Zzzzzzzzzz - been in hibernation

How can it have been 4 years since an update? You may think we've been hibernating....but no! Maybe on the events front, but not in our activity levels! Fitter, stronger and faster?? than ever before! Long hours in the mountains on foot and bike, long hours in the water...5km endurance swim events in 2013, 2014 and 2015. 

And in 2014 we did the Great Glen Paddle in Scotland. What an experience! End of March threw up adverse weather conditions...never mind the challenge of a 5am start for a looooong 100km paddle from Fortwilliam to Inverness in a tippy K2 .....but overnight snow to contend with! 

Never mind tricky portages...

A rough Loch Lochy and even rougher Loch Ness...

...where we met our "monster" !!

Following the "monster" of Nessie....treated ourselves to land sport and luxury pampering. 

Roll on the return to extreme adventure events in 2015 !

Up The Creek With(out) A Paddle

The Dynamic Duo nearly found themselves up the creek without a kayak...never mind without a paddle....when 3 days ago they undertook a non-stop 60km challenge the length of the Lower Bann on 19 May. The challenge was a fundraiser for a Ukranian orphanage.




Too intent on taking photos at one of the portages, they forgot to hold onto the boat, which began to drift away - and resulted in one of them doing a spontaneous jump into the icy waters to perform a rescue mission, while the other concentrated on a very different watery flow !








The Duo had a fab day, beginning with the success of staying upright in their tippy K2 at the very start in the challenging and choppy Lough Beg (literally, say your prayers!) and ending with avoiding the treacherous Barmouth at the end of the trail before the Atlantic!




A day full of fun, chat and laughter as is always guaranteed together. Even without racing it (particularly the portages!), the Duo had a very respectable paddle-time. Compatability on all levels is the key. And who wants to race it ?......the day doesnt last as long then !

The Comeback : CCAR Castleward AR

The Dynamic Duo made a long awaited comeback to Adventure Racing on 5 March, competing in the CCAR Castleward event and ranking 2nd Female Pair.

With new armwarmers, the pair gave the impression of having all the gear and no idea-r....but that was just to lull the others into a false sense of security. At about the 4 hour mark however, uno of the duo did have no idea-r....about anything....as delirium set in due to a lack of ..... ??!!

Safely back at the finish, the Dynamic Duo relished the buzz of their comeback and maintaining their reputation of causing noise pollution ! Great craic, satisfaction and yummy grub...both feeling at home and not wanting to leave!

3-Legged : Beats Your Own 2 Feet !

The Dyamic Duo came out of a very long hibernation this morning to face the most competitive and political of environments. The stakes were high, reputations were hanging very much in a balance and pre-race heart rates were of immeasurable levels. There is simply nowhere as threatening as the local village primary school sports day!

Of course, it's all about our kids....well, almost all! Having made sure the kids understood it was all about enjoying the experience and the taking part, not the winning.....the adults turned their attention to the parents races. And quickly forgot their own advice!

Tensions were high from very early in the morning, as news spread that the sprint champion in the mummys category in recent years had been out training for 6 weeks - but when she found out that Uno of the Dynamic Duo was going to challenge her, she was so scared of losing her title that she decided she wasn't going to race. So in a bid to inject some fun back into sports day for the mummys, somebody (ahem!) put in a special request for a 3-legged race.

A total of 7 brave pairs stood at the start line, bound together at the ankles by the ubiquitous school tie, and awaited the whistle. Completely in synch from the off, seemingly better on 3 legs than their own 2 feet, the Duo lead the field all the way and took the title. The noise levels soared as the crowd went wild (well, the kids had been wild all morning anyway!), and as the Duo woo-hoo'ed at their victory, and as the other 6 pairs laughter reverberated around the pitch on crossing the line. Goal achieved - a fun race! (ohhh ok then, yes, and the gold medals too!).

In post race interviews the Duo were quizzed as to how much secret training they had done, with well-known local runners saying there was no way that we could be so smooth and at-one without practicing and a strategy. Believe us, there had been absolutely no training at all. Believe us, there was no method. In stark contrast to the other pairs, who were extremely vocal in their instructions to each other during the entire race and will be chanting "up-down-up-down-up-down" in their sleep tonight, the Duo just fell into silent stride and ran on an inherent harmony. What a team. Simply dynamic!

