Just after the start

At 7:30am on Friday the 28th October, Harold and I began our journey to the heart of Scotland for the annual OMM mountain marathon. Stopping twice, we made it to just south of Perth in under 8 hours. We were greeted by howling winds and driving rain. Things did not look promising for the weekend!

We stayed in a small B&B in Auchterader on the Friday night then travelled to Cultybraggan on Saturday morning to begin our race. Cultybraggan is an ex prisoners of war camp that contained lots of bunkers and cabins setting the scene for an adventurous run. At 09:08 we boarded a bus that took us within 1 mile of the start. At 10:09 we set off with our map on the C class marathon and would not be back until the following day.

The course for Day 1 consisted of 22km and 1200m of climb if we ran in a straight line. After 5 hours and 42 minutes we made it without too many mistakes to the finishing point. Exhausted, cold and wet through we were greeted by a small patch of green tents in a vast Glen that felt as if we were in the middle of no where. Quickly we assembled our overnight accommodation and attempted to warm up. The rest of the afternoon and night were spent rehydrating noodles and cous cous then trying to catch forty winks in the soggy tent.

Almost at the finish!

At 6:04 we were awoken by the sound of bagpipes ringing out down the glen. Thankfully the bad weather had subsided so we were able to dress, pack away the tent and eat breakfast in relative comfort. 08:58 arrived and it was time for us to set off on the final leg of our race. Setting a steady pace we managed to jog and run most of the way. After what seemed a very rapid 6 hours the finishing line loomed into view and the race was finally over. Running for over 12 hours and covering nearly 50km and climbing over 2000m my first mountain marathon was complete.

As it was a race, there had to be results. We came 11th on day 1, 24th on day 2 which put us 15th overall out of 109 teams on the C class. (Follow link for full listings http://www.theomm.com/event-series/omm-2011-results)

It was definitely all worth it despite having swollen knees, ankles and feet I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge and have vowed to do more in 2012.

Finished!

Throughout the course they learnt how to navigate, work as a team, speak out in public, communicate effectively and how to be independent. At the start no one had even heard of Orienteering let alone tried it so I definitely had my work cut out!.

We did lots of activities and games that were both fun and educational. The young people took on board what was being taught very quickly and bonded as a group. Over four weeks they had learnt the fundamental skills in Orienteering and also had experienced some fun team building games.

To put their knowledge to the test, in the fifth week we reversed the roles. A selection of staff from the Tower Project ventured out to Suntrap to experience a day of activities led by the young people. They delivered a variety of exercises that were designed to display what they had learnt. Below are some pictures of what they got up to on the last day.

I would like to again extend my gratitude to the Tower Project for working with me to make this a success and also to the young people who came along and made it great fun! Watch this space for more of the same in the future.

Ashley, Mo, Abbie and Zabed

The first one I have visited is called Littlecote House Hotel, located near Bath. For them I have created two maps, one of the entire grounds for the adventurous types and one of just the gardens for a more leisurely pace.

Soon, customers will be able to visit the Stables Health club and pick up one of these maps. On the map they will find out how to do Orienteering and the locations of the plaques spread across the site. This addition will enable guests to explore parts of the hotel that they probably wouldn’t ordinarily visit. For example at Littlecote, there are some ancient ruins and a well preserved mosaic.

Hopefully by January 2012, most of the Warner Leisure Hotel chain will be able to offer their guests this exciting activity.

Helen, Ros, Derek, Kostya, John D, Josh, Damian, Bryony & Harold arrived at Lea Valley Water Course to experience the first Olympic venue to be finished.

Below are some photos from the day. Please feel free to add any comments at the bottom!

Our first stop was at Stapleford Abbotts where we took on fuel in the form of a bacon sandwich. This provided a good energy source to power our legs up the hills and to avoid stopping again until Battle Bridge which was towards the end of our journey. Here it was a brief pit stop for water and to swap bikes. Up until now I had been riding furiously on a mountain bike to maintain a good pace but was outstripped by all the road bikes with slick tyres. For the last section we swapped bikes and soon realised the bike made a huge difference to our speed.

