Two Pokes and a Tandem - Castle Ward Race 24 March 2012

With a favourable forecast for the closing race of the CCAR Series 2011/12 at Castle Ward, we reckoned we’d see if we could go one better than our fluked second place in the same race last year. No chance – we floundered badly through a general lack of fitness, a couple of tactical errors and a bit of bad luck; and we’ve learned before that all three need to be on form to place well.

Waiting for the next ferry with a punctured tandem.  Davy insisted on downing his ice-cream before the photo.

We decided to have a go on a tandem on this race after checking that we were eligible to race with it, and were delighted to get the nod from organiser Ivan. We’d never been on one together before, so it was a nice change but took a right bit of getting used to.

We also took a chance on a new Tango and Cash event HQ, our ‘new’ Elddis caravan. Highlight of the day was when one lad turned up at the door of it with all his mandatory kit, wanting to register for the race!

The race started on the FAR side of Strangford Lough in Portaferry, so after the race briefing at Castle Ward, we all made our way along the forest track on the bikes in convoy and then into Strangford village to catch the ferry to the start line... at least everyone else did.

We got 3 pinch-punctures in the pot-holes on the way down and missed the ferry. It was only when gobbling ice cream waiting for the next ferry that we realised there was well over 30 stone weight to the thing, so we shouldn’t have been surprised.

We finally got on our way and started the race, cleared all the bike points on the far side, did half the running ones, and hopped on the ferry to come back to Strangford, along with most other teams. We biked again, and our timings were going to be OK until we reached a daft special task that had us scrabbling around on a hillside for over 20 minutes getting cut to shreds by brambles for a mere 20 points. This meant we only had time to get back to base, pick up two of the run checkpoints, the first kayak one, and get straight back to the finish. The hill was brutal and the legs were gone, so we arrived back over five minutes late and lost a whole pile of points for that.

Great to be back out on a race, and a real shame that the competitors didn’t get to use the mountain biking trails within the estate. Well done to CCAR on another great event and series, and thanks to Joan and team for the fantastic catering.

May the technical issues experienced on Ivan's computer at the end mean that the results never come out!

The new Tango and Cash rolling HQ - bling!

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CCAR Castle Ward, 15 March

Photos courtesy of Uberdog, Ireland's only outdoor and extreme sports magazine

Our first adventure race in 18 months, we had not been wasting our time and had been carbo-loading relentlessly in the interim.  Miraculously, all the hard work paid off, and we were delighted to just nick second place in a hard-fought CCAR race at Castle Ward on 5 March.  Well off the pace of race winners Passing Wind, we were just ahead of the overall race series winners Dogleap, who just had a bad day at the office.

Lord and Lady Tango & Cash take a jaunty carriage ride around their extensive Castle Ward grounds

We couldn’t believe the turn-out of over 50 teams for the race, the final race of the CCAR 2010/11 series, as CCAR had been struggling for numbers last time we’d raced.  Great to see the sport really taking off, and Ivan Park and CCAR still at the heart of it.

Early confusion

Following Ivan’s race briefing at HQ, we rolled down on the bikes to the estate house for the start.  We were sent off sequentially, starting our timers as we crossed the line, and once we got the nod we set off hard downhill on foot to pick up our first map.  There was a bit of mayhem as all the teams seemed to have been given the other map from the one they’d expected, but knowing Ivan, that was deliberate and all part of the fun.  Confusion reigned for a time!

After morning prayers, the staff gathered themselves for some marching drills, before serving tea in the drawing room.

We rattled round the two 3-point orienteering loops in sharp enough fashion, but it took us a while before we realised that the thicket shapes marked on the map actually bore no resemblance to those we experienced – but hey, they grew, I guess!

Scotsman

We lifted map C and legged it out of the field round the estate path alongside another team (one of ‘em was a Scotsman, bless him), and we reckoned the only folks in front of us were Passing Wind and Dogleap, who had been joined at the hip for the whole orienteering bit and were absolutely flying.

We were neck and neck with this other team as far as the checkpoint on the gate, where we decided to take a direct route back to HQ while the other chaps took the path.  This worked a treat for us, as we had completed and left the wooden skis task without seeing the other guys, who as it turned out, had made a wrong turn on the path.

Damp

Back down to the estate house for the window count, we hopped onto the bikes and followed the arrows to the kayak transition point.  Third team on the water, about ten minutes behind the leaders, we took our chance to give both Passing Wind and Dogleap a damn good soaking as they passed us on their return trip. 

Further soakings were administered to Surf’n’Turf and Get No Sleep, whom we met on our own return trip.  After much tee-heeing, it was only later that we did our sums and realised that we were worst off, as they only had one soaking each, but we got soaked 4 times – we’ll know for again.

Out of the boats and onto the bikes, we looped up to the cairn and some other stuff I’ve forgotten, and back to kayak transition, guiding a couple of lost lads down to the boats for their paddle section, and retrieving their dropped water bottle.

Wii foot

The wee foot loop to the orienteering-posts and the castle ruin was handy enough until we got the grid reference, then we realised we had to batter back up that bloody hill again to the CP at the back of HQ. 

We met Passing Wind and Dogleap, together as usual, coming down as we were halfway up the hill; they were about fifteen minutes ahead of us.  Dropping back down the road to the bikes again, loads of teams were now streaming up the hill, about ten minutes behind us; there was plenty of racing still to do, so we knew we had to keep motoring and be careful with the navigation.  Without delay, we hopped on the bikes and headed out to do the bonus bike loop after the water-filler-with-holes-ball-thing-task.

Brucie bonus loop

We picked up bonus 1 no problem, then we made a major balls-up on the way to the bonus 2, completely missing a road because of where we’d folded the map.  Davy is still adamant that it was the map’s fault!

This mistake meant we had to pass bonus 3 to get to bonus 2 (meeting Dogleap and then Passing Wind going the correct way; they must have wondered what the devil we were at!), then back to bonus 3 again.   It added just over 2km that we could ill afford at this point, as we knew there were other teams close and we were starting to flag from our efforts. 

We picked up bonus 2 just ahead of Get No Sleep and hot on their heels His’n’Hers, both of whom we met on the road with them heading for bonus 2, and us now heading back again from bonus 2 to bonus 3.  We reckoned we now had only about 2 minutes on Get No Sleep, which was unfortunate, as we were both absolutely HANGIN’ at this stage.  Cramp starting to set in, Davy had taken to snorting Dioralyte powders (even trying one sachet as a suppository!) and I was in the foetal position softly singing “Rock of Ages, Cleft for Me” – we thought we’d be caught by the chasing pack for sure. 

