| NEWS |
| Website under revision |
|
|
|
| Dirty Weekend 2 in the Lakes - Autumn Polaris round-up and future news |
28 October 2008
1. Director's Report
2. Results
3. SleepMonsters Report
4. Thank You's
5. Next Year and Future Polaris Challenges
1. Director’s Report
After a significant start event with the Dirty Weekend concept in the Scottish Borders in July 2008, the Lake District, Cumbria and Grizedale Forest Centre provided the venue for the second instalment of this adventurous collective of Mountain Bike event (Polaris Challenge) and adventure race (ACE Race).
In the run-up to this autumnal event, the course designs were continually affected by the thoughts of the various weathers that have been assaulting the Lakes this summer. Very wet weathers had threatened and caused the cancellation of numerous large events in the Lakes this summer. The irony has been that it’s not the outdoors and activity that’s threatened – it’s the car parking and infrastructure. We had said in an early communiqué that this event would not be cancelled and that solutions would always be found to keep it on the rails. This was very prophetic. The actual event weekend was to become one of the most challenging ever. After a few weeks of wet, then dry - false hopes, then more wet, all event fields were one by one taken out of action for car parking and event venue. The final solution however, just about held up, and Grizedale did prove to be an excellent centre for launching the action.
Friday was the last day of course rigging, and course planners Peter Strong (Polaris) and Paul Noble (ACE) happily concluded their control placements, and especially during such a gloriously sunny day. Meanwhile, event organiser Gary Tompsett had the weather forecast in his hand – ‘widespread heavy rain and upland gales’ was the crux of it, but with good weather forecast for the Sunday – there was some hope if day 1 could be endured. With everything installed in the event area, everyone just had to study their fully pre-marked maps and batten the hatches ready for the next day.
0800 Saturday: Nearly 400 Polaris Challengers, set forth into and beyond Grizedale Forest, collecting their control value ‘giveouts’ on the way. Already the rain had started. This was the start of 6hrs of MTB navigation on some very rough territory. Although there are many forest roads close to the venue, these are criss-crossed by numerous steep and rocky bridleways, then further afield lay beautiful and famous trails at Tarn Hows and Claife Heights.
But in the world outside the participants competitive bubble; hour by hour, the conditions worsened.
1100 Saturday: With winds escalating and the rain in sheets the Polaris Challengers were reaching more remote ground. It was on this day also that the hardiest riders would attempt the famous Walna Scar Road and Dunnerdale – and as they would find, have trouble standing - let alone riding!
1400-1600 Saturday: Polaris Challengers returned to a different looking finish and event centre. Tents and equipment may or may not have survived the lashing gales, and vast pools of water and mud lay all around. The event centre marquees had been pinned in deeper by the Detail Crew and the site was still standing. It looked like Sunday would be on, but the sanity of the planned night stage was already being questioned by finishers.
Many of the roads were becoming impassable to cars, as larger and larger puddles and floods blocked the way. Numerous flooded cars were abandoned on the verges. For the cyclist, this added to the buzz of the whole day, as riders swooshed through puddles that sometimes submerged wheels whole.
1630 Saturday: The Polaris Challenge class contenders studied the overnight results, but knew not to rest on their laurels. The Polaris is well known for significant day 2 turnarounds.. In the mens competition veteran Bryan Singleton was very close to Chris Hope’s lead. In the ladies competition Emily Brooks had a narrow lead over Janet Prier. Significantly, it did not look like pairs were going to trouble the soloists at this event.
With more hours now available, everyone could regroup for the predicted day of good weather on Sunday. Many abandoned their wet hovels and sought refuge in local B&B’s, pubs, hotels and hostels. Most tinkered with their bikes and made good use of some fine mechanical help and spares from Grizedale Mountain Bikes.
