Go! (Part 3)

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GO!

The Beast of Ballyhoura  adventure race had begun.

Over a hundred people in the 4 member teams streamed into the woods and started climbing uphill.  With all the head torches we must have looked like a bunch of mad, one-eyed monsters blundering about in the dark. 

The mass of runners almost instantly thinned into a stream and shortly after that we seemed to be on our own.  It became immediately apparent that I was not going to manage to climb the steep slopes with my pack on and so the 3 guys shared carrying it between them. As the race went on we put most of my food in Ross's bag and I only carried my mandatory spare clothes and drinks.  This may seem selfish of me but actually I was slowing the team down when I had a heavy pack and ultimately, it took 4 days for the skin on my back to stop tingling after the race, even with the small amount I was carrying. 


We were well and truly racing and what was the first task the course director had set for us?  To climb a small mountain or very big hill...in the dark.  And what are you told never to do in the dark?....Climb mountains. It was great! I suddenly got a bubble of excitement in my tummy as we worked our way up the hill.  The claggy mud was so thick that within minutes I must have been a foot taller and my shoes felt like gravity boots, they were so heavy. I felt like I was lugging half of Ireland with every step.  I was quite glad when we came to a little stream across the path and I could rinse the soles of my trainers but I wasn't quite so pleased that within an hour and a half of starting the race I managed to find a bog to sink my feet into...  My trainers stayed wet for the next 38 1/2 hours. Oh yay!

I do remember saying to William, "It can't get much steeper than this," very near the foot of the hill. He looked at me with incredulity, and said "Yes it does."  He wasn't kidding. But then, he was holding the map and I managed to do the whole race without looking at it! As we got close to the top, it was touch and go if it wouldn't have been better to fly up there!  Anyway, as we neared the top several of the other teams were coming back down and were very encouraging and gave friendly advise or looking for some...particularly in the navigation department.  I can cheerfully brag  (now the race is over, that our navigation was pretty much spot on, no thanks to me mind you!) Of course I didn't necessarily listen to the advice we were given as we passed the other teams which is why I ended up knee deep in a bog!  We found the second check point and started to descend back down, towards the lough and the other check points.  We felt strong and positive and reached the slipway of the lough just before dawn and there I found my first 'modesty dilemma'.

I am, by nature, a bit of a prude, although with the amount I have shared on this blog, you wouldn't necessarily believe that.  (Adventure racing is a bit like giving birth, it strips you of all sense of propriety!)  Even as a small girl, I wouldn't dream of running about the garden in just my knickers, no matter what the level of heat, I was always covered up.  So running up to the race, aware that at various times I was going to have to strip off and change attire to complete certain of the tasks, I was a little concerned. (It seems ridiculous now that I was more concerned about that than say, having to kayak, cycle and walk for miles!)  I had gone as far as bringing a swimming costume to Ireland.  Although when it came to packing my bag for the race, the swimming costume remained behind in the tent because in a flash of brilliance, I realised I could swim in my sports bra and knickers.

There I was, coyly trying to remove my clothing on the shores of the lough and hurridly slipping into the PFD before anyone could take notice of the mint green sports bra I was wearing. This involved me bending over double so that people couldn't see my face!  I know, this is ridiculous, but I couldn't help myself.  I felt acutely embarrassed.  Knowing what I know now, if the swim had been later in the race, I would have stripped down to my knickers in a flash, whipped off my bra and dived into the water without a care in the world.... That is what adventure racing does to you, it removes your inhibitions! 

Back to the lough shores.  I didn't want soaking wet hair for hours after the swim, so I pinged on my silicon swimming hat and then I scuttled over to the slipway.  There was a brisk pre-dawn breeze and I felt sure I was about to turn into an icicle.  Two swans  floated on the water, not far from the shore and I joked with the marshals, "Oh look swans, you can call me Swimming with Swans" (this was a not-so-subtle reference to the classic film, Dances with Wolves.) I gingerly stepped into the first lapping waves on the shore and skidded nearly all the way down the slipway.  Wow... it was...well, slippery.... I stepped off the edge caught my foot on the bottom and launched myself into the lough. After the initial shock it was was wonderfully invigorating and I absolutely loved swimming the 300 m across to the place where we picked up the kayaks. 

While Ross,  Will and I had a delightful morning dip, Andy had the task of lugging the kit we had all been carrying about 300m around the shore.  I am glad I got the wet option.  He said it was quite hard work.  He was carrying 4 backpacks and all our clothes and shoes that we had stripped off.  He met us on the shoreline.  When I got out the water I got really cold, really quickly. And, because it was still early in the race and I was still in prude mode, I  worsened the situation by tramping across to a marquee in the thin, chilly wind. Will also went and changed it a marquee provided.  Not all the teams were quite so restrained and I am reliably informed by Ross and Andy that they did a quick about-turn when one team stripped off right before their eyes on the causeway...

In the marquee things were not going well in the changing department.  I had become so shivery my eye balls had started to vibrate and things on the edge of my vision had started to shake.  It was such a weird experience. I have never been that cold that everything around me started to judder!  I also seemed desperately slow in stripping of the wet clothes and putting on the dry kit from my bag.  My spare dry sports bra got stuck to my slightly damp back and I couldn't get the thing to unravel.  Eventually I managed and finally got dressed and then made the stupid decision to put on my one long pair of lycra tights and my one dry fleece, to get on to an open top kayak.... (3 hours of water splashing up your top, underneath your coat is not conducive to keeping your fleece dry!)

Forcing my cold feet into a pair of water shoes, I joined William as we made our way over to where Ross had mixed up a portion of the meal replacement drink I had been sooo looking forward to.....not.  We gulped it down and then tottered over to Andy on unstable shivery legs to help attach the kayak seats to the sit-on-tops and lash our bags to the boats.

Will filled up the water bladders for us all.  I had had the ingenious idea of putting the energy drink powder straight into the bladder but unfortunately the flow of water going into the bladder forced the powder up the tube and effectively blocked it.  Lesson learnt!  Put the water in the bladder and then add the powder!  I only discovered this once we were afloat and consequently, Ross had to get my bottle out of my bag so that we could drink it out of there.  The idea of using the bladder was that it was easier access to liquid and energy rather than trying to use bottles in the boat.

Anyway, swim over we were on to the next big challenge.  The first kayak stage....

(part 4 coming soon)