Open5+ - 16th

The Open 5+ is the first race in the Open Endurance series which I've entered in the male pairs with Jeff.

It was another first for an Open5 with a mass start on the bikes, it was quite emotional as it reminded me of the transRockies where we set off each morning in a large group of riders. I pushed hard to get clear space on the single track which worked perfectly and we were well placed going onto the run. We chose to do the 200m swim in Derwent Water early so we could warm up again before the bike and before the weather closed in. The water was even colder than I expected and we struggled to get going again afterwards. Jeff was cramping for the rest of the event so we had to modulate our pace to allow him to keep going. We placed 7th which sets us up well for the series.

That evening we went to see Mike Stroud's lecture as part of the Keswick Film Festival and then headed out to recce Leg 2 at night. This had seemed like a good idea when I suggested it a couple of months before but with Jeff still recovering from the race and my ankle now very sore it began to seem like a bad idea. The weather closed in an we wandered around looking for the top of Watson Dodd. By this time I was cold and had realised my paramo was no longer waterproof and it windproofness seemed questionable as well (with hindsight I hadn't reproofed it for over two years of hard use so my fault really!). We decided to turn back and go to the first car which still took 2 hours of wandering slightly confused on the Dodds and a very slow painful descent of Clough Head.

I binned plans to do Leg 1 on the Sunday and helped Jeff paint his kitchen instead!