Event Details
Club: | Lakeland Orienteering Club |
Event Name: | Lakeland Bike O 12 Series 2 |
Date: | 19/06/12 |
Format: | Bike O |
Mapping: | Ordnance Survey |
Time Limit: | 2 hours |
National League: | - |
League: | Lakeland Bike O 2012 (Round 2 of ) |
Electronic Punch: | No |
Event Report
Lakeland Lanequest 2012 Event 2
This week’s Lakeland Lanequest event, at Arkholme, attracted 128 competitors on a warm, sunny evening. Only two visited all 30 controls, with adventure racer Tom Gibbs completing the course inside 2 hours to earn 302 points, whilst last week’s winner, Mike Toyn (296), was just over 2 hours.
Organiser Dave Hewitt’s course was a contrast to the usual intricate network of lanes, with route choices involving long loops being unavoidable. Many riders found it difficult to judge which controls to leave, as they ran out of time. The event used the area north of Arkholme taking in lanes as far north as Farleton. Those attempting a high score were faced with hard climbs by Dalton Crags and Hutton Roof.
In the men’s open class, Brian Singleton (286) was third, behind Gibbs and Toyn, with Tim Crozier (284) a close fourth.
The women’s open class was keenly contested, with the established star, Anne Plant (250) just ahead of Bryony Halcrow (248) and Jo Cleary (245).
Jack and James Smith (240) were clear winners of the Generation Pairs, ahead of Gary Thomason and George Taylor (210), with other pairs in the class unable to score above 115.
The Adult Pairs also produced clear winners in Mike Brooks and Andy Beck (270), with Sally Ward and Bruce Attwood (250) second.
Organiser Dave Hewitt commented:
“I thought it was going to be a bit too tough to clear because the lanes to the north had over-grown quite a bit since I drew it up”.
Dave’s optimum route was clockwise - 30, 29, 28, 26, 23, 18, 22, 13, 12, 11, 5, 2, 3, 1, 4, 7, 6, 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, 22, 21, 20, 19, 24, 25, 27 (No 6 could also be taken from the west after 13). Indeed this was the route taken by winner Tom Gibbs, who said:
“Did it this way round because I thought descents looked better, also meant I'd done a bit more before I had to decide on 6 and most of the smaller roads where more likely to get a puncture. Did 6 before 7 despite riding past 7 because I was looking on the wrong side of the road for 7 and only spotted it after I'd past it, so picked it up on the way back”.
The organiser suggested:
“Controls to drop:-
1 = 6
2 = 7 & 6
3 = 14, 7 & 6
The loops could be shortened by not going north of Farleton Fell or even shorter by going 14 to 8 but still collect the flat one round Holme. You had to drop the slower, narrow lanes.
I think people were caught out by the hills & also the narrowness (slow) of the roads around 1, 4, 7, 8.
The big mistake was to go anti-clockwise, this left you with no way of shortening the return route if you miss-judged things. I suspect this is what the big penalty riders did.
If you went clockwise, what ever route you picked, you could adapt towards the finish. The other way you were committed”.
David Heffernan enjoyed the challenge:
“This was quite a tough event. Very enjoyable. Some of the roads were really dubious! Very narrow, large grass sections down the middle. Hard to ride and navigate!
To be honest there wasn't a lot of route choice. So far as I know there was really just one way to attack all 30 controls. The only question was whether to attack 6 from the west or the east. In my view it is quicker to do it from the east. That said, Mike took it from the west! It's just a little shorter from the east and I think the climb is the same”.
David agreed with Dave Hewitt about the optimum route, which he calculates equated to 33.5 miles and 1325 ft, or 123 minutes by formula.
“Tom Gibbs clearing this with a minute to spare is a quite excellent ride. Mike Toyn varied from this (I gather) in that he collected 24 from the west. This adds 0.6miles to the route, or around 2 minutes. Which accounts for Mike's penalties. And as I said above, I heard that he did 6 from the west. Note this is all second hand. No doubt Mike knows what he actually did and will correct me if I'm wrong!
As for me, I never intended to get 6, but then took the very poor decision to skip 15. I thought the finish was longer than it proved to be. Returning with 3 minutes to spare I think that decision cost me 8 or perhaps 10 points. I just miscalculated under pressure”.
Mike Toyn commented:
“Another well organised event with a quality map and well placed controls. The map covered some challenging terrain with the Farleton Fell / Hutton Roof Crags offering some sharp climbs on the northernmost edge of the map. This meant there was no obvious route choice that allowed riders to get the climbing out of the way (or leave it until the end). The wind, which had picked up presented an added challenge and one that had to be factored in on some of the more exposed sections of road.
It was great to ride on some classic lanequest style roads i.e. those with a strip of grass down the middle. Whilst this means that it is not possible to go flat out, it does take riders on some lovely quiet lanes”.
Dave Hollingham enjoyed the event:
“What a night! Decreasing southwesterly winds, a spacious course, well laid out with all controls in position and marked where difficult to spot.
It looked tight on the plan, but I decided to go for it with a clockwise circuit as described by Mr Heffernan. After 6 from the south-west I was four minutes down on schedule, but hoped to make up time later. By 1 I was still four minutes down and gradually tiring. I had felt strong on the climbs up to 14 and then to 6, but on the next climb up to 4 and 7 I started to suffer. Realising I was in time trouble I had to drop 15 but would it be enough? Finishing off I couldn't quite cover the time spent collecting 24 (11/2 to 2 mins). Obviously had I been conservative I could have decided to drop 6 or leave it until after 7 and see how the time was going but I wanted to be bold and go for it.
As David said, planning wise, the route was fairly straight forward without the devious options that I might have exploited. I'm sure I wasn't the only rider to find the sun in their face, mud, grass and potholes on the lanes slowing down progress, but I did find the barbed wire that wrapped around my back wheel to be a little unfair - fortunately no damage! Well done Mike - another strong ride, but the question on everybody's mind - Who is Tom Gibbs?”
The leading women all found it a tough event, being very hard to plan a route for the 25 – 28 controls they would normally aim for, leaving options to adjust in the second hour. Winner Anne Plant's dropped 14, 1, 4, 9 and 10. So presumably she travelled between west and east via 6 7 8 and 15.
Bryony Halcrow dropped 6, 14, 19, 20 and 25. Bryony described her reasoning:
“My route last night was 30, 29, 28, 24, 26, 23, 18, 17, 13, 12, 11, 5, 2, 3, 1, 4, 7(killer hill!) 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, 22, 21 and 27. If I had had time, I would've tried to add in 20, 19 and 25 between the 21 and 27.
I found planning quite hard, as I didn't like the idea of leaving out 3 of the closest ones to home! But it seemed like the most logistic way to do things as I would've been able to pick them up on the way back if time had allowed”.
Jo Cleary took the clockwise route, leaving out only 6 and 7, visiting 28 controls, gambling on racing round 20, 19, 24, 25 at the end, but paid dearly with 35 penalty points.
Finally a bit more from winner, Tom Gibbs, from Brow Edge, a new name to many regular Lanequesters:
“Last night - originally planning on doing it as a pair with my wife, but she was ill, so went solo. Took my nice bike (though worried about the rougher lanes) a Wilier Cento.
Had a reasonable ride, getting over a cold at the moment. Course was pretty good, not too many dangerous lanes - prefer when they stick to tarmac rather than gravel. Could have done with a few more hills, but otherwise a nice course on a nice evening.
My background is Adventure Racing where I race for Team adidas Terrex, UK champions and World Champions in 2009. Locally, I orienteer for LOC and fell run for Ambleside”.