Man, that course rocked and blew! The surf was well big duuuude! The spray blew my tubes duuuude and the weather blitzed my pants mannnn! The campsite was totally awesome and the dead rats rocked! Can we all get together to run the surf of the Day 2 Classic Polaris Wind Wave. Historiiiiic! Bring it on. That course smoked maannn! Cool wind in the mouth and nostrils cheeks flapping duuuude! 7 hours of carnage chana. Thanks to the Polaris Big Boys for givin' it larrrrge and keepin it happenin' dudes. Nice. Wooooaa.

The Sheep Pen Posse - Nic, Helen, Gaz, Jim, Phil, Heather, Killian, Jonathan, Steve, Keith (half-pipe) Byrne, Falk + 1, Chris and all the other SURVIVORS!

Special thanks all round:
Steve Willis and team for his usual excellent planning (except the weather).
Roger for checking on all campers every couple of hours throughout the night.
The couple of lads in the green tent (sorry I've forgotten your names) who collected water, offered me a brew and took pity on me in my inadequate tent and squeezed me into their tent for a bit. (Late spirit of the event nomination?!)
And of course all the other helpers as always.

Gary
For us relatively old people can you please translate.

Well done to all who survived the gales and rain.
Thanks to all who came, tried and thought better of it.
Great job by all marshals, helpers who braqved the elements to set out the controls, help on start and finish lines, make cups of tea.
Everyone got off the hill safe and sound.

The Spring 2004 Challenge will go down in history and you can all be proud to say the I was there.

Thanks Graham for organising the event. Shame the weather was so bad, though good to hear old got back safe.

This is my second Polaris, I did Isle of Mann last year. This year, at the time it was not fun being in the middle of "hurricane" but now looking back I really enjoyed it. I had my first experience of riding my bike at a 60 degree angle. I collected enough water in my kit probably to make a large brew for all the survivors :D

Congrats to Polaris for another well organised event, shame about the weather but hey it added to the fun. I'll be back for Spring 2005

Thanks to all at Polaris for sorting out another excellent event... it will go down as 'the one with the most extreme weather'

Big thanks to all the orgainisers, marhals and everyone else involved with this epic. It was at times more like a windsurfing event, especially on the top of the hills.
I've never seen so many people blown off the road on the way up to the overnight. Blown off the road pushing up a relatively gentle hill!!
Got to the campsite only to discover that our tent had absolutely no intention of even attempting to hold shape. Any shelter had long since been snaffled up by those arriving at the O/N early (good tip not used from another thread)! Baled out at that point with some regrets, but defintely the right decision at the time.
Roll on the next Polaris. See you there.

Jerry

I have done the Polaris and the KIMM before and enjoyed both- but afraid i was a little unimpressed this w/e (and not just with the weather). While the route looked good and i think the polaris people do an amazing job route finding and setting- who are these people you employ to marshal on the day????

when my friends turned up at the overnight camp one of them was hypothermic- when his partner asked the marshalls about retiring he was mocked and told that 'he (the marshall- at this time standing in warm bothy) had cycled in much worse weather and couldn't see what all the fuss was about'- WHAT!!!!-

overall it felt like many of the people running the event were doing so from the warmth of the great indoors and really didn't understand what conditions were like outside and how unprepared some people were for them.

well done to all who finnished and all who survived

etak

'Gary T and The Survivors' (sounds like a 60's band) have drawn the weekend for you on www.SleepMonsters.com. (The only site with any news of the race at the moment).

If you are struggling to understand his posting here you can just look at the pictures!

Thanks to the polaris team for a great weekend, shame about the weather but I had a great time (once we got our tent up in the stone sheep pen. Thanks for the help with that we were starting to loose it at that point). We were looking forward to trying to catch Ian B on Sunday but you made the right choice calling it off.
The pre marked maps were brilliant keep using them.
Thanks to David at Camp Four in Macclesfield for the light tent at the it help alot.

woah dudes n dudettes! sure did rock--- big ups to the polaris crew for stayin chilled, keepin us grinnin and lettin things smoke along. gnarly wkend. tonnes of awesome memories man. piccies on sleepmonsters r first class, A1, top notch, talented!!!!!
bring on the next one!!! can we introduce kite-biking polaris? . .
woooohoooo.............. .. ...
... ... .... ....
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....... ........ ........ .........
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"really didn't understand what conditions were like outside and how unprepared some people were for them" !!!

I hate to split hairs, but those in the bothy had been outside too!

As for being unprepared - speaks for itself!!

Dent's Houses - the site of an epic decision not to quit - well done to all of you!

I must comment those who saw fit to quit during the event. It's often harder to give up during an event than to continue. Mention has been made above of someone arriving at the campsite with hypothermia. In my opinion, that team should not have considered the option of continuing.

