie White - English Champion and 2nd in British Championship, recent winner at Dufton
Tom Owens and Andy Symonds finished 2nd in the Trans Rockies run in Colorado last week – a fantastic result considering the race was all run above 12,000 ft.

Rob Hope will be competing at the 24th World Mountain Trophy race on the 14th of Sept, at Crans Montana, Switzerland. Results and report to follow…

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BTW did we mention the illustrious leader of the Team, Tim “Ive not lost it!” Lloyd also won a gold medal in the recent slalom ski race at the World Fire-Fighter games??? (need some photos to prove it though Tim - Ed)

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There are a few local races over the next few weeks, then supporting my partner Tim (Austin) at the 3 Peaks Cycle Cross event, where no doubt Rob will be going for another 3 Peaks victory! Then the Salomon Turbo race at Mugdock up in Scotland followed by the mountain relays for my club.

Not long before next years season begins……!

Natalie (White)

The final day was particularly tough as it was the first time we’d done 3-hour runs back to back (the earlier stages were interspersed with shorter races). The whole field seemed to be feeling the consequences of that aswell as the 9-mile descent on dirt road from the previous day (a serious quad basher) as the pace was quite cruisy out of Vail. We soon reached the bottom of the first climb and followed the leading team of Eric Skaggs and Max King (Nike/Rogue Valley Runners). Unfortunately my achilles tendon, which had been nagging since day three, finally yielded and it was all I could do to walk and let Tom attempt to drag me up the hill with a windproof tied up to his bum-bag to form a makeshift tow system - cheers Tom! After Ibropufen was found at the first drinks station the pain subsided slighlty and we were able to regain some momentum, get back up into 2nd place and finish the stage in that position.

A couple of monsterous breakfast burritos and we’re ready to make the journey back across the Atlantic.

Andy

After 5 days and 85 miles (and a fair bit of climbing) Tom and I are sat in 2nd place overall, about 5 minutes down on the leading team - Nike. The gap to 3rd place is about an hour or so, so the race is all about the win. That said, claiming victory in tomorrow’s 21 mile stage by over 5 minutes will be one heck of a challenge. Eric and Max (the Nike guys) are going really well on the climbs and seem to be suffering less from the effects of running up to 12,000ft every day than ourselves. Our smaller British lungs are being pushed to the limits, but will have hopefully doubled in size during the course of the week. On each stage we try and limit the loss on the long and gruelling climbs and once at the summit we let the legs loose for (typically) 10 miles of downhill forest tracks with the aim of pulling back the time lost on the ascents. Today, from being about 5-minutes behind at the top, the Nike team came into view with 300m to go and we crossed the line only seconds behind.

It’s a very different storey running over here in the States. The trials are so smooth, wide and well maintained that it’s closer to being a hilly road race than the fellrunning and mountain running scenes of the UK and Europe.

Plenty of results and photos on the website: www.transrockies.com

I’d better head off and stretch these legs which it feels like someone’s been working away at with a hammer and chisel for the last 5 days…

Andy

Day 2 was much better. This time a fell run! The challenge was always going to be the altidude. Starting at just short of 10,000ft and climbing up to 12,600 we steadied away and crested the pass about a minute down on the american pair (apparently made up of last year’s winner and an Olympic steeple chaser). As we hoped, they weren’t as strong on the down as on the up and we soon passed them finishing about 90 seconds clear with the 3rd team (who summited just behind us) a further 10-minutes down.

Tomorrow’s going to be a different ball game. After two short stages we’ll find out who can hold it over 20+miles. Tom and myself feel good, but not that “chuffed” about the quantity of dirt road and rolling terrain - why can’t we climb these massive mountains at the side of the path!

Time for a bite to eat and a lie down in america’s highest town… Tomorrow we have a hilly marathon… and then another… and another… looking forward to it!

We’ll keep you posted and hopefully hear from the boys at some point during the week.  Haweeyy the lads.

Team newcomer Tom Owens was the big shock of the weekend as he stormed his way through the field to finish a fantastic second, narrowly beaten by only 30 seconds over the three hour race. Saab Salomon also took the silver in the womens race as Angela Mudge proved once again her status in the running world.

Saab Salomon athletes also took 4th (Rob Jebb) and 5th (Rob Hope) place making them far and away the most successful team.