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2014 Beast of Ballyhoura - Ireland's longest AR

245

Comments

  • #32
    Oryx
    Subscribers Posts: 19,425 ✭✭✭✭Oryx


    shotgunmcos wrote: »
    You put a certain inevitable spell on it alright ha ha you are not the only tough Kate in the world ya know :p

    I hope you find a good one. :)


  • #33
    Dory Dory
    Registered Users Posts: 6,888 ✭✭✭Dory Dory


    What?? :eek::confused::eek::confused: Oryx, are you mad to pass this opportunity up?? This is right up your ally, if you must know. Honest to god, if I lived anywhere near Ireland I'd be all over this and not blink twice.

    <looks next to Solobally 8....>


  • #34
    Oryx
    Subscribers Posts: 19,425 ✭✭✭✭Oryx


    Dory Dory wrote: »
    What?? :eek::confused::eek::confused: Oryx, are you mad to pass this opportunity up?? This is right up your ally, if you must know. Honest to god, if I lived anywhere near Ireland I'd be all over this and not blink twice.

    <looks next to Solobally 8....>

    Its two weeks after IMUK.


  • #35
    Solobally8
    Registered Users Posts: 1,235 ✭✭✭Solobally8


    Dory Dory wrote: »

    <looks next to Solobally 8....>

    Well I was asked but since I was 4th choice I decided to say no :D

    (Actually I was flattered to be asked but I have a wedding that weekend)


  • #36
    RacoonQueen
    Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 20,364 Mod ✭✭✭✭RacoonQueen


    Solobally8 wrote: »
    Well I was asked but since I was 4th choice I decided to say no :D

    (Actually I was flattered to be asked but I have a wedding that weekend)

    At least you were asked :(

    I wouldn't, but, that is not the point. :)


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  • #37
    sconhome
    Registered Users Posts: 5,468 ✭✭✭sconhome


    RacoonQueen wrote: »
    At least you were asked :(

    I wouldn't, but, that is not the point. :)

    Mike, no matter what you do you can't please them all :rolleyes:


  • #38
    RacoonQueen
    Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 20,364 Mod ✭✭✭✭RacoonQueen


    AKW wrote: »
    Mike, no matter what you do you can't please them all :rolleyes:

    I mean, even YOU made the team...I feel so dejected to be deemed not even good enough for a team YOU made :P


  • #39
    shotgunmcos
    Registered Users Posts: 8,208 ✭✭✭shotgunmcos


    RacoonQueen wrote: »
    I mean, even YOU made the team...I feel so dejected to be deemed not even good enough for a team YOU made :P
    He put his hand up for the challenge! Did you? As did 2 other lads but one had to drop out. When iron hoochie became unavailable I went searching. I had a friend and multiple marathon winner with bike skills practically signed up but she had to drop out reluctantly too. I currently have another tough future hoochie who stepped forward practically signed up and good to go but I'm waiting on a decision from an earlier draft choice first. Either way the female element of this boards team will keep the boys in check when the going gets tough I'm sure of it!


  • #40
    BTH
    Registered Users Posts: 3,075 Mod ✭✭✭✭BTH


    RacoonQueen wrote: »
    At least you were asked :(

    I wouldn't, but, that is not the point. :)

    There's biking involved, why are you surprised??


  • #41
    RacoonQueen
    Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 20,364 Mod ✭✭✭✭RacoonQueen


    BTH wrote: »
    There's biking involved, why are you surprised??

    I'm a great cyclist. :)


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  • #42
    Oryx
    Subscribers Posts: 19,425 ✭✭✭✭Oryx


    RacoonQueen wrote: »
    I'm a great cyclist. :)

    You're better than me.


    But very few are worse. :)


  • #43
    sconhome
    Registered Users Posts: 5,468 ✭✭✭sconhome


    Oryx wrote: »
    You're better than me.


