sting in stirling race report ccfd

7/31/2019 Sting in Stirling Race Report CCfd

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MOXIE RACERS RACE REPORT ON THE STING IN STIRLING2012Written by Chris Caulfield

TEAM MEMBERS.CHRIS CAULFIELD, BRIAN KEOGH,SESSEL ELMSTROM, KEVIN STEPHENS

STING IN STIRLING IS A 640KM NON STOP UNSUPPORTEDADVENTURE RACE TAKING 4-5 DAYS FOR COED TEAMS OF4 TO TRAVERSE:

Its about 1am, Im @ 800 metres above sea level,Ive slept for 1 hour out of the previous 66 ofracing and right now i cant keep my eyes open.Brian and Kevin are trying to navigate across somedifficult terrain to the next controlwe descend offFerrowie Mountain and eventually hit a roughtrack/road.5km along this to the next control anda chance to sleep as there are some buildingsthere.ive got to stay awakeon the side of thismountain is not the place to stop the team for a


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forced sleep..i stumble into some heather..Ijump up and stagger along.my team mates getme on tow ( attach a bungy cord to my waist ) andI use my hiking poles to stay upright and we trot

along..ive been like this before in AdventureRacing, the plan for the team is to sleep at thenext control & I know as long as i can keep up withthe team well be fine..we make it to Spittal ofGlenmuick.i put all my clothes on and climb intoour uber light tent, in 2 hours I will awake,shivering and wet from the cold but energisedafter 2 hours sleepSessel and Kevin have slept inthe public toilet.its getting bright and we have a

long day of trekking aheadwere now 69 hoursinto a 109hr race.no more sleep until we hit thatfinish line

PROLOGUE : Team Relay (2 runs,2 mountain bikes)After a long day prepping for the 4/5 day race and packingbags/studying the routebook the chance to stretch our legs andrace the competition has arrived.

The prologue takes the shape of a relay sprint. Sessel takes thefirst leg, a trail run taking about 20 minutes, its fast and furiousand she passes the electronic tracker to Brian who has to use avery old map of the city to orienteer and find some checkpointsBrian returns and passes over to myself and I set off on amountain bike out to a golf course for a full circuit and then areturn to hand over to Kevin. My cycle goes fine. Kevin sets offfor the William Wallace monument for a technical descent and a

sprint back to the castle.the time difference between each teamand the winning team is doubled with that time penalty to beserved later in the racewe do well and end up with only an 8minute penalty.We have a brief discussion about the followingday and decide we need to race pretty hard for the first 24 hoursto make sure we make the first cut off and stay on the longcourse.off to bed for some zzzzzzs.

STAGE 1: Sterling City run 10km:

8.45am on Monday morning and 36 teams of 4 are gathered inthe centre of the spectacular Stirling Castle and after a brief


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speech from the town mayor we are off for a 10km run out to theWilliam Wallace monument and back, our epic adventure is aboutto begin.we set off at a steady pace and find ourselves near thefront. The pace is comfortable so we stay there and arrive back to

collect our bikes with the front bunch.

STAGE 2: Mountain Biking 90km:Kevin takes the lead on the navigation and before long we areriding with the French team Raid74Maxirace and heading forcheckpoint (CP) number 2 which is located inside Doune castle.

Next stop is the Priory of Meinteth where we have to row out to asmall island and collect another CP. Myself and Brian take to therowing and with some good guidance from Kevin and Sessel weget through this stage quickly. Next to Rob Roys grave and thenwe are off road and taking on the first piece of single track. Anythoughts of nice dry singletrack are quickly dismissed as we slipand slide through muck tracksdeep ruts filled with waterwerein Scotland of course and good bike handling is rewarded.


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STAGE 3 : Canoe 6km:This stage proves pretty straight forward despite us not havingraced as a team before and some question marks about the boatcombinations but we went with myself and Brian in one canoe,Sessel and Kevin in the other, this proved optimal and we stuckwith this formation for the rest of the race. ..Pretty uneventfulpaddle and were landing at the Loch Tay Highland Lodges for atransition onto Stage 4 trek. Its now about 7pm Monday

evening.were on track.

STAGE 4: Trekking 30km:A quick change to trekking gear and a grab of food from our kitbags and were off on the first trek. Everyone is feeling good,Brian has had an upset stomach all day but he seems to beimproving and were trekking efficiently. A quick discussion on theattack point for the first control and before we know it werecatching a team in front of us.One of the highlights of this legwas an amazing double rainbow which appeared behind us, Ive

never seen anything like it, luckily Sessel caught a picture.We


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pick up all controls and make our way back to transition and ourcanoes. Weve made it here by 2am and as no team is allowed onthe water til 3am we have some time to kill..we wriggle our wayinto a pub thats serving late at the Lodges and get some

cokes,crisps and hot water.a chance to treat our feet and readyourselves for the next leg.

