One of Rob's more obvious controls : ' long grass tip'. One of the others was hidden behind a black Angus
Always nice to have the final control by a line feature - makes it easy. But this shot was taken from the 4 th to last control on Blue.....the 3 rd last was located about 800 m away in the middle of 4 re entrants.....
This was a good shot as I almost tripped up Patrick Smyth as he headed for this one - that would have made a better shot !
These were the only crags I could find on the Cragg estate ....
This was obviously the start. Saskia ran this like clockwork with her frozen looking deputy. Saskia - make sure your assistants colour co ordinate next time.Cloudy but brighter later with southerly BF 4/5 Temp 15 deg C Brisk.
This is the somewhat delayed report of the last NN event.
Dave had booked a June date for this to avoid 'the bl**dy awful weather we get up there every time we run an event there in the Autumn'. Dave then breezed off on a cruise somewhere off the Balearics - swapping his compass for quoits.
Well, the weather at Cragg was good if you rolled in late as I did. Those lucky enough to be tasked with the organisation faced driving rain on an edgy wind. Heading west from a booking at an earlier triathlon event ( mainly dry - apart from the swim) - the wipers ground away on the SAAB as I cruised in.
It worked. By the time I got out the car . the sun then came out - and visibility was clear way up towards Scotland
Cragg is a really top area - with lots of old earth workings left over from mining - giving a huge area of finger like ridges. This is the left overs from the short lived Ridsdale Ironworks - see link below . Seems that the business failed due to its remote location - which is the reason usually given for closing any business these days in Wales.
It's big claim to fame was to have supplied the iron for the High level Bridge. The bridge has been shut the last few years and only recently re-opened. It seems the iron was pretty much ok - but the asbestos cladding ( not from Ridsdale ) caused a big headache for the renovators.
Anyway here's the link :
http://www.durham-pa.gov.uk/durhamcc/K2P.nsf/K2PDetail?readform&PRN=N13013
With the absence of our military supremo , Boris , we were reduced from the multi task white van to adopting CLOK style maroon tent for the operations centre with Phill Batts and Rob in charge. Rob had shoved a control on one of his longer courses in a depression outside the tent flaps - so he could time the approach of the long legged runners from the crest of the hill as they headed from the mine working section and through into the more rustic area with the beefy cattle.
The open area provided some fast running and it was good to have a river as a defined western boundary. It was quite an up and down affair but not of the nose bleed variety .
Attendance was a bit on the low side for one of the truly better areas in Northumberland.
Good results though from all the youngsters ( again ) wth Saskia, Jeneba and Maya on yellow. Barnaby flew in with the best l green time of the juniors - by a long way. Bob put in his steady blue run.
Very little now until the autumn - other than for those heading to Perth for the Scottish 6 days.
Have a good summer and back in the fall .