2200 Saturday: The rains stopped. The night sky beamed bright with stars.
0800 Sunday: Action as normal for Polaris Challenge starts. There was, however, noticeably fewer numbers of starters, perhaps decimated by half, and certainly not attributable to the number of Polaris Challenge one dayers who would have finished after the Saturday. That torrential day had taken its toll.
1200 Sunday: The Polaris Challenger’s were having pleasurable times on the trails and were now finishing after their 4 hour day, with the major result shift being an awesome second day by Janet Prier to clinch the ladies overall win.
2. Results
See full stage and category results for Polaris Challenge here.
Polaris Challenge – Highest Scorers;
Female: Janet Prier 704.
Male: Chris Hope 931.
3. SleepMonsters Report
See the full Dirty Weekend report: http://sleepmonsters.co.uk/racereport.php?race_id=6821&story_order=asc on SleepMonsters and there are several threads on the endeavours of the event on this website, and on Bikemagic, Singletrackworld and Bikeradar.
4. Thank Yous
The organisers would like to thank their partners; Cumbria Tourism and the Forestry Commission, National Park, National Trust, Coniston and Langdale & Ambleside MRT, Paul Noble (of Grizedale Mountain Bikes, Windermere Canoe & Kayak and Total Adventure), AyUp Lights, Adventure Medical Kits, Sea To Summit, For Goodness Shakes, Buff, OMM, Urban Adventure Gear, Land Rover G4 and 220 Triathlon.
5. Next Year and Future Polaris Challenges
Detail Events have come to the end of a 10 event tenure of the Polaris Challenge started in 2005 and proudly continuing an event born in 1991. We have seen events in all weathers and fantastic locations: From Salisbury to Selkirk, Wolds to Wales, Swaledale to Grizedale. New formats have included the introduction of pre-marked maps, the acclaimed Light & Night event, and incorporation into the Dirty Weekend compendium of adventure sports. At a time when Detail Events are concentrating their interests in other adventure sports it has been important to ensure that the event finds a good continual home and cherished owner, and none other than Roger Dillon of Polaris Apparel - the Polaris Challenge originator, has stepped up to take it forward further. As for the participants, you always amaze us with your determination, speed and ability to look after yourselves in challenging terrain, and we sincerely thank you for patronage during the Detail years. We intend to be amongst you on future start lines..
We at Polaris, have rather missed the event, the regular get togethers with our toughest critics and best testers. The environments and weather conditions encountered on the event have always inspired our designers to produce practical garments for tough and challenging conditions – we will be looking to the event to be our test-bed again.
We have some of the old team back to help set the courses and we will be continuing with the tried and tested scoring system. As for the areas… wait and see! Check into the website regularly (www.polaris.in or www.polaris-apparel.co.uk) and if you have entered an event recently we will be in touch via email.
Thanks to all the team at Detail Events for their stewardship over the last 3 years.
See you at the start line!
Polaris Challenge Team
|
|
|
|
| Event Photos and Tales / Online Sales |
 See the SleepMonsters link on the right >>> to get to the stories of Mick Smith and Buff rider Neil Atkinson. Once in SleepMonsters you can then get through to the photo sales section. Scott Watson got hundreds, possibly thousands of shots from all over the course. Day, Night, Day, Starts and Finishes. Take a look. You WILL be there somewhere! |
|
|
|
| RESULTS ARE HERE...... |
 Hit the button on the right >>>> for results.
As there were dozens of checkpoints that were live across the other 2 or 3 stages, then a lookup table is required if you wish to scrutinise routes. See this table for ref by clicking the text below the Results tab. Please note that 100 and 200 series control box ID's are not shown as such in the Results list. Some deduction is required. |
|
|
|
| Light and Nighted......News 10/10/07 |
 This report says it all....
It was the event we had all been waiting for – the inaugural Polaris “Light & Night” – a new format for a tried and tested classic event – whereby an hour’s riding was to be shaved from both the Saturday and Sunday rides to give an “extra” ride - two hours in total darkness on the Saturday night! The other big change was to run all three stages from base camp, with no “wilderness” camp – that one will be saved for what will now become the spring “classic” event.