STAGE5: Canoe 40k:

We depart in our Canoes at 3.10am Tuesday morning, two halvesto this paddle on Loch Tay, section 1 is across a wide river so wedecide to raft up, and we start to move quickly. Brian was feelinga little drowsy at this stage so he dropped down into the Canoefor 40 winks, we attached a tow to the other boat and Brianbagged some 20 minutes sleep..all the time moving forward.Second half of the river is where it proves interesting with somebouncy whitewater awaiting.


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The first rapid is big and daunting, some marshals are shoutinginstructions. Brian being a level 5 Kayak instructor takes it all in hisstride and carefully guides the first boat down, Kevin & Sessel followhis line.we make it through, delighted when a marshal tells us

were only the second team to get through unscathed Theremaining rapids are technical but we get through them with noissues. We arrive at Grandtully to meet the Scottish juniors trainingon their slalom course (who incidentally are coached by none otherthan Neal Caffrey who started his Kayak career with Brian back inthe day) and carry our boats 300m to transition. Here we get accessto all our kit bags and have to remember to put all our hiking gear forthe long 105km trek into our bike boxes. In Multiday AdventureRacing teams have to read their route books very carefully andunderstand what kit bags will be available where and planaccordingly.

STAGE 6: Mountain Bike 200km ( including canyoning, 10kmfoot orienteering )From here on the race started to heat up, a very long bike sectionthen to be followed by a 105km trek. Our team goal from the start isto finish the long course, my experience in Multiday racing hastaught me finish first, hang in there and you will see your teamposition rise. We are all strong mountain bikers and at no point have

we had to tow each other, this ensures we make good progress andafter about 5 hours we arrive at the Falls of Bruar for the canyoning.


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We arrive and have a discussion about sleep. Weve been racingpretty hard now for 36 hours and decide to take advantage of anopportunity to eat some hot foot, get a 1 hour sleep on a grassy bankin warm sunshine and then go for the canyoning which will waken us

up and freshen the bodies for the remainder of the cycle. This planworks well and after some of the best canyoning I have ever donewe are off up the road hunting down the next CP,its now approx.6pm Tuesday.

We arrive at Mar Lodge for the foot orienteering with an hour ofdarkness leftwe decide to get some hot food and set off at firstlight. We are handed maps and the added twist here being that ourteam can split into 2 groups to visit the 8 checkpoints. Myself andKevin head off together getting our last control after a steepscramble we are back after 2hrs 45 minutes. Brian and Sessel are injust in front of us. All controls have been gathered and we prepare

ourselves for the remainder of the cycle.


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Its at this stage that I notice that we are positioned not far off thefront teams, thoughts of a top place finish start to creep into mythoughts.

The remainder of the mountain biking in Cairngorm National Park isvery enjoyable; we cycle into Balmoral and visit a beautiful countryestate, and make our way to the base of the intimidating MountKeen. Here we face a 700m push bike over the topwe work well asa team, sharing the load and after dibbing in at the windy summit weset off on the technical descent. Sessel punctures but a very quicktube change and were off the 10km descent in glorious sunshineand enjoying some bacon butties prepared by Ian (Myself and Brianate 3 each!!).

STAGE 7: Trekking 105km ( including 2 scrambles )As we leave transition with very heavy back packs we are all doingthe maths in our heads. Its now approx. 7pm Wednesday, and wemust be on the water at Glandtully by 8am Friday morning. Thats 37hours to complete the trek and the 40km mountain bike after it plusgrab some sleep and prep the boats before they are launched. Notmuch room for navigation errors or injuries. We push on determined.

We find ourselves trekking alongside FGS SuperBerry.both teamsfind the navigation tricky as the terrain is very featureless and


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underfoot the heather is lumpy & deep. Eventually we find the fainttrack weve been searching for and were soon dibbing in at GreenHill for control number 25A. Darkness is creeping up on us and wehastily push on to make the most of the remaining daylight. We lose

sight of FGS and find the navigation to the next CP difficult, its atthis point I get a major bout of the nods, staying awake is almostimpossiblesee opening chapter.

After our sleep at Glenmuick we set off and are making really goodprogress as we head towards the first scramble at Lochnagar. Westorm up through this section grabbing a CP at the bottom and thetop. Before long weve arrived at the base of the second scramble at

The Stuic. We are greeted by 2 marshals who are all smiles andencouragement. Brian leads the way up the steep scramble. Thesleep from earlier is really standing to us, we are moving quickly. Afew controls later and we meet one of the other Irish teams (Get noSleep). Theyre going well and sticking to their short course plan. Wemove on and catch up with FGS SuperBerry, they too slept atGlenmuick but left before us. We go past them and aim to keep thembehind us for as long as possible.

