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ACE Races The Full Monty 2006 The following was written for the Canoe Club. The first weekend of February, I entered
a wacky challenge event entitled 'The Full Monty'.
Malibu two-seater sit on top kayaks were provided
and we were set off from Frankwells at 10am on Saturday for a 30km paddle.
The first section was busy with fishermen, rowers From here we cycled to Much Wenlock and joined the Jack Mytton trail. This is a designated trail but is a bridleway for its full length and so accessible to mountain bikes. We were to follow it for 60km along Wenlock Edge to Church Stretton, along the Long Mynd and down into Clun. Lawrence was in his element and I had trouble keeping up with him or sometimes even keeping him in sight although several times I caught him as he was getting up clutching his hip or ribs from falling off. He seemed to be enjoying it though. It became dark while we were on the Long Mynd so the descent using lights did require concentration. Not surprisingly we were some of the first people to reach Clun and for this privilege we were given the choice of stopping for a couple of hours or doing an extra optional section, so we set off on a further 40km mountain bike loop in the dark to the South of Clun - giving those behind us time to reach Clun. Well, it seemed a good idea at the time! We finished this about midnight and stopped for 15 minutes at the van for some hot food and another change of clothes and rucksacks to start a 50km hike along the Shropshire Way and Offa's Dyke heading North. It was light before we did a final climb up to Rodney's Pillar before meeting with the Severn again at Melverly for the final 30km paddle. So that's how we came to be forcing our aching bodies
back into wetsuits outside a pub at 12am on Sunday. This upper part of
the river was a bit narrower and extremely monotonous. Every corner seemed
to have rocks and trees in exactly the same positions so it felt like
we were just stuck in some giant loop. Having been moving for 26 hours+,
the lack of features made it very hard to keep concentration or even eyes
open. One or sometimes both of us would wake up to find us just drifting
gently with the current. One pair caught us up where the front person
was laid out flat asleep while the rear person paddled alone. We contemplated
stopping for a quick snooze on the bank but were worried about not completing
before dark. We stuck with it and reached Shrewsbury just A walk into town and a paddle down the backs will be quite enough next weekend thank you. |
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FURTHER PAGES Cambridge Adventure Race Group 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001
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