Ahhhhh the sweet taste of victory! Sorry...of taking part!

Dynamic Duo Take Up A New Sport - Dancing!

Who said endurance athletes couldn't be agile dancers and use their abilities in such a sport to fundraise?! Hmmmmm, well you'd be right. Dancing Queens we are not, but we felt quite motivated by the challenge of doing "the lift" and therefore organised a private showing of Dirty Dancing at a local cinema to help raise money for Anahilt Scout Group.

Billed as an evening for girls to come have the "time of their lives", the movie was preceded in the lobby by a drinks reception and popcorn donated by Golden Popcorn was carried through to the theatre – all film-goers were reported to have "hungry eyes".

A great night was had by all - some had too great a night! - and the fun more than made up for the the subsequent sore muscles experienced by Andrea and Jen after trying to re-enact some of the moves!

Golden Popcorn have posted the snippet about the fundraiser on the following facebook and blog pages -

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/pages/Golden-Popcorn/70752709887

http://goldenpopcorn-official.blogspot.com/

Dynamic Duo Lap Up "Lap The Lough"

Three weeks on from Rat Race victory, the Dynamic Duo took to their saddles again on 30 August 2009 to bike in the 4th annual "Lap The Lough" event – 140km around the circumference of Lough Neagh, the largest lake in Ireland and Britain and the 3rd largest in Western Europe. At over 35km long and 20km wide, it's quite a water feature. . . .and featured quite a lot of water on the day!

The Duo are no strangers to the area but have previously been on the Lough, battling 10 foot waves (we kid you not!) for 3 hours in a kayak to find Phoney - sorry Coney - Island. That day, which was a complete blast, seemed like 3 minutes instead of 3 hours, and was full of our usual hilarity despite the hostile conditions, we decided that together the immense DW ultra marathon kayak would be a piece of cake! Ahem, watch this space!

Anyway, miserable conditions that day (of paddling rather than pedaling) boded well for miserable conditions in the second half of Lap The Lough – but in contrast to everybody else, we were far from miserable! Again we just kept smiling, chatting and laughing . . . much to the annoyance of everybody else, particularly to one guy who was clearly intent on being as miserable as possible.

The event started at Kinnego marina, Oxford Island, and on arrival it was clear that word had spread since last year and the cycle was set for record numbers. In the end over 1300 fools, who had nothing better to do on a Sunday morning, started the challenge. The queue for car parking and registration was massive but moved quickly with everyone eager to grab a goodie bag that included a "designer" t-shirt, which featured a very bizarre moustache reference. In keeping with the theme, each cyclist was also being handed a false moustache – unfortunately electrolysis hasn't worked on Jen and she was told she didn't need one!

Thankfully her legs had been waxed since the Rat Race barber comment (see previous report), as she wanted to be as aerodynamic as possible on her new speed machine and impressively co-ordinated and classy kit that included white shoes, white/black/pink top and the cutest wee white cycle computer. Apparently she has a great personal shopper. Lucky girl. She is also lucky enough to have the other half of the Duo still pedaling a heap of junk and wearing very old kit, so making herself look even better!

Well, we set off from Kinnego at 09:00 on a clockwise route around the Lough. Our chat was animated as usual from the start, with lots of riders clearly loving our conversations and keen to join in and find out more about our personal lives! Obviously we toned it down a bit! Our chatter kept apace with our cadence and the miles clocked up effortlessly. Before we knew it, we were over halfway and at the lunch stop at Shane's Castle, where coffee, sandwiches and biscuits were accompanied by a string quartet – some people were struggling and fairly unhappy by this stage, so we approached the foursome with a request to "take a sad song and make it better"!

A 15-minute lunch stop was long enough for the Duo and as we started cycling again, Jen's confidence in her ability and performance rose as some struggling participants were pointed out to her, particularly those requiring oxygen before they set off again! No doubt some people thought we'd had an injection of it, with one guy asking us how we had enough oxygen to chat and cycle at the same time!

Just as we left Shane's Castle the weather took a turn for the worse. Those unhappy campers became even more unhappy, putting their heads down to shield themselves from the rain (oh, was it raining?!), the strong headwind and focus on getting to the finish line as quickly as possible.

