Event Details
Club: | Lakeland Lanequests |
Event Name: | Lakeland Bike O - Witherslack |
Date: | 18/06/13 |
Format: | Bike O |
Mapping: | Ordnance Survey |
Time Limit: | 2 hours |
National League: | - |
League: | Lakeland Bike O 2013 (Round 3 of 6) |
Electronic Punch: | No |
Event Report
Lakeland Lanequest 2013 event 3//
////
//On-form Tom Gibbs won the third Lakeland Lanequest, giving him a clean sweep in the series so far. Gibbs finished well within the two-hour time limit, earning 14 bonus points on top of the 300 for visiting all 30 controls.//
////
//A perfect summer evening tempted 154 competitors to the Derby Arms at Witherslack, to take on the course planned by Rick Fry. Most riders visited controls around the Lyth Valley first, then those around the Winster Valley and Cartmel Fell.//
////
//Behind Gibbs (314 points), was Bryan Singleton (304), on a mountain bike, with David Heffernan (290) and Trevor Smith equal third.//
////
//Anne Plant (262) is beginning to stamp her authority on the women’s series. Second place was closely fought, with Lisa Whetter (252), just getting the better of Jo Cleary (250), reversing their positions of the previous week.//
////
//In Generation Pairs, Jack & James Smith (270) seem unbeatable this year. Chris Stevens & Hannah Cleary-Hughes (230) were second, with Gary & George Thomason (220) third.//
////
//Once again, the tandem of Mike & Rachel Toyn (260) led in the adult pairs. Beth Jackson & Will Hall (254) were second, ahead of Bruce Attwood & Sally Ward (242).//
////
//Akiko Smith was first junior. Her score of 160 would have placed her halfway up the women’s field.//
////
//Akiko’s Mum, Nicky, fell and broke her upper arm and is now recovering after a couple of nights in hospital. With brother Jack and Dad James’ convincing win in Generation Pairs, it was a memorable evening for the Smith family.//
////
//Overall winner, Tom Gibbs, planned a figure of eight route around the controls, which were located around the Lyth and Winster valleys, either side of Whitbarrow Scar://
////
//“Was a top evening last night. I spent a bit of time trying to decide whether to go round the top of Witherslack or back under the bottom. Ended up doing the latter, though would be interested to see if this was the optimum. By my calcs I did 32.5miles with 1300ft of climb (on map my ride - in reality approx. 1000m of ascent) which equates to 119.6 mins.//
////
//Ideally I wanted to climb Tow Top, but all the droppable controls were over that way, so I went east first to give myself options. I did a loop round the Lyth Valley back to 26. This was 20km on the dot and I did in under 40mins, pretty much knew I'd clear it from there in time. Then headed north to Strawberry Bank before heading back to High Newton. Lost some time on 6 - not the easiest to find, probably would have been better on the road junction. 25 felt a long way down, further than it looked on the map.//
////
//Got back 5 seconds over 1hr 52, always annoying to be just over the minute ! Overall felt I had a good ride, I think I could have been a minute or 2 quicker going the other way around (Tow Top is a slow descent), and maybe a further minute quicker with less overshoots and hitting 6 first time.//
////
//Route was 8-19-9-10-20-17-1-11-18-12-26-28-4-23-29-13-30-3-2-21-25-14-22-6-15-5-24-27-16-7//
////
//Great ride by Bryan on a MTB - be interested to see where he went!”//
////
//Bryan Singleton took in the Winster Valley controls first, then north of Whitbarrow and down the Lyth Valley://
////
//“As Tom said, a perfect evening and I think an early breeze seemed to drop later on which helped on the long pedal in. No way had I clocked the figure of 8, so some good planning there. Instead I headed straight towards Tow Top, climbing with fresh legs. Then had a long slightly downhill section towards Bowland area - this section really flew. Strawberry Bank cluster then across the top and in for 23. Round the top, down for 12 and the rest as a loop, again short sharp climb to 1 and a more gradual drop to 20 and 10. Down beside the A590, and in/ out for 4. Route looks to be about 34miles I think. //
////
//Used to live on the map so all old training roads for me, but the two long descents at either side of the map really pushed up the speed. As Dave and Tom said Tow Top is a brakes on descent and probably not as good a use of the height as the other direction”.//
////
//David Heffernan took a similar route, but like many, left out control 2, way up Strawberry Bank://
////
//“There was nothing special about the conditions. If anything it was a little windy. Would have been faster on a completely windless evening.//
// //
//But I think everyone found a shorter route than the Rick the planner. Rick's proposed best route had too many loops. //
// //
//My route was 8 19 9 10 20 17 1 11 18 12 26 28 4 23 29 13 30 3 21 25 14 22 6 15 5 24 27 16 7//
// //
