"Wan Dae"

Welcome to Adventure Racing in Scotland!! Superb fun as always, the "Wan Dae" race in the Pentlands yesterday was the first of a 3-part series in Scotland.

8-hrs of kayaking, mountain-biking and running while navigating to different checkpoints (of varying values), some with activities to ensure our brains were still functioning :)


After the Race: Graeme, Pete, me, Robert

Our team name was "Total Strangers" - appropriate considering three of us had never met until the night before the race. We ended up third overall, and were the first mixed team (but there were no race categories so no extra prize for that!)

We had to inflate the kayaks before the race began (a good warm-up), then carry them 2k to the dam, kayak twice around the checkpoints in a strong wind (Pete & Rob had a little swim as well...but not by choice!) and carry them back to the transition. It was a cold start. The biking section was draining in the wind - at times it was a real effort just to stay upright - and had a lot of steep sections we had to push/carry the bikes up. We only left an hour for the run, but tactically that worked out well because as a team we were stronger on the bikes.

The activity checkpoints were fun too - we had an orienteering section; a small obstacle course to be completed with all four of us tied together at the ankles while standing back to back in a circle, a rope climb up a tree (only one had to do it) and a maths puzzle with water containers in the reservoir (which I'm pleased to say I managed to work out, despite being the only non-engineer on the team :) ) Rob & Pete did a fantastic job navigating most of the day (especially as the maps were awful to start with, and worse after their swim) and we all had a great laugh competing. I'm keen for the next one, so I'm hoping the others are too!