Dogleap barking

Eventually realising that everyone else behind us was absolutely busted as well, we managed to keep slugging on through the woods.  Arriving up to Greg at the jigsaw, Dogleap were just leaving it, so we reckoned they’d either cocked up somewhere, or they are RUBBISH at jigsaws!  It turned out that Dogleap had lost a fair bit of time by taking a different route up to the jigsaw across a field, and the poor lads had been chased back by an angry farmer.

The drop back down the hill on the bikes was hairy enough in places, and we had to resist the temptation to ride the new GREAT-looking MTB trails, to instead sproughal down through briars and bracken to the estate path.  We could see Dogleap about 200 yards ahead just disappearing round the corner, and we ground our way rightly up the mucky path up the back way to HQ.

Phew!

We crossed the finish line surprised to see only one set of bikes; the skittish steeds of Passing Wind.  Dogleap's altercation with the farmer, and a wee bit of confusion on the perimeter of HQ, ended up scuppering their hopes for second, and they nipped across the line just after us to take third, with Get No Sleep finishing strongly to take fourth, just ahead of His’n’Hers.

Great fun afterwards, with grub and refreshments laid on in capital style by Joan, and no doubt more craic besides, well into the evening. 

Massive thanks to Ivan and the rest of his team CCAR, who put on another incredible race; amazing stuff, made all the more remarkable given the small team of marshals.

Well done to Passing Wind on the day, Dogleap on their overall series win, and all the category winners across the field.  An honest workout, no mistake, and no better way to enjoy the best of the outdoors; in good-natured competition, against yourself and others, up to your elbows in muck!

The cortege prepares to leave

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CCAR Race 1, Cootehill, 6 November 2010

Lamentably, Tango and Cash weren't able to make this one, giving rise to plenty of pre-race taunts (as in the poster below) from some of the younger (and pretty pasty-looking, it has to be said) competitors.



Defying their ill-looking poster pallour, a big congratulations has to go to Sean and Enda, who came a creditable fourth in the race, despite suffering a puncture, a penalty, and an additional three sittings at the cracker-eating task - "COOOOOOOKKIEEEEES"

The irony of the team name "No race for old men" won't be lost on the lads, given that the average age of the folks on the podium was 63 (only brought down by Melanie Spath, who surely can't be any more than 21, and Gerry Kingston, who is currently studying for his 11+ and says he is really looking forward to "big school").

Causeway Coast Adventure Racing (CCAR)

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CCAR Antrim Hills - Close but no cigar

A crisp, cold, still day was the perfect back-drop for the CCAR Antrim Hills race from Watertop Farm on 28 November. It was great to see a big turn-out for the last race of the 2009 series, nearly 30 teams, and hopefully it proved encouragement enough for Ivan to put on another series in 2010!

Delighted with our performance on the bikes after a dodgy foot section, we were third to finish, nine minutes behind the unstoppable Passing Wind and two minutes behind Deliverance Cousins, after just over 3.5 hours of racing.

Results are not yet clear. We were timed out at the abseil waiting unduly long for the terrified, squealing Deliverance Cousins to do the abseil, and we reckon that after time adjustment, we have managed to just hold onto second place.

(Edit 1 Dec: Joint second on the results, but it seemed clear on the day that Deliverance Cousins had just nicked it.)

Deliverance Cousins Enda and Sean bask in the glory of nearly beating us.

RACE REPORT - If you did not attend Watertop Farm on 28 Nov, don't even bother!

Once Joan had worked out what side of the start/finish line we were to be standing on, the hooter sounded and we all took off on the foot section along paths, roads, and slippery bridges.

Passing Wind led from the start, showing a clean pair of heels from after 50 yards. We, however, maintained very dirty pairs of heels throughout the foot section, completing it in about 15^th spot, having mistakenly thought that it was a mandatory walk.

During the assault course, Davy initially attempted to go through the pipe, but had to resort to the zip-line instead, cracking some poor sod in the balls with the harness when passing it back to the top.

We were on the bikes with no messing, passing a couple of teams in the process, and were up and across the road into the forest, stamping hard up the hill.

We met Deliverance Cousins on the path, utterly bewildered and completely lost at a junction, so we took them under our wing and guided them up to the checkpoint at the chambered grave. Passing Wind headed back past us as we approached it, so we realised we had suddenly found ourselves up in second place. We guided the Deliverance Cousins out to the next checkpoint out on the road, before the big tarmac descent down into Cushendun.

Heading downhill, our singlespeeds were no match for the Deliverance Cousins’ geared steeds, and they disappeared out of sight quickly. We got to the boats as quickly as our little spinning legs would carry us, and were surprised that we were so close to the guys in front. We took our chance to beach Passing Wind on a rock and drench the unsuspecting Deliverance Cousins on our way up the river.

We lost a wee bit of time hunting for the checkpoint in the cave, which we tried to make up for on the way back from the pier by taking a short-cut onto the beach, but Ivan wasn’t in the mood for any entrepreneurship, and sent us back round to Steve at the jetty on the river.

We made short order of the run round the village, but didn’t see a soul during it. On the beach, Ann congratulated us on being both the fastest AND the slowest competitors on the space-hoppers.

Glad to be back onto the bikes, we were soon carving into the lead of the guys ahead. Things got technical on the rough track, and we could see the guys a couple of minutes ahead of us making slow progress, which spurred us on – they even had to get off and walk a few times, so we knew they were bound to be really suffering!

Over the back of the hill, we pushed on as hard as our legs would spin, but again, on the singlespeeds this was not as quick as we wished.

We arrived down at the wee lake just as Deliverance Cousins were leaving. Passing Wind’s technique across the pond had them now well ahead. Billy stood in the boat and held Gerry’s legs wheelbarrow style, whilst the ginger Dervish did the butterfly stroke out front. Genius!

All that was left to do was to get up to Keith, Jonny and Greg at the abseil, wait for Deliverance Cousins to do their bit, and get back to the centre sharpish.

Karen Duggan and race partner Richard had a great old tussle with Barry and Didi for first mixed team and, despite Karen tearing off towards Dublin with 100 yards to go, they just managed to hold on to take it.

A massive thanks to the whole CCAR team, crowned by Joan and Shirley's superb spread afterwards. A brilliant day’s fun, and definitely a format that suits the majority of folks. Another wee bonus loop for the first few teams back would have crowned it – maybe in 2010?