After riding for 3 and a half hours we glided down into Priory Park for the finish only to be greeted by a down pour.

Another successful time-beating trip that I have vowed to do again next year but perhaps with a road bike so I can break the 3 hour barrier.

The day started very badly as I had an unrepairable puncture to my rear tyre and neither of us had brought spare inner tubes! Time was ticking on so instead of cycling to the first Lido in Richmond I ran my bike for 3 miles from Victoria Park to Whitechapel. The store opened at 10am and within half an hour we were on the road to Tooting Bec.

Here we managed to swim double the original distance (1 mile) in water not warmer than 13 degrees.

Now we were well behind schedule and had to pedal fast to Brockwell to try and make up time.

Brockwell bore a similar story with us swimming nearly 3/4 of a mile because of misjudging the length of the pool.

Next was on to the Serpentine in the middle of Hyde Park. On route we travelled down the famous Knightsbridge road bypassing the stationary cars and found ourselves surrounded in a skating party with people of all ages adorning 8 wheels and listening to music on the go.

After taking a wrong turn in the park we eventually made it to the first open water Lido in our challenge. This was 100m long and so thankfully swam the correct distance.

A short ice cream stop later we were back on the bikes making tracks northbound to the hills of Hampstead Heath.

Once you have paid your £1 Hampstead mixed ponds is a calm mix of patches of grassy areas and still water twinkling in the sun. With a Jetty protruding into the deeper water it was easy to take the plunge into another 1/2 mile swim.

The time now was 5:30 and after swimming 3 and a half miles in 4 of the 7 Lidos time was against us to make it back to London Fields before it closed at 6pm. We pedalled furiously but it was unachievable. Instead we opted to head back to Victoria Park and relax in one of the many Public Houses.

40 miles on the bike, 3 miles running and 3 1/2 miles swam our journey was over. We didn’t manage the whole lot but we have both vowed to try it again soon allowing more time and being more prepared.

Watch this space!

The delegation was divided into four categories 1) Girls Select 2) Girls School 3) Boys Select 4) Boys School. I was coaching the Boys Select team.

England stayed in a family-run hotel with the Irish delegation. http://www.hoteltreponti.it/it/ Each day we were treated to a buffet style breakfast, 3 courses for lunch and dinner and use of the private sauna and steam room. Most of the rooms had balconies with views into the surrounding Dolomite mountains.

Below is a brief outline of the programme for the week:

21 may          Welcome

22 may          Opening Ceremony, h. 18.30

23 may          Long Distance Race – Val Canali, h. 10.00

24 may          Cultural program

h. 10.00 excursion to the Rosetta Plato – Dolomites Unesco

h. 13.00 Pasta Party Rifugio Colverde

h. 14.30 visit to the Visitors Centre of Paneveggio

Paneveggio and Pale di San Martino‘s natural Park

25 may          Middle Distance Race – Val Canali, h. 10.00

h. 16.00 Nations’ Meeting

26 may          Friendship Relay Event, h. 11.00

Prizegiving, h. 20.00

Closing Ceremony & Farewell Party, h. 21.30

For full pictures visit http://www.italiaor2011.com/en/galleries/list or facebook World Schools 2011

Results

Every England athlete took home a medal from the event which is a fantastic result for English Orienteering. It really shows that there is a market for Orienteering in schools and because of the hard work and dedication of a few,  young people from all over the country get the opportunity to feature on the world stage.

I hope that this result helps raise the profile of the sport in schools and that  it will continue to support the work that I am undertaking.

For full results for the teams and individuals visit http://www.italiaor2011.com/en/content/starting-list-results

Portugal will host the next World Schools in two years time. Hope to see some of you there!

http://www.italiaor2011.com/en/

Good luck!