ACE and Rat Races

In case you wonder what I’ve been up to over the last few weeks(!), there’s been a lot of outdoor activity.  A few weekends ago (just think back to the last REALLY wet weekend) was the ACE Race (report here) down in the Borders.  That was a lot of fun, although hard going, especially with the weather.

Last weekend was the Edinburgh Rat Race, my third time doing it.  I raced with Julien and Gunilla, whom I’d met at the ACE Race, and we made a good team.  After finishing 72nd after the Saturday night prologue, we had a very steady day on Sunday finishing 35th (out of 130 teams), and one of only 50 to clear the course.  Our overall position of 41st/130 was well earned after 10 elapsed hours of racing.  There’s a full report of that race, including a nice picture of the steel ladder I climbed to the roof of the Edinburgh International Climbing Arena, over here.

The steel ladder was tough going, and about 20 rungs from the top I had run out of energy, but there was a reserve somewhere.  As well as that, my highlights were kayaking in the Forth, especially the return leg with waves crashing over the bow … and then the knee-deep mud at the slipway, jumping into the murky water of the quary and rocking around the orienteeting sections much more easily than ever before.

Next up: the Wan Dae Pentlands race and then the ACE Race in the Lakes.