On a final note, history is what was written, not what happened! ;-)

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Cuchulainn Challenge 2009

An unsatisfactory day at the office for Tango & Cash with Pimm's & White on 7 November, at the 8 hr Cuchulainn Challenge, understudy to the 24 hr Cooley Raid. We don't know how we did, but it was well short of our exacting standards due to a range of factors, all of them our fault!!

(Edit: turns out we were 1st team of four, and 3rd overall in the 8hr race, but loads of teams doing the 24hr race skinned us, so it's not actually much to shout about!)

(Another Edit: there was supposedly an error in the results, and we were actually 1st team of four and 2nd overall in the 8hr race - the bad day at the office turned out pretty darn good!)

Highlight of the day was watching Billy and Gerry of Passing Wind paddling their canoe for about 100 metres sitting BACK TO FRONT, wondering why it wasn't handling so well, then nearly ending up in Carlingford Lough trying to get turned round - brilliant stuff!

We struggled in the kayaks (even though we were sitting the right way round), losing about 10 minutes or so on the front-runners, then really suffered on the initial climb on the bikes until we got warmed up. By that time, we were about 30 minutes off the pace, and never to regain it.

Davy took a nasty tumble off the bike not long after the kayaks, trying to avoid some chap who just stopped in the middle of the road whilst Davy had his nose in the map, so at least that gave us something to talk about! We hardly saw another team all day, so the usual banterous exchanges were kept to a minimum.

By the time we had finally found our mojo, we knew we hadn't a mission of catching those in front. So, we took a gamble and went for the foot orienteering instead of the bike bonus, in the vain hope of aliens abducting anyone they saw on bikes, to leave the way clear for us. This section through a misty, barren, featureless wasteland removed any remaining energy and enthusiasm for life, as well as most of Enda's epidermis (due to him breaking in a new pair of shorts - ouch!!).

It was pitch black when we were dropping back into Carlingford on the bikes after a tough enough final section, so we even skipped the easy bonus at the end and were delighted to finally arrive back at base after about 8.5 hrs on the trot.

Thanks to Ivan and the rest of team CCAR for another great race, albeit it wasn't our day.

Gerry Kingston from Passing Wind hones his pony-trekking skills

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Roe Valley Rampage, 3rd October

Tango and Cash were delighted to finish 2nd on Saturday in the Roe Valley Rampage 1-day race, following an awful start. The last time we wore the jackets to race, in Castlewellan, we were fifth, so we were well pleased with our progress from then.

Well done (as usual!) to Passing Wind, who romped to victory, and commiserations to the two Peters, who finished ahead of us but were 'adjusted' back a bit! A great battle as well in the latter stages with No Frontiers Abu. The usual craic!!

Thanks to Ivan and team CCAR for another day of brilliant fun.

RACE REPORT - Not to be read if you are on prescription drugs.

The hooter sounded and we set out from Bob’s Bistro behind Ivan in his car at a helluva pace. After 1 km this had reduced to a decent enough pace, and in another 500 yards had become a dreadful pace, as lots of teams streamed past us over the duration of the big climb up the side of Binevenagh.

We were far enough down the pack to see the line of folks we needed to follow heading into the forest for the hike-a-bike bit. Unfortunately for the Peters (Cole and Cromie), they were at the front and missed the turn, heading on up the road, a mistake that was to cost them dearly at the finish through a 20-minute penalty.

Safely through the forest onto the road again, it was a slow climb up to the car park, where Joan was marshalling the tennis ball task, and we arrived as about the tenth team. Davy was dying of the heat in his blazer, which was much heavier twill than my own; this was affecting his pace badly, and we were both hacked off as a result, given all the prep we had done for the race...

On the first foot orienteering loop we seemed to make a good route choice, as we arrived back to Joan now up in fifth place, and we set off on the bikes again along the mountain ridge. The slick tyres we had were a real disaster here, and we nearly came a cropper more than once, so when we got to the mucky stuff on the other side, we just hopped off the bikes and ran down the slope along the downhill biking course, just ahead of Mark and Enda of the Spartans.

The marshal at the underground pipe was none too sure that Davy and I were going to be able to fit through, but squeeze through we did and we were off to Steve at the rope-slide. Coming back from this we found a GPS unit lying on the track, which we bagged until the finish (turned out this belonged to Marty from No Frontiers Abu).

A fast descent through the forest followed, and we were careful to watch out for the checkpoint at the little quarry halfway down. Just after getting this, we flew on past poor Deliverance Brothers, who were climbing back up the hill to get the checkpoint. Hehe. We spotted No Frontiers Abu as well, up ahead, and we assumed that they too had missed it initially, and that them going back for it had alerted Deliverance Brothers.

We dropped our bikes off at the bike-drop and headed into the woods following the tape to the marshal, to mark up our map. It was at this point we realised our pen didn’t work, and we had Spartans and Deliverance Brothers breathing down our necks, but they just had to wait until we borrowed a pen!

Davy was in his element on this bit with the navigating, as we totally nailed the section in great time, managing to escape Spartans and Deliverance Brothers, who were to scrabble around in the woods and lose a bit of time here. Peter Cole’s good grace has to go on record, as he is constantly keen to help other racers even in the heat of battle, and he gave us a wee clever heads-up at this point.

We reached the blindfold task at the same time as the Peters and No Frontiers Abu. This task was completed by all three teams with the grace and poise of a herd of elephants.
The Peters made good time through to the road and stole a bit of a lead by a couple of minutes, and on reaching the road we were just behind No Frontiers Abu. Marty dropped his chain here which held them up a wee bit, but they still hit the water first, as were were flaffing about so much at the kayak transition.

We put in just behind No Frontiers Abu and started battering into the wind, and we had a big surprise in the kayaks. Never in any race before had we ever over-taken another team in the boats, but somehow we managed to make a bit of progress on the lads, probably to do with the crappy conditions, and we sneaked up into third place.

At one point, the crafty devils looked like they were going to try a little portage up the shore, but it ended up being too awkward, so they put back in again. Passing Wind stormed past us on their way back to the bikes, about 20 minutes or so ahead, having been way out in front from pretty much the start of the race.

The windy rough conditions seemed to suit us OK, as we ate well into the lead that the Peters had by the time we got to the flag, so we worked hard on the way back to try and hold our position, but knowing we would not catch the Peters.