But organiser Gary Tompsett was hardly taking any risks with the new format, as he chose the stunning corner of the Yorkshire Dales that surrounds Malham as the backdrop for the event, and enduro/MTBO legend John Houlihan (Santa Cruz) to set out all three courses.
Friday afternoon gave a promise of the weather to come with Malham welcoming us with a rare dose of early autumn sunshine. We pitched our tent within easy reach of what was rather optimistically called the “toilet block”, rebuilt our bikes, signed in and eagerly devoured the Saturday day-time map. I’d been here before and was pleased to see that some favourite trails would feature in our rides. The campsite was filling up fast. Everyone seemed to be comparing this season’s “must haves” – brand new halogen light sets!
A chilly night was replaced by a gorgeous morning and we were soon forcing noodles down our throats on top of the previous evening’s spaghetti ready to fuel the day’s exertions. We elected for an early start and soon found that climbing out of Malham was harder than escaping from Alcatraz, but once up on the moors the riding was fast and furious – totally awesome and exactly what mountain bikes were made for. Our modest loops took us along the Stockdale Road then via Stainforth to Malham Tarn then past Street Gate for the big climb towards Hawkswick Cote. No casualties to report, unless you include the cow standing guard over its long-dead calf just south of checkpoint 19.
Back to base and time to push pasta into our faces and fit those shiny new lights. Boys and their toys! Saturday evening grew very dark, very cold, with no moonlight and no city street light haze. Everyone seemed eager to be the first to try out the long awaited night section, and soon the fells surrounding Malham were done up like Christmas trees. Words just cannot do this experience justice, but here goes. Awesome. Bizarre. Surreal. Get the idea? Throw in some drifting mist around Malham Tarn and you found yourself as an extra cast in remakes of “An American Werewolf in London” and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”. Out of the pitch blackness would appear a silent blue-white haze, then dancing blinding blue airborne lights, then totally mad people thrashing bikes around trails navigated by touch as much as sight. Never has two hours sped by so quickly. And never has the phrase “battery life up to two hours” been so sorely tested! Incredible!
Sunday’s ride might have been an anti-climax but it wasn’t. More top trails, top weather, and topped off with a Wilf’s classic end of ride meal. He who dares – wins! And Gary and the Detail Events team have struck gold with this format. See you next year!
Haardaarss (aka Mick Smith) |
|
|
|
|
| ABOUT THE POLARIS CHALLENGE |
|
The Polaris Challenge began in Autumn 1991 as the very first two-day
Mountain Biking Orienteering event in the World. It is still the biggest
event of its kind and regularly attracts riders from all over the world,
year after year. There are three events in the UK each year, now with
similar events in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, France and Germany.
The Polaris Challenge is a two-day event, combining mountain biking with
navigation and touring. Teams of two (or solo) ride between checkpoints
scattered over a large area of rugged country. Each checkpoint has a value
and the aim of the challenge is to accumulate as many points as possible
within each day's time limit. Distance and 'difficult to access' checkpoints
carry higher values and there are tough penalties for exceeding the time
limits. The Polaris Challenge is an opportunity for a great weekend's riding
through some wild country on trails and tracks- each event is very
different. Who takes the Challenge? 'Anyone who loves mountain biking.' You
can take the Polaris Challenge seriously and go for maximum scores or treat
it as a good excuse for a fun weekend of adventurous riding. |
|
| |
|
|
| DIARY DATES |
UK POLARIS CHALLENGE EVENTS
_______ Spring 2008 _______
Date TBA - Probably South England / South Wales
______ Summer 2008 ______
Date TBA - Probably Scottish Borders
______ Autumn 2008 ______
Date TBA - Probably North West England
Dates and venues are still interchangeable and TBA.
CHALLENGE EVENTS ABROAD
France
Details Here
Australia
Details Here
South Africa
Details Here
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
