Snowrun Enduro 5th February 2006

Our editor writes: Now I'm feeling guilty for winding Ben up about a DNF at club night. I suppose I ought to admit to DNF'ing myself even before check 2 in the Beacons one year, and like he says it can be a very sensible thing to not go out if you know your body can't take it. In my case, I had broken down after being over my hour and awaiting rescue, sought some relief from the wind and torrential rain by lying down in a hollow within sight of a road. After an hour I was definitely showing signs of hypothermia when luckily a lorry drew up, the driver spotted me shivering in the ditch and dragged me up into his cab and dispensed hot soup and a buttie until my rescue arrived (my brother Andy who insisted he wouldn't have got to check 3 in time anyway.) The saviour lorry driver was Arthur Browning. I thought it wise not to remind him that I had given him a fiercely disputed 5 in a cotswold trial back in the early seventies. Its funny how life seems to balance things out if you wait patiently, thanks Arthur, we're quits again.
Also marshals would be much happier not having to revive/rescue/'retrieve your remains' when you should have known your limitations!

JANUARY 06 was supposed to have been one of the driest on record which meant the corner of Wales where the Snowrun Enduro was held this year was only a bit on the damp side – as opposed to the usual state of completely soaking wet.

So it should have made for an easier enduro right? Well, kind of. Many clubmen who ride the sportsman schedule in this first serious timecard event of the year to avoid doing a 3rd lap, actually entered the right class this year - perhaps because last year's event was a bit on the easy side.

But they were in for a shock! Reverting to previous year's terrain, the lap appeared to have almost doubled in length from last year and quite a few of us ran out of steam well before the end.

Some West Glos members did card a finish, including our, once again, club chairman Ian Vessey, Dave Smailes and Steve Biddle. In fact quite a few Forest faces shone.

Some however, like your correspondent couldn't face the thought of another lap and did the gentlemanly thing 2/3 of the way round. My excuse – a marked lack of fitness, pure and simple.

At least I didn't go the way of several lemmings, who within minutes of the start were emptying anything between 250cc and 450cc of icy cold water from their top ends. We might have been high up but the water splashes were deep.

Although the sun had come out nicely for the start, almost as soon as we were away we were up in the freezing fog and on a toboggan run of a track. Many of us on 2 strokes were caught out by this, judging by the number of worried glances down to the "missing" motor at the end of a steady check 1. The wise ones of course, had prevented the radiator from doing the job too well by stuffing a bit of cardboard down one side.

Check 2 was where the action started and I dropped a minute here simply because I wanted to make sure I didn't go in early and took a few seconds to check my timecard – better to carry a minute for no penalty than clock in early and mess up the rest of the day.

In fact I'd save the messing up bit for later. Stuffing my head in to the scenery for the 4th time on lap 2, I realised that lap 3 was not going to be a barrel of laughs, even though I was still clean on time.

If it had been an 18 mile lap I might have gone out again but 34 miles is a long old way to get stuck ½ way round, so discretion ruled over valour.

As ever the Snowrun was an excellent way to start the season, even if for more than a few of us it was a wake up call on the fitness front.

For others though, it was a walk in the park – winner Tom Sagar found time to change his boots at the end of lap 1, before going on to cover another 3 laps. Big respect to him and all the finishers and many thanks to WTRA for yet another smooth as glass operation.