Back to shore and onto the bikes again, all that remained was to blast out the final few miles back to Bob’s Bistro. We arrived back as the third team, but the Peters had their 20 minute time penalty, so we just managed to nick second place, second to the unputdownable Passing Wind, who were deserving winners.

Those of us who were lucky enough to be 1-day racers ate our soup, sandwiches and buns with great relief at having finished for the weekend, sparing just a thought for those poor sods who were going out again that night and the following morning to race again!

Many thanks to Ivan, Joan, Steve and the rest of the CCAR team, who put on the usual fantastic race and after-race support!

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Threads Pressed and Ready for Racing

Tango & Cash are looking forward to stretchin the oul limbs against the usual crew on Saturday 3rd October in the Roe Valley Rampage, hoping to improve on our position in last year's race, when Passing Wind wiped the floor with the field. Read Passing Wind Strikes Back.

We are hoping that Davy's strict diet of anything not nailed to the floor will make the difference this time. Gobble gobble!

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Bluestacks!! CCAR Race 29 November

It was cold and icy, but clear and still, for the final race of the CCAR series 2008, and it proved to be another superb outing – stunning scenery in Donegal’s Bluestack Mountains, a brilliant course, well-organised, a great reception of food and drink afterwards, and great banter amongst the competitors as usual.

Pissing Wand took the win on the day, with Tango & Cash romping to second, just ahead of Deliverance Brothers. Lucky for the rest of us, the McCabe Brothers’ navigating was not as reliable as it normally is (ahem!), and if they had not made any mistakes, they would have won the race by miles.

In terms of the 2008 series overall, Passing Wind took that title too, with Tango and Cash grabbing second just ahead of Uphill Struggle.

RACE REPORT - Do not proceed until you have consumed several cups of strong coffee.

We gathered at about 9:00am at the Bluestack Centre in Letterbarra, just outside Donegal town. The still slippery conditions at 10:45am dictated that the field would best be broken up by a quick run, rather than starting with fifty competitors taking off on bikes in a bunch, and the run did break things up just a bit. There was a fast bunch, a slow bunch, and then just us plodding along between the two, with about a hundred yard gap front and rear.

Our transitions were clockwork all day, and after the short run, we were onto bikes quickly and out the gate as the third team, just behind Pissing Wand and the McCabe Brothers, who were already lost by the time they had reached the front gate of the centre, haha!

Once the McCabes had worked out that they should have turned left out of the centre, they, along with Passing Wind, established an early lead of a few hundred yards. Deliverance Brothers caught up with us but we held with them and kept the leaders in sight to CP3, getting there just after Pissing Wand and just ahead of Deliverance Brothers.

The underground pipe-run was despatched without incident, and we made our way along the short single-track to Shirley and her ‘drink the piping-hot unseasoned famine-soup’ task. Davy was rubbish at this and I ended up downing both soups; we left for the angling club just behind Pissing Wand, and happened to see the McCabes (who had been in first place), heading off up the road in completely the wrong direction.

The next challenge was to get one of the bikes dismantled and strapped onto a kayak for the paddle up Lough Eske, which we managed pretty quickly and got to paddling just ahead of Passing Wind. The McCabes had by now realised the error of their ways, and were in the water about 50 yards behind. With no wind, the water was like glass and the scenery quite amazing across the water, the snow-capped mountains in the distance.

We managed to hold off the challenge of Pissing Wand in the boats for about the first km, but then a combination of being a bit fat, and the boat taking on water, meant that Billy and Gerry were able to ease past us with their slow measured strokes, and they had about a minute on us by the far shore, the McCabes having caught up with us as well.

Our transition back to the bike/run was top notch, and we were well up the road whilst Pissing Wand and the McCabes were still flaffing about with paddles and shoes and bike re-assembly.

When we reached the path up to the archery at CP5, Passing Wind had caught us and were about three steps ahead of us, but we nipped through the trees and managed to sneak in just in front of them. This was a manoeuvre that had us leaving the archery in first place, but little did we know at the time that it was ultimately to scupper our chance of a race win, given confusion over a right of passage through private property.

Having run round the road in a vain attempt to catch up with Davy on the bike, during the ten minutes or so of confusion as I tried to find him, Pissing Wand and then Deliverance Brothers zoomed past. Sean and Conor, to their credit, pretended to give a damn that I had lost Davy, bless them! The McCabes, as it turned out, were off on another wild goose-chase somewhere, but we didn’t learn that until much later, thinking them to be well ahead instead.

Still cursing our luck as we started into the long climb up to CP7, we could see Deliverance Brothers about 5 minutes ahead of us up the path, and Passing Wind just disappearing over the crest, about another 5 minutes in front. We ate into the deficit with Deliverance Brothers a little bit up to CP7, but could not catch them, until we came upon them trying to fix a puncture. We could see them ahead on the skyline, both off the bikes, wildly gesticulating, kicking things and throwing wheels and tyres around and generally cursing life; it turned out that their spare tubes did not fit their rims, so they were REALLY stuffed.

By the time we had reached the guys, we had wiped the big grins off our faces and replaced them with concerned and sincere sympathetic frowns. Barely stifling our glee at their misfortune, we gave the lads one of our spare tubes and then got the hell out of there as fast as we could, to minimise their chances of catching us.

Just after we left them, we were amazed to see the McCabes coming up behind us again, and they flew past us and disappeared, not to be seen again until the finish.

Somehow, despite being crippled by the cold and our efforts to date, we managed to get round the obstacle course at the football pitch, but the bunny hops felt more like high jump for us.

At this point, we concluded our debate as to whether to go for the two 1-hour bonuses or not. We reckoned Pissing Wand and the McCabes would definitely go for them and there was no way we were going to catch them. The other key factor was that I could barely walk with cold and general fatigue, meaning it would probably not be worth it anyway. So the die was cast. We decided to go for the two 30-minute bike bonuses, finish early, and hope that Passing Wind and the McCabes didn’t get the benefit of the mountain bonuses.

We made good time round the roads, picked up the first bonus, and as we were leaving it, Deliverance Brothers were just arriving, with their puncture now fixed. We pressed on hard, picked up the final bonus and were back at the centre at about 3:10, the first team back. We were deftly handled at the basketball task by Rachel, and were quickly clocked in by Joan, off for a cold shower and full of hot soup and goodies. Deliverance Brothers were in just a few minutes after us, and Pissing Wand and the McCabes followed not too long after. Once all the adjustments had been made for bonus points and archery etc, Passing Wind had taken the win, with us just nicking second place from Deliverance Brothers.