After bagging some more CPs ( & a few Monroes ), we have tocross the A93 but can only do so at Glenshee Ski resort. No


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complaints there as we get access to some hot foot here. Briantakes some time to get a blister treated, see pic below.

We set off ahead of FGS SuperBerry. Kevin and Brian play a blinderon the next section where route choice is really critical. Hitting thetrig points on some peaks requires a careful route around mountainssummiting via shoulders. We make great progress and for the lastsummit the guys spot a direct route to the top, this will save time andalso give Brian and Kevin sight of the tricky descent off the otherside where transition 7 awaits. We arrive into transition and we readyour trusty bikes for a cycle through the night. We have about 8-9hours to make the 8am cut-off at Glandtully. Myself and Brian takeadvantage of some hot water and swallow down some pot noodles,they are delish!!


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Stage 8: Mountain Biking 40kmWe quickly covered the first 10km on road, but then ran into somevery tricky navigation, finding our way to the Forest of Clunie provesvery demanding, lots of push bike through tall reeds, eventually aftersome perseverance we find our way. The biking proves very difficultwith a lot of push biking. Deep ruts filled with water make the goingslow. In the middle of all this there is a mandatory push bike forabout 2km, heads down and push on through. This stage is taking alot longer than was planned, a combination of difficult nightnavigation and tiredness undoubtedly key factors. Eventually we exitthe forest and find road, about 14km to transition and that cut-off. Wearrive in at 7.15am Friday tired and wet as you can see below, wehave ran it tight.


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STAGE 9: Canoe 60km ( including foot orienteering )The transition at Glandtully is pure chaos. Short course teams arerushing to get on the water by 8am and avoid missing the strictdeadline. Just as we enter Transition we run into the Canadian teamSalomon Running Free who are portaging their boats onto the water,they look very tired & are in third position on the long course.We then discover to our surprise that we are in 4th position. We arethe last team left on the long course. This focuses us and allthoughts of sleep deprivation are banished, its now about gettingsome hot food and readying ourselves for the canoe. Some greatteam work (in between media interviews) and we are on the water

with 10 minutes to spare.We have a brief discussion about ourrace plan from here while we scoff down the last of our hot food. Wehave 120km of racing to go, we have made the critical cut-off thatensures we can complete the full course, we are positioned 4th

overall and have a chance of catching the Canadian team. Wedecide to give it our all and go for it.

But it becomes apparent very quickly that we are finding it very hardto stay awake, the rthym of the water as we paddle is acting like a

lullaby and the eyes just want to shut. Caffeine tablets are handedout and we persevere as best we can down this very flat river. We


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arrive at Dunkeld for 45 minutes of foot orienteering. This provesstraight forward and we take an opportunity to buy some food in thetown supermarket. The remainder of the river canoe becomes moreinteresting as we encounter lively rapids and weirs, thank God as

this means we make faster progress and before long we havereached the City of Perth. Despite our best efforts we haventmanaged to catch the Canadian team.60km of cycling to the finish

nowits getting close

Stage 10: Mountain bike 60km to the finish lineAll of this leg is on tarmac road so it moves along quite quickly, wepass by St Johnstone football ground and also by Gleneagles golfcourse. Before long we have the lights of Stirling City in front of us.

After 109 hours of racing we reach the finish line in 4

th

position to begreeted by a cheering crowd and a bottle of champagne. Its highfives and hugs all round, weve completed the full course, 1 of only 4teams out of 36 to do so.

THE FINISH:


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FINAL WORD:What can I say? Nick Gracie and James Thurlow set out to design acourse that aimed to be as much a journey as a race. Reflecting onour week long experiences we certainly feel like we have been

through an amazing journey experiencing some of the best thatScotland has to offer.Id like to pay special tribute to my teammates who pulled togetheras a unit racing together for the first time and at all times during therace staying focused and strong. We helped each other sharingweight when necessary, we discussed alternative options, madedecisions quickly. There were no heros in our team, everyonebrought something to the table which helped us achieve our 4th

position.

Special thanks to all the race organisers and marshals who madethis wonderful experience possible for us racers.

Also we must mention some people who helped us get to the startline. Tom Cleary from Toms Bike Shop Blessington for ensuring ourbikes were in tip top shapewe didnt have a single bike problemduring the race. To Sean Murray and Mark Walker for helping uswith our race gear and also pushing us during the year in all our

training sessions. Real unsung heroes those two. Would also like tothank TJ from Columbia Outdoors for providing us with a range ofOmni Heat racing tops to fight off the Scottish cold & also Ciaranfrom Total Experience for the Canoe practice and equipment.

And last but by no means least a heartfelt thank you to our partnersand family who have had to put up with our constant race prep andrace training over the past year. We owe you guys - especially you

Britney

See ye all out there,

Team Moxie:

Chris, Brian, Sessel & Kevin

sting in stirling race report ccfd

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