Event Details
Club: | Lakeland Orienteering Club |
Event Name: | Lakeland Bike O 12 Series 5 |
Date: | 10/07/12 |
Format: | Bike O |
Mapping: | Ordnance Survey |
Time Limit: | 2 hours |
National League: | - |
League: | Lakeland Bike O 2012 (Round 5 of ) |
Electronic Punch: | No |
Event Report
The fifth event in the Lakeland Lanequest cycle orienteering series provided riders with not only the usual navigational conundrums, but also the challenge of riding on lanes that were wet, slippery and covered in debris from recent heavy rain. Mountain bike orienteer, Bryan Singleton, revelled in these conditions to come home with all 30 controls inside the 2 hour time limit.
Singleton’s 306 points was enough to put last week’s winner Tom Gibbs (294) into second place, with David Heffernan and Trevor Smith (276) equal third.
Despite the wet weather, organiser Dave Hollingham’s event attracted 132 competitors, with over half of these in the popular pairs classes. Dave’s course used the area north-east of Oxenholme. These hilly lanes meant that the leading men had to cover 32 miles with 1466 feet of climb in 2 hours, if they chose the optimum route.
The women’s competition was once again keenly fought, with Jo Cleary (252) just beating Heather Milligan (248), Bryony Halcrow (246) and Heather Burrows (244). All four of these had gambled on being slightly over time to get an extra control, whilst not incurring a time penalty greater than 10 points.
Jack & James Smith (230) were the best of the generation pairs, with Hannah Cleary-Hughes & Chris Stevens (216) second, and George Taylor & Gary Thomason (195) third.
The best adult pair was Sally Ward & Bruce Attwood (260), with Mike Brooks & Andy Beck (248) second and Andrew & Sarah Crozier (238) third.
Overall, in the series, Tom Gibbs (1240) has an unassailable lead over Mike Toyn (1216) and Bryan Singleton (1212), who are having a close battle for second place. Bryony Halcrow (1018) leads the women’s class, with Anne Plant and Jo Cleary (1010) tied in second place. A good ride for any of these three in the final event could take the series.
The organiser’s perspective from Dave Hollingham:
“Hope you all enjoyed the event. Sorry about the quality of the roads which have really taken a hammering lately. When I was planning the route I knew it was going to be pretty hilly and my early rides on the course left me 15 - 20 minutes short of completing the course on time, but Heff said stick with the formula, which seems to have proved itself well again.
My optimum route was 18, 14, 9, 10, 16, 15, 20, 30, 22, 21, 12, 11, 4, 5, 6, 1, 2, 3,7, 8, 13, 17, 24, 29, 23, 28, 27, 26, 19, 25, finish - according to map my ride there is less climbing in that direction than if reversed!
For information my top picks to drop if not completing the course were:
9, 25, 23, 4, 1, 2 in that order, the first 3 on the basis of the climbing involved.
A word of thanks to the team that helped me organising my first event:
Neil Hazlehurst, Ray Morris, Mark, Carole McNeill, Carrie, Lisa Whetter, Vanessa and Ian Oldham. Your help was invaluable - Thank you very much indeed.
It was good to see the events from the other side of things. 130 riders on a dodgy night was great and the pub were very pleased and would welcome us back again for another event (about 40 meals). But I would also love to have been out riding last night so I'm really looking forward to next week”.
David Heffernan provides a detailed analysis:
“My plan for 30 was: 18 14 9 10 16 15 19 30 20 21 12 11 4 5 6 1 2 7 3 8 13 17 24 29 22 23 28 27 26 25. This turns out to be 32.1 miles, 1611 feet = 123 minutes. But in fact I only got 28. I decided, before starting, not to attempt 9. I counted three chevrons and that this it was an easy decision to skip. I also dropped 25 right at the end which I'm sure was the correct call, given that I picked up 2 minutes penalties. As for my route, I was quite happy with it. I got 3/7/8 wrong. It was better to do them 2 3 7 8 13 rather than my version if 2 7 3 8 13. The distances are much the same, but there's a big hill from 7 to 3, and another from 3 to 8. I probably lost a minute there. But it's pretty hard to make out the contours on the map so I didn't feel too bad.
If I recall correctly, Dave Hollingham’s optimum route is 32.0 miles but with only 1466 feet climb = 121 minutes. I think the main saving in climb comes from avoiding the hill between Millholme and Ewebank, 22 to 28. My guess is that Dave's in/out s for 15&19 and my alternative loop version, are probably equivalent. And so the gain with Dave's route is just saving of climb by putting 22 with 21 rather than 29.
Bryan's score of 306 is a very good effort and as always I'm pleased to see yet another Lanequest event that proves the correctness of our distance formula”.
Winner Bryan Singleton took a different route to control 9, using the fast descent on the Sedburgh Road:
“Route order: 18-9-10-14-15-16-12-11-4-5-6-1-2-3-7-8-13-17-24-29-23-28-27-26-22-21-20-30-19-25
Aimed to start early before the roads got to greasy, paid off for the 1st half of the route. Rode my road bike this time, though the MTB would not have been to bad an option except between Controls 8-29.
Main route differences:- 9 from below, fast descent plus kept area around 15 a bit smoother. All the early 20's as in/out from S as seemed to be little in it compared with a through route and in/out from the N”.
Tom Gibbs went the other way around:
“25-26-27-28-23-29-24-17-13-8-3-7-2-1-6-5-4-11-12-21-22-30-20-16-10-9-14-18-15-19
Went that way round to leave me options towards the end. Did the same as Heff for 7, should have done 3 as the out and back. Contours were hard to spot. At least it was very quick from 8 down the hill and over the motorway!
Left 22 until later as it had less climb. Also left 9 until later so I could make the call on it.
In hindsight was thinking it might be better to do- 25-26-27-28-23-29-24-17-13-8-7-3-2-1-6-5-4-11-12-21-22-20-30-19-15-16-10-9-14-18”.
Mike Toyn collected control 19 much earlier, but otherwise was close to the organiser’s optimum route:
“Wow - plenty of options on this one! I had planned to do 18, 14, 9, 10, 16, 15, 19, 30, 20, 21, 22, 12, 11, 4, 5, 6, 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 13, 17, 24, 29, 22, 23, 28, 27, 26, 25. But my legs failed me.
Good effort by Bryan as the roads seemed very greasy to me and I didn't feel like riding hard on the corners. Did he set off a bit earlier? If so, he might have had longer on the course in the dry”.
Women’s winner Jo Cleary planned to miss controls 9, 4, 1 and 23, but was going well after 29, so went for 23. Like many, Jo was surprised by the long uphill drag on the B road back towards Oxenholme and had to leave out 25 at the end. Her route was: 18, 14, 10, 16, 15, 12, 11, 5, 6, 7, 2, 3, 8, 13, 17, 24, 29, 23, 28, 27, 26, 22, 21, 20, 30, 19.
Last word this week to David Heffernan:
“A more traditional LQ tonight. Well done to Dave for setting some tricky puzzles. Too bad the road conditions are still dreadful. All the same, I really enjoyed the challenge, rode on some new roads for me and managed not to fall off. Result!”