One of the skill sets of 'extreme' sports is to be aware of your surroundings and it's effect on the body. The ability to recogise conditionssucha as hypo (and beleive it or not hypa)thermia can be life saving.

I don't know the outcome of the incident mentioned above, but it sounds like many of the teams who retired made a sensible informed choice.

The organisers must also be commended for making a brave decision to cancel the rest of the event on Sunday. It's very easy to be critical of a decision like that after the event, especially if the weather improves during the day.

Finally congratulations to all who were involved in the event, orgainisers, finishers and retirees.

Eddie S

Surely not Eddie Stone from SAS Survival off the tele can make such nice comments

Many thanks to the organisers - a day & night to remember, and I've never experienced a lighter-than-air bike before!

Re. unprepared competitors - few of us perhaps (myself included) could be fully 'prepared' for such a day unless we've experienced it before, but we are always told by the organisers what the minimum kit requirement is and to make sure we have spares and that kit checks when they happen are not for the organisers' benefit. It always seems a boring waste of effort to carry all the extras.... until a day like Saturday.

It was sad, but given the weather forecast, it had to be the right choice for the organisers to cancel.

MarkR

As part of the Sheep Pen Posse (I presume that's me there at the end Gary?), I have to say how glad I was of the extra layer and the different tent I'd packed. Still had a kind of uncomfortable night, and couldn't say I was that upset at not doing day 2.

Kept thinking on the way home as it was still clear, that we really should have gone out and ridden, as the weather really wasn't that bad. However the right decision was certainly made, as there was no way of telling the weather wasn't about to get a lot worse in 5 hours, and if it had there would have been plenty of people with a bad nights sleep and a poor meal behind them, with only wet kit to get into if things went wrong.

Seconding SteveH's thanks to all the organisers, a great course, shame about the conditions. I really appreciated Roger checking on me in my flappy SupAir, I might have been alot colder than I was!

I'm not ashamed to say I pulled out after arriving at the overnight camp, and wrestling with my tent for 20 minutes (it won).

This was my seventh Polaris so I didn't think I had anything to prove and I also knew I was rapidly slipping into hypothermia. The ride back to Leyburn with the wind on my back was aweome, probably the best part of the day despite the uncontrollable shivering. It's a novel experience to ride uphill without pedalling and find yourself accelerating.

In the event I made the right decision as in the morning I woke up with my left knee completely seized up, i'm not sure if I would have made it to only one checkpoint on Sunday as I could barely walk let alone cycle. I think it was a result of either crashing headlong over the bars at one point when someone fell over in front of me or when I was slammed sideways into a gate post as the wind changed from merely a severe gale on one side of the wall to a full blown hurricane on the other!!!

Anyway well done to all those who braved the overnight camp, you may be absolutely barking mad but you have my respect.

I thought the "big freeze" at Galloway in '93 was epic enough but this one rightfully goes down in the history books.

Billy Connelly once said that there is no such thing as bad weather - just bad clothing. He has obviously never been to the Yorkshire Dales in March. I would like to offer my congratulations to those riders who made it to Apedale and my thanks to those who decided that enough was enough and headed back to Leyburn. Saturday was the worst day I have spent in the area in all of my planning rides and Friday was the second worst!
I can understand the disappointment that some riders felt on being told that the event was cancelled but Graham had a difficult decision to make. I would imagine a lot more riders felt relieved.
I was disapponted that you weren't able to ride the southern controls around Wensleydale because my team of helpers had been out all day Saturday putting them out. We then had to go out on Sunday and get them all back in again along with Saturday's controls. They were all in by 5.00.
I have thoroughly enjoyed planning the event. It was a good excuse to get out riding in beautiful country regularly. I will look forward to riding on somebody else's courses in July and October. I just hope that Roger and Graham organise some better weather.
PS Controls 51-60 were never going to be used.

�This is a high level event, in potentially adverse weather.� Now where did I read that? Another memorable event, excellent course with lots of route choice. Like a few others I had mixed feeling on Sunday, wanting to carry on for the rest of the challenge � one half of me was ready for a second day, the other half glad to finish early.
I thoroughly enjoyed the first day if not a bit battered and bruised � no, not from a masochistic perpective as might be suggested, but on a personal level a tough challenge. As an experienced winter climber and instructor I found myself in familiar territory leaning 45degrees or so into those winds. First time I've ever wished my bike was a few pounds heavier! Arriving at the overnight camp with so little shelter left me wishing for another solo to share with. Thanks to Roger and team at the overnight for keeping us informed, collecting dibbers, and checking up on us - once inside I didn't have to leave my tent until the morning. If you need a reminder of what it was like with brilliant cartoon pix see website: http://www.sleepmonsters.com/racereport.php?race_id=423
... had me in stitches.
Well done to the organisers for their sound judgement call on Sunday morning, and likewise to those teams who chose to finish during Saturday.