Highlight of the day was provided by Gerry McCabe in the award ceremony. Having been presented with chocolate Santas for the gallant, albeit fruitless, efforts of the McCabe Brothers on the day, Gerry proceeded to regale the remaining competitors with a hilarious impression of his new Santa-Nav side-kick! But you had to be there!

(c) Santa-Nav is a registered trademark of McCabe & McCabe, Inc. Patent pending.

A quick tribute to the 3 teams we battled hard against all through the race:

Billy & Gerry from Passing Wind basked in the glory of race and series wins

Fair play to Jonny & Gerry McCabe, who kept smiling despite a number of navigation errors

Deliverance Brothers still had plenty of gas left in the tank, as they prepared for another night on the sauce.

Tango & Cash slipped into something more comfortable and spent a relaxing evening with their wives.

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The Cooley Raid - Tango & Cash featuring Dempsey & Makepeace

Tango & Cash joined forces with Dempsey & Makepeace (aka Enda and JackieO) to form a crack unit for the Cooley Raid on 1 November, and were delighted to romp home 2nd in the mixed teams, 3rd place overall.

The Cuchulainn Warriors, Gerry and Jonny McCabe, snatched the win, followed very closely by processed meat experts Irish AR Denny. Ballyfree Boys and Babe came in just behind us in 4th place, having been slowed up by an injury.

RACE REPORT

Quinn’s Bar in Camlough – the scene of many an international adventure race meet! The cool, crisp, clear day we had for the race was particularly pleasing, given the meteorological battering taken in recent races in Binevenagh and Kilbroney.

We made a decision before the race that when the hooter sounded, we would push hard on the first 1.5km run, to get to the boats first – so when the hooter went, we took the lead for a few hundred yards, ran out of gas, and hit the boats mid-pack, puffing hard.

Davy and Enda had both made the mistake of wearing far too many clothes for the start, and the sweat was absolutely billowing off them by the time we made the far end of Cam Lough – our boats looked steam-powered!

Enda had the good sense to shed a few layers at this point, but Davy prevailed with the multi-layering, a decision that was to plague him all day. Jackie and Rick were perfectly dressed, as usual.

Out of the boats and off on foot at the back of the leading pack, we were neck and neck with the Gnarly Dudes for the climb up onto Slieve Gullion, meeting loads of other teams at CP1 who had taken the more direct route up.

Nearing the first cairn checkpoint, the Cooley Raiders stormed past us back DOWN the hill looking grim, having obviously missed CP2. This spooked NUI Galway, who were then in a bit of a flap about possibly having gone past CP3, but once they steadied themselves that it lay further ahead, they disappeared quickly, and we saw them no more.

As we marched between cairns towards CP4, we could see a few teams on the far summit faffing about looking for the CP, but we knew from doing the same thing last year that the CP lay inside the wee cave, so we lost no time hunting around and dropped down towards the forest.

It was at this point that we passed Ballyfree Boys and Babe, who had been flying up to now, but one of them was clearly in bad shape with a leg injury. We found out later that the fella was not injured at all, but had retired from the race in a huff after team captain Paul Mahon had broken his pre-agreed vow of silence :-D.

Fighting our way down through the bracken, we were easily overtaken by (extremely) old adversaries Passing Wind, who were baying for back to back race victories, having triumphed in Binevenagh.

It was an easy run down the path to the bikes through Slieve Gullion Forest Park; Jackie changed into her bike shoes and munched through the first of what turned out to be a 30-piece assorted fruit hamper!

The first few km on the bikes were easy going, but we were soon puffing our way up the long tarmac slog up Black’s Mountain. We over-took Passing Wind early in the climb, and then stopped for a rest, and they had nipped past us again by the time we reached the mast.

The open-mountain grass section on the bikes was brilliant fun (despite a number of falls by Rick), and we got past Passing Wind again – Tish McCann had NEVER been off-road on a bike before, and was appropriately cautious as a result. Despite this, they were pretty much with us all the way down to the bottom and back up the long forest climb towards The Castle hill.

Searching for CP10, we were very close to making the same mistake a few others had made, but a lucky encounter with Barry from Give It A Go, and some subsequent healthy debate, ensured that we lost little time, whilst a few other teams were hunting around for the CP on the wrong side of the hill. Peter and Barry from Give It A Go were in flying form, and they lost us in no time in the next open mountain section, and that was the last we saw of them.

Jackie was at this point showing off her gymnastics ability with a spectacular pitch over the bars, thankfully resulting only in sore ribs for the rest of us, from laughing. (Jackie had the good sense to perform this manoeuvre at walking pace on soft heather, rather than flat out on a rocky path, which was the lot of Karen Duggan in a recent race outing with us in Donegal!)

Reaching the road at the bottom, our thoughts turned immediately to the almost 300-metre vertical climb we had ahead of us back up to the cut-off point. Enda and Jackie were setting the pace here, tramping up the hill no bother. Davy and Rick, badly out of gas, hung back about 300 yards just to pick up any stragglers! We could see Passing Wind way down the tarmac below us, and we knew if they were any way close to us setting out on the run, they would eat us for breakfast. We just made the cut-off with four minutes to spare, and set off on the run.

We did not see another soul during the run section, apart from 3 folks on quads, but they would not be bribed... Apart from one daft error in going to the wrong forest corner, and Enda having an energy wobble for half an hour, we managed to finish the run in good enough shape after fighting and cursing our way through the forest.

Having missed the cut-off for the paddle by a country mile, we knew all we had to do was grind it out on the bikes to finish. We flew down through Ravensdale Forest following the quicker Ulster Way route to Marble Bridge (rather than the Tain Way marked route), and started the long pull back to Camlough.

With all the battering the bikes had taken, we had lost a few of our lights, and as it was getting dark quickly, we had to keep in formation to ensure we were well lit for the traffic.

Going through Meigh, we managed to nip past Passing Wind, who suddenly took on a burst of speed for a couple of km to stay with us, but thankfully they broke after a while, and we soon also set upon the Gnarly Dudes, just making it to the finish line in front of them.

Fantastic to finish a race in the warmth and bustle of a pub, with a great spread of grub laid on as usual by the one and only Joan of CCAR, and Rachel Cinnsealach, who was tending the beef admirably at the BBQ.