We on the other hand didn't want it to end. Too chirpy for our own goods, was one comment! At one stage however, uno of the duo became extremely concerned about the content of the conversation and began wondering just how to get through the last hour of the challenge while listening to chat about the pros and cons of granulated and demerara sugar! Funnily enough nobody joined in this thread of conversation!

It took about 2 hours in the wind and rain from Shane's Castle to the finish line at Kinnego marina, including a good Samaritans stop to help a fellow-female (very much in the minority) who had a puncture. We obviously looked so accomplished at the task that none of the guys asked did we need a hand. Guess that puncture repair task in the Rat Race paid off!

Drowned rats we were as we arrived back at the marina, but prize rats again – full of the warm glow of self satisfaction and another perfect day out.

The Rat Race report ended with "had it all. You know that saying, "Blood, sweat and.." ? Well, two out of three ain't bad!". The same applies for Lap The Lough! But thankfully it didn't ruin the new kit!

Lap The Lough took us 5 and ½ hours and we averaged 15.2 mph for the day. Neagh problem!

An epic day, great performance and the poor weather from halfway made absolutely no difference. Oh boy, white lightning can't be matched!

Dynamic Duo Scurry To Victory

Well, the alternative training regimes paid off at the weekend and the Dynamic Duo scurried to victory, retaining their title of Winning Female Pair at the 2nd annual Belfast Rat Race. The event lived up to expectations, successfully combining physical exertion and immense fun. We had a blast and would have said that the sheer enjoyment meant that results didn't matter – but that would be a lie. Yes, before the event started it didn't matter. But once we got underway, had a great start to the first of the weekend's activity loops and had checked out the competition – losing was not an option!

The run-up to the event was filled with last minute preparation, by which we mean accessorising our kit rather than training! If we hadn't won for our physical ability, we would have surely got a prize for our gear and getting into the spirit of Rat Race. This took the form of cuddly rats attached to the top of our helmets (which after an intense testing session in a wind tunnel on the bikes showed little drag and impact on our aerodynamics!) and on top of our handlebars (leading us on our way, these fondly became known as "Rat Nav").



Rat Race started on Saturday evening with the Mean Streets, which challenged competitors to run/scurry/walk/crawl around Belfast city centre to find 24 Check Points (CPs) within a timeframe of 2hr 30mins. Locations of the CPs were issued to competitors 1 hour before the start time, with each team having to mark them on a map and decide the best route to try and collect all CPs. Different points were awarded for each CP and this list was only issued just after the official start, which meant some teams changed their route choices at the last minute to ensure they collected the highest scoring CPs.

However high scores come at a price and in true Rat Race style, they come at a personal cost! The highest valued CP was 50 points, which was located at a barber shop and was the 4th CP that we visited. In order to get the 50 points one of the team had to have a handful of hair cut off (females) or a strip of hair shaved off (males). While Jen was well overdue a leg wax and tried to talk the barber into taking a strip off there, he was having none of it. Jen said to Andrea, "win or lose – on your head be it" …..so, in the name of victory (yes, even at that early stage!), Andrea offered her coiffed head and came out with one handful of hair less to carry around the rest of the course. A visit to the hairdresser is long overdue anyway!

The next highest valued CP was worth 30 points and was in a tattoo parlour, with one of the team having to decide if they were brave enough to get one done, then sign a medical form and then be ushered into a sterile back room where the tattooist was ready with electronic needles whirring and the designs laid out ready to choose. Only at the very last minute, as the needles came to within 2mm of Jen's arm, did the tattooist say that it was all a set-up. This CP was carried out to perfection, with not even the marshals knowing that it was a gag and nobody that had been brave enough to put themselves forward telling other competitors that it was a set-up. Secrecy at its best!

Obviously Andrea was keen to know what Jen had asked the tattooist to put on her arm. She said she had thought of a couple of options before deciding on "Dynamic Duo", but the guy had said that it was too long for her arm (yes, even her biceps!) and he suggested simply DD, which was what Jen went for. Bless. At the same time though, Andrea found it hilarious that Jen should be so boastful about her chest size!