    But very few are worse. :)

    I just realised there's MTB involved, I win the 'Worst Cyclist' Category for that ;)


  • #44
    shotgunmcos
    Registered Users Posts: 8,208 ✭✭✭shotgunmcos


    So we have a Boards team entered into this year's Beast of Ballyhoura :D

    Team Tri Harder
    shotgunmcos
    AKW
    nerraw111
    career_move


  • #45
    Causeway
    Registered Users Posts: 173 ✭✭Causeway


    shotgunmcos wrote: »
    So we have a Boards team entered into this year's Beast of Ballyhoura :D

    Team Tri Harder
    shotgunmcos
    AKW
    nerraw111
    career_move

    Folks, thanks for getting a team together, don't be afraid to ask for any advice, either on here or if if you prefer you can contact me through the website. On here might be better and you'll get more replies from other boards members who have taken part in many other events.

    Sothgunmcos no ankle socks this year ;)


  • #46
    shotgunmcos
    Registered Users Posts: 8,208 ✭✭✭shotgunmcos


    Heading for a spin in the Ballyhoura trails this weekend if anyone knocking around.


  • #47
    shotgunmcos
    Registered Users Posts: 8,208 ✭✭✭shotgunmcos


    The mind rather than the body :)

    Read over the route instructions for the last 2 years today :eek: In 2012 we just left all the thinking to Enduro. It took me 2 hours today just to plot the 2012 control points on the maps and go over the route we took :o. Just that exercise was interesting as I combined Enduros route decisions with how the team were feeling at key stages. I underestimated how much he carried us through with his experience in the last 12 hours. Going back over the report 24 hours into the race it took us 3 hours to cover a simple 25km bike on the road in the dark :eek:

    Some of the CPs look so handy on the map but in reality they were mostly anything but handy.

    There is so so much to this race and it would be coinsidered a short one by AR standards! Last time I was blissfully unaware :cool:

    Hopefully there is some shooting stuff this year :)


  • #48
    Enduro
    Registered Users Posts: 3,617 ✭✭✭Enduro


    I wasn't doing much carrying :) Experience is the best teacher alright, and it played a big role in my decision making. You'll have learned tons from that race, and from looking back and analysing it now.

    But attitude counts for more, and that's what got us around that course so well. Even at our lowest we were still all racing and doing our best to collectively make it to the finish with the best result we were capable of (which we most certainly did!).


  • #49
    shotgunmcos
    Registered Users Posts: 8,208 ✭✭✭shotgunmcos


    Places to track the boards team this summer
    SleepMonsters
    The Beast on FB
    Beast website
    A series of pics from last years race which Enduro & Co won

    Only 8 of 21 teams completed the full course last year :eek:


  • #50
    shotgunmcos
    Registered Users Posts: 8,208 ✭✭✭shotgunmcos


    One of my 2012 teammates is looking for a team if there is another scratch boards team or otherwise out there :)


  • #51
    shotgunmcos
    Registered Users Posts: 8,208 ✭✭✭shotgunmcos


    :confused: If you were given maps and as master map with CPs premarked for you to copy to your maps, why not just be given a marked map(s)?

    Hey Ivan any chance I could get a copy of the grid coordinates of the TAs and CPs from last year, I'd love to see the route taken for the first ARES here?


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  • #52
    Enduro
    Registered Users Posts: 3,617 ✭✭✭Enduro


    shotgunmcos wrote: »
    :confused: If you were given maps and as master map with CPs premarked for you to copy to your maps, why not just be given a marked map(s)?

    Think of it from the organisers POV... they have enough to keep themselves busy as it is :) In international races if you get maps which have the CPs on them they would more than likely be pre-printed rather than pre-marked. I don't think the Beast's budget would stretch to a custom run of OS maps (Personally I'd prefer to mark the CPs myself rather than trust a volunteer to get all the CPs on my maps right if they were being hand-marked).


  • #53
    lgk
    Registered Users Posts: 589 ✭✭✭lgk


    shotgunmcos wrote: »
    :confused: If you were given maps and as master map with CPs premarked for you to copy to your maps, why not just be given a marked map(s)?