A few photos from the race:

Jackie convinced us she meant business as we discussed race tactics

Davy always looked sure of himself in the navigating

Gerry Kingston from Passing Wind wouldn't go down without a fight

Paul Mahon remained chipper, despite injury befalling his team

YAAAAAWWWWWNNNNN!!! Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

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"Passing Wind" Strikes Back! Binevenagh 1-Day Race Report

We should have known we were all in for a battering from Billy and Gerry of Passing Wind at Binevenagh on 4th October, when they presented themselves at the start of the race in their new Stormtrooper helmets. It was indeed to be their day, in brutal weather conditions of heavy wind and rain. And Tango and Cash? Well, The Force just wasn't with us today.

Click here for a highly entertaining report on Average Joes blog (there's a first time for everything!)

Race highlight: FoyleHov Powerturn Buggies - check this place out!!

Billy and Gerry of Passing Wind were dressed to impress, and impress they did.

WARNING: Race Report - Do not read whilst driving or operating heavy machinery.

Off the bus at Mussenden Temple, the hooter sounded and, in the excitement, the first orienteering loop was completed flat out – we were all knackered by the time we started down the hill towards the beach.

Passing Wind established an early lead up the beach to the cave, but whilst the rest of us picked up the code just inside the cave entrance, Gerry seemed intent on heading on in for some additional pot-holing in his new multi-sports helmet, and they lost a bit of time.

Picking up the first bike, the teams were already well spread out, and Passing Wind had regained the advantage, with the Deliverance Brothers and Uphill Struggle also a bit ahead of us. We arrived at the ice-cream stand just as Deliverance were leaving, and I could swear I heard Sean asking for seconds.

Clearly very well brought up young men, Jonny and Mark of Uphill Struggle politely licked their ice-creams, quite the gentlemen. Not so us, particularly Davy, whose favourite musical instrument has always been the dinner bell! In two crunches and a burp, we were up and away, just ahead of the lads. (Ian of the Spartans played the gluten-free diet card here, and poor Enda had two pokes to eat himself).

We marked up our maps a bit too slowly at the caravan park, but were out the door as the fourth team onto the bikes. Once it got steep, we were soon passed by Peter Cole and his new secret weapon. They were pedalling like demons and chatting calmly to each other as they went – most depressing, and we were for once glad to be back on foot, arriving at the bike-drop just behind them and alongside Uphill Struggle.

We made decent enough work of the foot climb up to the lake, and arrived a step behind Peter Cole and his pet ostrich, but just managed to nip out of the van and into the boat ahead of them (OK, we stole the boat – it was a rather rude manoeuvre! Sorry, lads!). The lads must have put a voodoo spell on us at this point, as we made a dreadful pig’s ear of our route back down off the hill. We arrived back at the bikes in sixth place, having been second as we had hopped in front of the fellas onto the boat.

On the way down back down the track on foot, we met up with pocket dynamo Paul Mahon, whose advice to us on down-hill running technique was taken with a pinch of salt when he ended up crashing face-first into the sticks and muck, heheheeeee.

Back on the bikes, and raging that our stupid mistake had us now well off the pace, we tore through the forest, spitting various members of Average Joes out the back. We arrived at the boats just ahead of Uphill Struggle, but faffed about trying desperately get our life-jackets to close, and the lads hit the water first.

Paddling down the river, we met Passing Wind coming back, over ten minutes ahead of us. Talk turned briefly to sinking them in an act of unprecedented gamesmanship but, not wanting to tarnish the reputation of good sportsmanship associated with CCAR races, we made do with a quick splash at them before setting our sights for the checkpoint. Uphill Struggle pulled away from us a bit in the boats on the way back, and it was a relief to be off the river.

We soon caught Uphill Struggle on the bikes, and we were sure they were plum out of gas as we passed them on the road, but they stayed about fifty yards behind us all the way to the gliding club for the paper planes task. We arrived there just as Deliverance and Peter & Emu were leaving together, so we reckoned there was still merit in pushing hard, as it was getting tight.

I was seriously running out of puff here, and Davy had to practically drag me from the gliding club to the buggies at FoyleHov. We saw that Passing Wind must have lost a bit of time to here, as we arrived just as they were heading out the gate, and Peter & The Wolf were hot on their heels.

We flew round the FoyleHov buggies course, having decided that Davy would take both controls and that I would use my mind to control his left hand by ESP. This proved to be a very successful technique. Lap completed, and now totally covered in cow-shit and back on the bikes, we could see Deliverance on the road ahead, and we worked hard to try and eat into their lead, Davy again pushing the pace.

We were DELIGHTED to time out at Sampson’s Tower for the archery, and the folks with the arrows were a font of great advice. Alas, it was like throwing pearls to swine, and we each just winged the deer from the closest point and got on our way, rueing the missed opportunity for extra points.

Having easily found the yellow ribbon round the old oak tree (not lost on any country music fans) at the rough fort, the nettle stings we sustained proved great relief to our nagging rheumatism.

Into the town and along the track to the river, we somehow had it in our heads that the checkpoint was at the other side. We were both half-way across and close to being swept to our deaths when three disapproving fishermen drew our attention to the punch that was lying beside our bikes! Relieved we didn’t have to go any further, we punched the card and headed for home, Davy pedalling strongly, and me trying in vain to hang close.

We arrived back as the fourth team, just ahead of Uphill Struggle and about eleven or twelve minutes off the leaders after five hours of racing. Time adjustments will confirm timings and places, but the rumour round town is that Passing Wind just nicked it. Well done to Passing Wind – Lord Vader will be most pleased.

(Apologies for references above to Peter Cole's team-mate, whose name I don't know - the big lad was flying!)

Another superb CCAR race, finishing with the usual sumptuous spread of eats supplied afterwards by Joan - our thanks to the whole CCAR team of organisers, marshals and supporters for a fantastic day of fun in difficult conditions for racers and organisers alike.

Some photos from the race:

Ivan handled the race briefing with his usual composure and clarity

Davy proved once again to be surprisingly agile for a big fella, sinking his ice-cream with all the grace and poise of vintage Nureyev

The Spartans were starting to suffer badly after the pull along the beach, and were relieved to top their ice-creams with WD-40

Uphill Struggle took a moment on Binevenagh to double-check their co-ordinates and flirt outrageously with each other

Paul Mahon was surprised to meet us coming off the side of Binevenagh

CCAR’s Steve looked cold but steadfast as he manned the kayak section

Deliverance Brothers were now going so well, they had plenty of time to cruise for chicks

The archery marshals had to re-emphasise that there were no points available for felling the livestock in the field

Rick tried walloping the deer over the head with the bow, and was gutted to be denied a kill despite its head falling off

Peter Cole was flying as usual, but the sight of him at the end assured us that he had had to work hard to keep up with his partner

The Dark Lord himself congratulated his henchmen, Billy and Gerry of Passing Wind, on a job well done.