Well was''nt that fun,me and my mate thought we had gone nuts trying to fight 90 mile an hour winds and rain,but hell looking back i'd do it again and will.
By the you can blame me for the weather turning pear shaped,cause singing at all those climbing up to check point 8 i got my pay back big style over in the other valley/moors.Oh and also lost my map!

I'd like to congratulate Steve on the course planning.The idea to have loads more checkpoints than usual and split the event over two distinct areas was great. Of course Friday night was mental torture trying to pick out potential routes through all 60 checkpoints!

We never made it to camp, after 4.5 hours we took shelter in the first tea shop on the left as you entered Reeth from the east. The homemade tomato soup was awesome. We were about to leave for the "push" up to the camp when a team arrived saying the had heard the event was going to be stopped. We phoned the emergency number and we're told that the organisors were considering it, so at the pointed decided for a low level ride back to Leyburn. Freewheeling at 50kph on the flat was novel but we still had to push a good bit of the last 3 miles into the wind.

Thanks to all the organisers for a great event and respect to them for staying out in that awful weather and for taking difficult decisions to ensure the safety of the competitors.

Roll on summer!!

It was with real mixed feeling when we det back to Leyburn on Sat night. Having experienced wind tunnel conditions we arrived at the o/nite camp at appx 2pm to, wot no tents other than the hardy few in the sheepfold. We were bitterly cold and had a broken rack. The ride back was quiet, tail wind all the way , we saw maybe 6 competitors all going the opposite way. Our spirits plummeted giving up on day one ( between the two of us we have done 25+ polaris's )As we arrived at the school car park it was like day two. Car doors open, racks being loaded folk getting changed. Riders coming in! Our spirits soared. Polaris always promise a challenge and a wilderness camp. This year mother nature upped the ante. Thanks for a great day and the consideration for the participants in calling it a day.

Just to echo most thoughts above. Memorable
weekend and to those (like us) who made the
judgement call to pull out, you can be prepared
for 99% of eventualities, and no doubt we would
have 'survived' the night, there is no shame in
deciding that circumstances have overtaken your
level of preparation. All due respect to those who
camped out overnight - our flattened Vango made
the decision to stay in a pub in Kettlewell a bit
easier and the landlord kindly organised a 'lock
in' so we could keep drinking until 2 am. I hope
the owners of the 'ring of tentpegs' we saw didn't
lose too expensive a tent! Thanks
to the organisers for EVERYTHING and see you in
the summer. PS I can't wait until the event where
we can do the northern dales under bet

Just a quick note to echo the thanks to all concerned in organising the event.
Superb organisation in the run up to the weekend and held it all together well when the weather could have turned things very nasty.

This was our first polaris event, and despite the weather we both loved it! We were the only under 21's to enter the event, managed to get a few points on the sat (though we lost these cos we spent too long in the pub)and had a really uncomfy night next to the bothy. Both my partner and myself are studying a degree in Outdoor Leadership, and it's amazing to see how the outdoor experience can expose the true nature of peoples personalities - this was obvious this weekend! Well done to those who stayed. If you're not living on the edge you're taking up space!
Anyway i can't remember anyone checking our tent overnight - in fact we only heard it was cancelled when we had packed up from the O/N and were looking for the second giveout! We were ok though.must take something to lie on next time, dead rats aren't that good at insulating you.
It's a shame more young people don't take part, cos it's such a good event. Can't wait for the next one.
Oh, and to the organisers (from a professional point of view) it was the right decision, no matter how much we moan. The hills and the event will always be there, peoples lives are a lot more fragile!!!!!

Well done to all who contributed to the organisation of the event. The controls were great - a real planning nightmare! Glad the young ones enjoyed it - yes we could do with a few more. Why is that there tend to be more old gnarly dudes in this kind of event. Are the young ones soft these days or are all us old fogeys trying to prove we're not old and past it?

Awesome! ...an extreme, surreal and unforgettable experience.

Full respect to those brave/insane riders who camped!

The only reason we packed in, was the thought of facing 'Wilfs' food on Sunday afternoon!!!!!!!

you can please some of the people some of the time but etc...................
I did not see too many people on Sunday complaining as they were stuffing their faces.
I am not a big fan of Wilf's veggie food but their Thai chicken, crumble and sasage butties were magnificent.

I agree the sausage butties are wonderfull, but you have to pay EXTRA for them!!

what do you mean extra?
were they available on the Sunday as an extra to the free meal?
Or are you wanting free breakfasts on the Saturday before the start as part of your entry fee?

Apologies, as already stated I didn't make Sunday afternoon. It sounds like 'Wilfs' has improved since my last PC, I look forward to Autumn and the a la carte meal on Sunday PM (Wilfs style!!!)
Although I think a large Jacket potatoe and beans is a good idea

Is this The Des who bought my Bonty racelite?

Yes, it sure is!!!
You made the camp I see, we had a mechanical, jacked with 250 points.
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