All of the Whinlatter trails

Team training continued with a visit to Whinlatter to complete all the trails. Fab weather again and a a minor incident of replacing my broken hanger.

Team Training in the Lakes

Another training session staying awake for 36 hours with 24 hours of activity.

Julia, JC, Dave, Kev and myself racked up at Langdale Campsite on Friday evening and headed out into the hills at 23:20.

More to come soon.... just check out the view at 0430 on top of High Raise. Absolutely Beautiful.

Team Training in Borrowdale

Today saw us as a Team take on some training for the up coming events. The weather held apart from the wind to give some fantastic contitions to practice our kayaking skills. We hired the boats for 3 hours and went round the lake with a stop on St Herbert's Island. We also practiced our dibbing technique to not waste time during competition. After the Kayaking I went through some rope work with the team. Abseiling, belaying and tying in. Caz went off for a run with Janet up Scarfell Pike in preparation for the 3 peaks Yacht race next month.

Open 5+ Adventure Race in the Lakes

This event saw 10 members of Team Accelerate up in the Lakes for the first in a series of events. The Open 5+ is a 5 hour race involving Mountain Biking and Running with a timed out section down a Gill. The weather was overcast and mild with some rain. There was a mass start over at Whinlatter taking in some of the best single track in the Lakes. I was pairing up with Kev for this one as we were looking to do well in the series which will see an Open 12 and an Open 24 to come. We got off to a fast start on the bikes in a head to head battle at the front. We arrived at the first transition onto foot in 4th Place. We then headed out into the hills to gather as many checkpoints as we could in the time. These inclused one on an island 100m out into Derwent water, one on top of a 9ft wall and another down an 80m mine. My legs were quite pooped during the run and I struggled with an upset stomach after the swim in the cold water which saw me loose some of its contents. Back on the Bikes again it was a loop round drewent water and back into Keswick to finish. My legs were like jelly and it was hard work driving the bikes to the finish. We finished 5th Male Pair in the end, with me kicking myself knowing that i can go faster and felt I held us back. Its not a bad possition to be in with our stronger endurance events to come in the 12 and 24.
Congratulations to Julia and Dave who won the Mixed pairs and piped us to the post with their score. Also to Caz and George who finished in 3rd.

Helly Hansen X Adventure Race

28th-29th March saw Team Accelerate put 3 teams into this spectacular 2 day event in the Lake District. Comprising of 9 events on the Saturday from Archery to Canoeing and a big multi disaplin race on the Sunday. All three teams performed well and really enjoyed the event. Overall we achieved a 3rd place securing £500 prize money. My team finished in 6th after our hopes were dashed while in 4th I went over on my ankle during the fell race on Saturday.

Arriving home 8th 100 hours later

What a race, 100 hours of non stop racing grabbing only 4 h sleep in total. See race reports and more photos on team website, www.teamaccelerate.co.uk.

We arrive in Portugal and recieve our bibs

Portugal Team head out

Today we set off for Portugal to compete in their 100 hour expedition Adventure Race.
The photo above shows myself with the team and Mum.

Winning Powerbar 3 Peaks Yacht Race

Winning Team of the Powerbar 3 Peaks Yacht Race. Racing over 3 days and winning by 13.5 hours, we sailed as a team from Barnmouth to Fort William with me and Keith taking in the highest peaks of each country. Snowdon, Scafel Pike and Ben Nevis.