//I skipped the control half way up Gummers How, number 2, and was back around 5 minutes early. I made a mistake and overshot 27 so perhaps I should have gone for 2. I think Tom did the same route as me but obviously took in 2. Bryan did quite a different route. He went west first, then 23 to 12 round the north of the scar. And then back via Gilpin Bridge with 4 as a long out and back. Quite how he does what he does on a mountain back never ceases to amaze me.//
// //
//It was a very good event I thought. My first impression of the map was that there was only one route, but Bryan proved me wrong. So I mapped Tom and Bryan's 30 control routes for comparison, using mapmyride and formula 3*D + 0.017*C, D=distance(miles), C=climb(feet).//
// //
//Tom: 32.2 miles, 1325 ft = 119.//
//Bryan: 34.4 miles, 1470 ft = 128.//
// //
//'nuff said!”.//
// //
//Trevor Smith took in the Lyth Valley first, going north of Whitbarrow to link the two valleys://
////
//“It was a great evening in keeping with the previous two weeks, it was a great course with plenty of options. My route was different to Tom, Bryan and Dave who with a lot more experience picked shorter courses. I ride the area on my mountain bike so I know the roads reasonably well; I tried to keep the route as flat as possible so started out heading through Levens and along to Brigsteer, across to The Howe and back towards Witherslack before heading north picking up 26, 28, 4 and 23 and then back on myself to get 16, 27 and 5, which was a fast road. I timed the distance from 23 to 5 to make sure I would have time to collect all the controls and it seemed about right so I continued with my plan which was to avoid the slow climb up Tow Top and instead take the fast valley road to Bowland Bridge, head anti-clockwise round The Masons Arms, again using the contours to my advantage, before riding on the steady climb to Tow Tops, which apart from a few short climbs is pretty quick.//
////
//My strategy was working until the red mist came down and I over-shot the check point on Tow Top and ended up in High Newton, I realised my mistake and had to climb back up to get No. 6 before heading to the finish, picking up 24 and 7 along the way. I arrived a few seconds over 2:04 so picked up 10 penalty points, the majority of which I would have avoided if I'd gone straight to number 6.//
////
//I covered 34.1 miles in 2:04 so I pleased with my stat's and it was only the second time I had picked up all 30 checkpoints so it was all good for me on the night. Another very well-organised event and the third week of great weather”.//
////
//Alan George provides an insight into the strategy of one, who, like most of us, is not going to visit all 30 controls://
////
//“For the fragile oldie the choice of connecting the Eastern and Western sections was fascinating. Provided I navigate without more than 2 mistakes I should be able to achieve about 20 points. In my wildest dreams 27miles of flat is possible. The course was a nice mixture of flat, undulating and steep hills. I made a rough check of the cost in mileage of returning from the Lyth Valley via the North and the South: the north wins by about 4 miles. I saw that it would be worth picking up the 13 30 21 29 group and that 5 and 24 could be be dispensed with if time was running short. 22 points and about 23miles. 1 1/2 mins late”.//
//Chris Stevens, who rides with step-daughter Hannah Cleary-Hughes empathized with Alan://
//“It's good to hear from some-one who has the same constraints as I do, although you don't have the benefit(?) of a fit 15 year old forcing the pace on the hills.//
////
//Looks like you planned a similar route to us. We went for 23 rather than 21 (less climb), finishing with 14 25 15 5 24 27 7. About 4 mins early, so should have risked 16 after 27. That's me being cautious and totally spent by then, Hannah would have gone for it.”//
////
//First-time organizer, Rick Fry commented://
//“Looks like some positive feed back. On the night we had some very positive feed back. There were a couple of controls, which were not easy to find but the top boys proved they were all there.//
////
//Considering it our first time organising a Lanequest event it went really way, manly due to all the help and information available from Rachel and her team. Anyone considering running should find it relatively straight forward and very rewarding.//
////
//My route as mentioned was shortened by the top teams from my intended route so lesson learnt look out next year. //
////
//Unfortunately one competitor had a accident which resulted in a spiral fracture of her arm and after a couple of nights in the now infamous Furness General Hospital she's on the road to recovery - pardon the pun.//
////
//We were caught out by the number of competitors so a special thanks to everyone who chipped in and helped. //
////
//If anyone has any feed back good or bad then please let me know and we can improve the event next year”.//
//