Helly Hansen Adventure Challenge - Cannock Chase Calling 2009

I have decided to mix it up a lot more with different kinds of races - different distances, and a lot more competitions. So after my very first Half Marathon last weekend, this weekend something completely different. Adventure challenges are something I knew little about, but I got a leaflet in my triathlon magazine for the Helly Hansen Adventure Challenge series. (it would be nice if that link works in a years time, but I suspect not).

It is a team event, and I persuaded a couple of people from work to do it with me, Roy, again, and David. The first in the series was in Cannock Chase, Staffordshire. This is near my brother Alan, so as I do not have a mountain bike, I decided to ask him if I could borrow his. This worked out well.

The exact race details weren't available beforehand, except that there would be up to 10km off road running, 25km mountain biking, and some kayaking and other challenges. This didn't sound too onerous to me - it's not that long since I did an Ironman race remember.

The day dawned, bright and sunny and warm. We headed off at 10am for the first stage - what I think was a 5km run. This was a lot of fun, with some challenging climbs, and quite tricky terrain to get over. This took us 30 minutes.

Next came mountain biking. Again, lots of tricky hills, covered in gravel, and still a very congested course. We had to wait at some parts for several minutes. I am not an experienced mountain biker, so went very carefully. I'm not sure how dangerous this would be in the wet. We biked for 1.5 hours and then there was a very welcome drinks stop. I wasn't carrying any drinks - this was a mistake.

We knew kayaking was next, but didn't anticipate the long run to the river. This is where things started to go wrong. David is very fit, but it's more upper body fitness for karate rather than aerobic endurance fitness. His legs started to cramp up and that was the end of our running. We had to stay together so we had a long walk.

Kayaking wasn't as difficult or as long as it might have been - except Roy decided to take the plunge and had a bit of a swim in the river trying to get out of the boat.

Then we walked back to the bikes. Another section of mountain biking, maybe 45 minutes, took us back to camp where we did some short activities to finish.



These were a lot simpler than they could have been.

We finished in almost exactly 5 hours. It was a great day. Because of all the walking, I didn't find it too difficult, though the mountain biking did use some muscles I wasn't used to.



I would definitely love to do this again, but need some new teammates as these ones don't want a repeat performance !

Stockholm Half Marathon 2009

Went over to Stockholm on the Friday night for the 2009 Half Marathon

Met my fellow competitors Amar, Roy and Barbara for dinner in Gamla Stan on Friday night, then got talked into a pub crawl. Oh well, the race wasn't till 4:50pm Saturday afternoon - I had plenty of time for a lie in and a rest and some rehydration the next day.

Spent Saturday as planned, and went over to register at 2pm. It was a lovely sunny day - bright and crisp, but not too hot.

Met my friends, and by 4:30 we were lined up in our separate waves. I was starting last, 20 minutes behind Roy, and my aim was to try and catch him :-)

My calculations gave me a target - less than 5 minute kilometres - for maximum 1:45 finish. I hoped I could shave a few seconds off this to take it down to 1:40. I was aiming for a controlled start, and a negative split.

Being in the final wave of runners made it very difficult to make headway through the pack to try and make up time. I spent a lot of effort moving sideways to try and get past people with their elbows pumping. Nevertheless I don't think that affected my time. I struggled to go faster than my target, I was just about doing it and felt OK, but felt any faster wasn't an option if I wanted to actually finish fast. The course was nice but I didn't get much chance to take it all in. There were a few inclines, but nothing much to affect my speed. I was amazed at how fast everyone was running, it was a struggle to overtake anyone.

It's a 20km race and I passed Barbara at about 15km. Still feeling OK at 1.5km out I was raising my pace when I got to Amar and just after that caught Roy. I still had quite a bit of energy so was sprinting quite fast by this stage and crossed the line strongly.

My result -
Race Number 10766 Position 2229 Time 1.43.39

It was a really fast race - everyone looked very fit; I think about 8000 people finished. I would have expected to be a bit further up the placings, but the competition here is just too good :-) 37000 people finished the Great North Run last weekend, and my time there would have placed me 3294 - so in the top 10%. The Scandinavians take their running a bit more seriously.

I'm really pleased with the time though, and I think I can do 1:40. More rest in the days beforehand, and more courage to push the pace after I've warmed, say at the 5km mark. And as usual - better nutrition in the days beforehand.