The Isle of Man Adventure race was won at the weekend by visiting team Calder Valley Adventure racers made up of husband and wife team Phil & Jackie Scarf. Regular faces on the UK adventure racing scene this was their first visit to the island and were able to beat off local competition to navigate their way round the 30km long unmarked course completing the race in a time of 2 hours, 58 minutes and 29 seconds. Close behind them were brothers Graham and Colin Furner (2 Fast, 2 Furners) who completed the race 3 minutes later. In third place were the Youth Scholarship team of Tom Anderson and Katia Tastagh. The pairs teams all had to stay together throughout the entire race. Solo competitors were also welcome with Stu Brew taking 1st prize in this category with Peter Bradley a close second, and James Bettridge third.
The Isle of Man Adventure race, now in its 5th year is organised and ran by Adventure Sports Centre, Adventurous Experiences has continually evolved each year. Race organiser Keirron Tastagh said "Originally the race was launched for teams of 4 who would complete a couple of different stages of the race each, this helped us introduce the concept of Adventure racing to the island. Things have progressed and we're now running the race purely for pairs, and, this year solo competitors have also been welcomed. All competitors now complete all stages as a continuous race".
The core disciplines of the race are Mountain biking and hill running, but with some key special stages that are only revealed to the competitors during the race or at the briefing the night before. This year Sea Kayaking was due to feature in the race, but due to strong North Westerly winds on Saturday morning the course was altered and a further bike stage was introduced instead.
Co race organiser John Keggin said "One of the main things that differentiates the race from other events is the special stages, they are a key part that makes it such a fun, dynamic and exciting day, we have plans for developing these further in future years." This year the special stages included a dip into the waterfall at Glen Maye and a high rope traverse between two platforms, after first having to scale the platform!
The other feature of the race is that the course is unmarked, competitors are given maps of the route and required to navigate their way round whilst checking in at several proof of visit checkpoints along the way.
Next year the race will take place on Saturday 19th September, race entries open at the end of March.
Full results:
Pairs:
1. Calder Valley AR (02:58:29), 2. 2 Fast 2 Furners (03:01:29), 3. Youth Scholarship (03:27:20), 4. Coastbusters 2 (03:38:12), 5. Coastbusters 1 (03:39:12), 6. Mylchreests (03:46:59), 7. Hot Porkies Crawlers (03:50:57), 8. Here for the beer (04:22:02), 9. Food & Lycra 1 (04:32:21) 10. Food & Lycra 2 (04:32:33)
Solos:
1. Stu Brew (02:59:41), 2. Peter Bradley (03:01:59), 3. James Bettridge (03:41:36), 4. Sebastian Mendive (04:36:59)
Spirit of the race:
Here for the beer
Fastest rope traverse:
Steven Henthorn (9 seconds)
Photo - Race winners Phil & Jackie Scarf, Calder Valley Adventure Racers.