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Tango & Cash Triumph at Baronscourt

There was much weeping and gnashing of teeth in the Sperrins on Saturday 29 March, as a slight departure from instructions by a couple of other teams gifted Tango & Cash with victory at the CCAR Baronscourt Adventure Race.

Baronscourt 2008 Race Results - XLS file, 33K


(A younger, fresher Tango & Cash at last year's Baronscourt race)

Warning: Race Report - danger of boredom ahead

The weather was brutal for the start, too wet even for our blazers, with lashing rain dampening everything including spirits. However, the rain was soon forgotten as the hooter sounded and 70 eejits galloped up a mucky slope in search of 2 bits of laminated paper.

Back down the slope, the car was our brief campaign headquarters. We quickly marked our checkpoints up, and were the second team to hit the trails, just behind Team Purple 2 (the Purps), who set a helluva pace.

We tried to stick with them as best we could, with NTSR right up on us too. The Purps, just ahead, were extremely gracious in telling us where the first few checkpoints were, but after they cocked one up a bit later on, we decided we couldn’t risk listening anymore, heheheee!

A long slog and a superb tarmac descent took us to the main road, and then the Ulster American Folk Park. The traditionally-clad Folk Park team were all very cheerful in their duties, if a tad bemused at all the frantic activity, and we were soon in and out and back on the bikes.

Still pretty much neck and neck with NTSR and the Purps, the superb tarmac descent was markedly less enjoyable as a climb, but we all dragged ourselves up and slogged out the climb back up into the forest.

The Purps were FAST up the long drag to the forest and we lost sight of them, but for some reason they stopped for a KitKat half-way down the descent towards the bike-drop, and we whizzed past them in full tuck.

Just as we entered the gates of the estate, Davy lost his chain, but thankfully we were freewheeling too fast to pedal anyway, and we made it down to the bike-drop first.

We picked up our map and headed down to TA3, then wondered where the other guys had gone to, as they would definitely have taken us easily on the run down - we assumed (correctly, as it turned out) that they had headed straight out to clear the map checkpoints instead of visiting TA3 first (where they would have learned to only collect 3 markers at a time), and this ultimately proved to be their downfall.

We decided to hit the boats first. The weather had by this time turned gorgeous, and in the beauty of the scene paddling up the lake, we allowed our minds to wander briefly to consider how jarred off the guys were going to be when they finally made it to TA3 with a bunch of markers already picked up! But, snapping ourselves back to life, we hardened our hearts and got back to task.

We picked up the 2 lake markers, beached the boat to pick up the one on the earth bank, and headed back to TA, staggered round another 2 loops to get the rest, and we (Davy, that is) also managed to nick an extra 3 minutes at the bean bag task.

Utterly spent, barely shuffling, and bereft of any more expletives, we pulled off our bibs and collapsed into the vat of soup at the finish at 3:20pm, after 4hrs and 5 minutes of racing; trying to hang with the guys on the bike section wasted us, and made this definitely our most tiring and painful race to date.

Nice buns again, Joan. A genuine thanks to all the folks at CCAR, who, in the face of many unseen challenges, put on a great event every time. Fantastic fun to take part in, and superb innovations to be found in every race. Well done, guys.

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Well an' Good in Castlewellan - one-day race report

A creditable fifth was our lot on 26 February in Castlewellan. And our jackets came up a treat in the wash.

WARNING - DEFINITELY BORING IF YOU DID NOT DO THE RACE, PROBABLY BORING EVEN IF YOU DID.

It was a brilliant idea to start the race by having one member of each team enter the maze to find the marshal with the maps and instructions.

It seemed an act of lunacy for Davy to insist that yours truly, who turns any corner and is lost, was to go on the winding errand into the yew labyrinth.

And it was pure pot luck (and 3 previous weeks on Google maps) that saw yours truly 3rd last into the maze but 2nd out, just shy of the steaming heels of Jonny Gallier from Uphill Struggle.

We marked the map for the first bike section and got moving, first to hit the trail with eventual joint winners Team Purple 2, who set a devilish pace over the fields and tracks at such a lick that we saw no other teams until we were halfway up Meelmore on foot, by which point we were busted.

On the road to Tollymore they left us puffing in their wake as we spun out on the single speeds, and they cruised the tarmac to the mountain-boarding.

Mountain-boarding reminds you that you are no longer part of the youth of today. We were brutal at it, but were soon hammering towards Meelmore Lodge, gaining on the lads again as we stomped up the hill.

We marked up the running checkpoints at the bike-drop, and hot-footed about a minute behind the guys. Contouring the hill, we were always a few hundred yards behind the lads, but were right with them by the time they had flaffed around to find the checkpoint at the wee dam.

So began the breezy, wheezy slog up the mighty Meelmore. We kept tramping at our own pace, but lost ground on the lads, and were then gutted to see ultimate joint winners the McCabe brothers RUNNING past us up the valley, and they took the lead about three quarters of the way up.

We were also passed by 3rd and 4th place (for day 1) Passing Wind and NTSR, but we had all bunched up by the time we got to the abseil, given some confusion on the knoll. We decided to clock out, chill out for a few minutes, mark up the rest of our map, eat, drink, chat, and let the uber-feisty folks crack on.

After confirming with Keith (NI’s own Montgomery Wick) that we were unlikely to be killed or maimed on the abseil even if we did something daft, we chucked ourselves over the edge with gay abandon and gambolled back to the bikes.

I can’t remember anything else from there until we reached the kayaks, apart from the wooden skis thing round the souterrain, which we HATE. “OK, 1, 2, 3. Left, right, ... Try bigger steps. Wait, I am falling forward. You ready? What’s wrong? OK. Left, right, ...”

When Steve insisted we don our waterproofs for the kayaks, we laughed at the pipsqueak’s audacity, but clambered into our oil-skins and put our heads above the dam. It was not until we actually had the boat in the water that we realised it was a BRILLIANT idea to be in the waterproofs, and the slog up the lake was awful.

Rounding the point, we decided to take an innovative route, so we headed for shore, chucked our paddles up onto the road, dragged the boat up onto the tarmac, hoisted it above our heads, and started running up the road, portage!