Anyway, by this stage, which was about halfway through the Mean Streets, we realised that we were sweeping up the CPs at a great rate and that there would be no challenge that we would not undertake to get points. Others tasks included having to go into the Empire (about 6pm) and stand up on stage to tell a joke to the patrons; pitching a tent outside Tiso's; wolfing down a bowl of noodles at Foo kin Express; going into the Ulster Hall and drawing a picture; climbing into a high-sided inflatable box full of fairy liquid and getting back out; doing press ups; running through the water fountains at Custom House Sq; leapfrogging over bollards; and doing "keepie-uppies" at a George Best mural.

All this, while running 12-15km around the city centre. The Dynamic Duo managed to collect all the CPs, scoring the maximum 400 points and clearing the course in 1hr 40mins – well within the 2hr 30mins cut off.

So, we got home 830pm Saturday night, sorted out our gear from the Mean Streets, packed new gear for the Nine2Five on Sunday, and were back at the City Hall at 7am Sunday for the most challenging day of the event.

Again we were issued with CP references to mark on a map and a route book of the different activities we would undertake that day. Most of the day would be spent on the bikes, covering the surrounding areas of Belfast and again facing up to different challenges in a bid to collect as many points as possible. Having asked about the nature of the biking, we decided not to use the tandem this year (kindly provided by Dromara Cycling Club) and stuck with our mountain bikes.

The race started at 9am and the cut off time was 5pm (which is why it's called Nine2Five!). The first section took us out on the bikes to the Ormeau Embankment, where we got into a kayak and paddled 2km towards Stranmillis, collected a CP, and paddled the 2km back. We truly are dynamic in a kayak, or so we're told, and overtook a few teams that had got in ahead of us. Or maybe they were just distracted trying to work out did we have head-cams underneath the rats on our helmets!

From here we cycled down to Belvoir Park, where there was a memory orienteering course on foot. A navigation error at the beginning meant we had a 10min warm-up before we started! But hey, other than that the navigation was perfect all weekend!

After completing the foot course we were back on the bikes and down to Shawsbridge, where we had to canoe out on the Lagan and throw a ball into a net, and then sit in an inflatable tyre and tube down one of the fast-flowing shoots. Nicely soaked, but not looking too much like drowned rats, it was back on the bikes and on to Mary Peter's track where we had to gain maximum points we had to do a 100m sprint, jump over 3m50 in the long jump and throw over 7m50 in the shot putt. Which we did in a manner that Mary herself would have been proud!

Back on the bikes again, we were off to Lady Dixon park where there was an off-road technical biking section (not tandem-friendly!). This was the last location in the first loop and so after this we headed back to the City Hall to drop our bikes for a short while and undertake two challenges.

The first was an abseil down the inside of Victoria Square, which Jen had been looking forward to all day with her fear of heights! The fact that she struggled to get to the top of the first flight of stairs without feeling dizzy was a sure sign that this was a huge challenge, but by trusting my words to her and my confidence in her, as well as the guys at the top, she faced her fears and did the descent in style. That's my girl!

The second challenge was back at the City Hall and saw us having to change a puncture, a task that was kindly (?!) hosted by Bike Dock.

Over halfway there now and it was back on the bikes and off to Orangefield for a 3-lap blast around the velodrome. Chris Hoy eat your heart out! The route then took us down Beersbridge Nature Reserve and Comber Greenway to Dundonald Ice Bowl, where we had 6 balls to score a strike in 10-pin bowling (turned out to be our only failed CP all weekend!) and then had 6 pistol shots each to hit the bulls-eye (well, the duckling!) 3 times each for maximum point. We don't quite know what it says about us that we each hit the target in our first 3 shots. But you would be best not getting on the wrong side of us!

The bike route then took us to the Civil Service sports pavilion in the grounds of Stormont, up the hill to Stormont building itself, down the Belmont Road to a gym where we had circuit training to do and then to the finish at City Hall. We dropped our bikes and before crossing the finish line we had to help each other climb up an inflatable, down into shin-high water, and out the other side. From there we had a 20m sprint to the finish – where we knew victory was ours in the Female Pair category. We did the Nine2Five course in 5hr 18min and scored 990 out of 1,000 points.

Rat Race had it all. You know that saying, "Blood, sweat and.." ? Well, two out of three ain't bad!

Perfect race, perfect venue, perfect team, perfect weather, perfect kit, perfect accessories, perfect friendship. You can't get better than that!

Rat's all folks!