    Along with Enduro said, it's also another element to the test, most orienteering events are run the same way, though at least with the Beast, you're not on the race clock while marking up maps. But how quickly you can mark up maps and decide on route choices, and how you plan and pack food and gear for the various stages determines how much rest/sleep you get prior to starting the race.


  • #54
    mossym
    Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 8,766 Mod ✭✭✭✭mossym


    aye, used do a lot of orienteering when younger, you always had to copy down the maps yourself. i imagine for the beast though the checkpoints are large enough, so you'll spot them. for orienteering, finding the flag was as much down to the accuracy of those who marled up the original maps as it was your accuracy in taking them down


  • #55
    Causeway
    Registered Users Posts: 173 ✭✭Causeway


    The plan for 2014 event will be for us to have 1 or 2 sets of master maps which will be marked up by me, it's then over to you to copy them over to your set of maps.

    Think the main reasons for me not marking them all up are covered above, think how long it would take me to mark up 25 sets of maps, plus some teams like to mark up the maps themselves, maybe adding other bits of info as they go.


  • #56
    shotgunmcos
    Registered Users Posts: 8,208 ✭✭✭shotgunmcos


    Anyone up for Ballyhoura spin this weekend?


  • #57
    career_move
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,934 ✭✭✭career_move


    shotgunmcos wrote: »
    Anyone up for Ballyhoura spin this weekend?
    Yip - Saturday after 6pm or Sunday afternoon :)


  • #58
    sconhome
    Registered Users Posts: 5,468 ✭✭✭sconhome


    Update on Facebook:

    Maps for this weeks Beast planning session, cut, ironed, taped together and laminated. (yes i did say ironed! New OSI maps come folded which can get a bit fiddlely to laminate on your own) Anyway total area at the moment is 50km x 90km or 90km x 50km depending on which way you look at it


  • #59
    buzzingnoise
    Registered Users Posts: 121 ✭✭buzzingnoise


    mossym wrote: »
    aye, used do a lot of orienteering when younger, you always had to copy down the maps yourself. i imagine for the beast though the checkpoints are large enough, so you'll spot them. for orienteering, finding the flag was as much down to the accuracy of those who marled up the original maps as it was your accuracy in taking them down
    while you may imagine they are large, you would be wrong. they are often hidden in rocks, marked by approx 6 inches of red/white hazard tape or under a waterfall. in fairness they are accurate to the coordinates on the map but this gets pretty difficult after 24 hours!

    Ivan, sir, you are a masochist!


  • #60
    Causeway
    Registered Users Posts: 173 ✭✭Causeway


    buzzingnoise wrote: »
    Ivan, sir, you are a masochist!

    ;)

    In fairness if the control is on an OSI map we try to use something which is marked on the map but you may also have to use the route book which will give you more detail (so the control may be on a small tree) On the map the control will be marked as a forest track junction, which should be big enough to find, in the route book it will be Track Junction/On Small Tree 5m NW, get your team working well together and it all becomes easier, nav to the track junction, have another team mate reading the route book, he/she tells you it's on a small tree 5 meters North West of the Track Junction and it should be on said small tree, now you might be in a forest but all the other trees will be big so that should help as well as does the little bit of red and white tape.

    Controls on orienteering maps may be slightly more tricky to get but then you have more detail on the map ;)

    BTW we're now down to the last few places, 10 spots left but at least 6 of them I can almost account for as being taken.


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  • #61
    shotgunmcos
    Registered Users Posts: 8,208 ✭✭✭shotgunmcos


    http://vimeo.com/92941214
    12 weeks to go...

    Update on Team Tri harder

    Our honorary hoochie career_move had an off road win at the weekend!

    Nerraw111 is back from injury and running again, woop!

    AKW is logging some bike kms

    I snap into a 10 week block of beastly training after a dip in a lake in london


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