NEVER DO THIS WITH THESE BOATS (It works great with a normal Canadian canoe). Within 200 yards, we were so miserable we were praying we had never been born, so we chucked the boat back over the edge and hopped in, and lost time overall.

The rest of the paddle was paddle, paddle, paddle, paddle, etc, etc, and we were glad to get out of the thing and back to the bikes.

Heading with the wind, on fresh tarmac, down hill, not in a kayak anymore, was a great feeling, but we were spinning out too easily on the single-speeds, but we made short work of the pedal to Greg at the ‘obstacle course’, which consisted of the old water slide from the Valley Leisure Centre, 4 NIE cable drums, 5 broken pallets and some stolen scaffolding.

36 years each without any stretching after exercise, and the ensuing inflexibility, meant we were like oak beams going round the course, but somehow we managed to chuck our bodies over and through everything to get on our way.

Greg had promised us ‘a wee bitch of a climb’ before the finish, and so it turned out. But it was great to finally hit the village again and get back to the centre as the 5th team home, at 3:48pm. Superb food as usual. Our sincere thanks to Joan for organising it all.

What a great race. Well done again, CCAR. Top notch.

Chuck an extra 10 or 20 quid at Ivan or Steve at the next race if you can spare the cash - the lads are losing a personal fortune to put these races on for our benefit!

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Early Signs of Relationship Breakdown

A fleeting moment of frustration drives a brief wedge between the normally inseparable Tango & Cash. "You are ALWAYS looking at that bloody map!! There's a race on, in case you hadn't noticed!!"


Looking the part was not enough to push for victory in the 'Castlewellan' CCAR race on 23 February, but the pockets were VERY useful on the day.

(Thanks to Mickey Regan for the pics!)

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Tic-Tac Tactics - A New Look for 2008

Following extensive clinical trials during December, Tango & Cash have selected preppy American high-fashion label Ralph Lauren as their clothing of choice for the opening CCAR adventure race on 23 February 2008. Who knows, the blazer may go on to replace the buff as the de rigueur accessory of the serious adventure racer…

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Tango And Cash Climax Series With Win in Belvoir Forest, but Can't Think of a Pun for the Title

Our compass magnetic and our heads clear, Tango and Cash claimed victory in the final race of the CCAR series, around Belvoir Forest Park in Belfast, on 25 August.


Steady - danger of boredom ahead

It was a day for gears on the bikes, but turbo-training alongside the world’s fastest hamsters in recent months stood us in good stead to drive our singlespeeds hard to no real disadvantage.

We chose to run, kayak, bike, to get the misery of running over early, and feared a procession initially if starting on the bikes up the tow-path.

The Custard Chuckers were hard to keep in sight as we took off over Shaw’s Bridge, with some particularly impressive flexibility from Rory Finlay as he limboed under the railings.

After nobody could find the elusive floodlight checkpoint, we took a left where most took a right and headed for the leafy countryside, just shy of the impressively lycra-clad NTSR. An early attempted short-cut over a field by NTSR saw them sprawling and cursing through the thick undergrowth, and we managed to make up a couple of minutes as we stuck to the tracks, just getting to the tyre-tube river-crossing ahead of them.

A quick over and back, and we were on the trails alone, although we could hear the still-cursing NTSR fighting their way through more brambles on the other side of the river.

Heading for the ski task at checkpoint 6, we had what we thought was our first sighting of beavers in Belvoir (steady!) - then realised it was the Custard Chuckers crawling from the river from checkpoint 7.

Taking a leaf out of their soggy book, we plunged in and crossed the river none too gracefully, and my glasses remain at the bottom of the Lagan.






Mopping up the final few run checkpoints, the most notable thing on the journey was how fond of Davy all the dogs were – they were running from hundreds of yards away just for a good hump.

The BMX track brought back a few memories of days on the old Raleigh Super Tuff Burner with Skyway Tuff 2 Mag-wheels, but it was all over too quickly, with no time for the Superman Seat-Grab.

The running nearly complete, we reached the tyre-tube rapids-ride down at the river, hopped aboard, and took the challenge easily like a couple of big Pooh-sticks.

A quick gallop to the canoes saw us take to the water just behind Passing Wind and His & Hers, with a rampaging NTSR hot on our heels.

The rapids at the top required us to jump ship and man-handle the boat upstream, then it was a hot dash back to the bike pickup.


Of ornithology interest, a number of teams mentioned sightings of Kingfishers on the river.

Remembering to collect our egg before departing on the bikes, experience had taught us where best to store it for safe transit to checkpoint 40; by the time I had carefully collected it from Greg, Davy had already bent over and bitten down hard on the strap of his Camelbak!

The dash along the tow-path would have been helped by one of Ivan’s 40 bells (as “Bikers coming” nearly got us a slap a few times). Given how many genuine punctures we had sustained in recent months, we were lightning at the puncture-change simulation task, making a good couple of minutes here on others at the task.

Arriving at Lady Dixon Park on the bikes, Davy took a couple of minutes just to lay his egg, then we were off on foot up through the play-park and impeccably-kept gardens.

A better description of the Spacehoppers Task was the Kneepoppers Task, both of us finding this the least enjoyable task of the day.

We both sustained ACL injuries, but after hoovering up some hapless kid’s wine-gums from the chipped bark on the ground (to the disgust of parents), we were off again for the dizzying hill-roll and subsequent travel-sickness of the go-karting.





The local dogs continued to be very fond of a now dizzy (and therefore more vulnerable) Davy, and by the time we were back at the bikes again, his legs looked like a plasterer's radio.





The only open hostility of the day was from the gentlemen at the 14th tee of the golf course, who were less than impressed at the snapping of twigs and grunting racers, as they made their backswings – somehow we all found a way to get along without coming to blows, but we kept our distance.

Not knowing how long it would take to get back, we spun like crazy to get back to the centre, both of us cursing the evil cramp now taking our calves along the tow-path.

Back at the centre with the guts of 5 minutes to spare, we took to the step aerobics like ducks to water, expending the last of our energy.

And… relax.

The race finished, it was buns, burgers and a welcome shower, then relaxing over the series photos put on by Shane.

Well done again to Ivan, Steve and full CCAR team again, who put on a fantastic race despite a number of race-threatening last-minute challenges. What a crew! A massive thanks goes to those guys for all their hard work in this series, and we look forward to next year!

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