Border Series XC #7: Conundrum

With legs still a bit fried from the C5 we set off to the finale of the Borders XC Series at Conundrum near Berwick upon Tweed. I was pleased I had already done enough in the previous rounds to secure a win in my age group, and that today, as someone else put it, was just a victory lap. A more relaxed prospect than the day before.

"...pigs..."

photo Danielle G
I am over the other side in stealth kit as the PRC vest was still covered in Carnethy5

Having done this a year ago the hills in the first half were no surprise.

Mike A came alongside for most of the climb.

At last we topped out and could see ahead to little houses on the hill below.

I gave Mike a shout and he posed for the shot which was almost a great success!

I could see Ian R just ahead but didn't manage to get much closer than this. I knew he would be enjoying himself as he had a bit of a hangover after being dry for 33 days then going for a drink the night before. 

This was the houses. 

Various large sows with litters were stood around photogenically but the camera started playing up and I failed to get a decent shot of them close up. We then did an interesting downhill section that was a bit too exciting to take photos and then over the last section I was just hanging on in there and didn't risk the camera over the muddy splosh and slippy wooden obstacles.

Thanks to Ian Beresford for taking photos at the first large puddle.
It looked like there was no alternative but straight through. However if you find the photos (linked from Borders XCountry Series on facebook) you can see James from Dunbar trying to preserve his new shoes and taking a slight diversion. It nearly worked as his shoes (below) were still largely orange afterwards - certainly by comparison to the Speedcross beside.

Mary found herself getting caught up in the race and working harder than she normally might.

Afterwards there was some excellent soup.
And I took photos of the locals while Stuart Hay waded through the prizegiving. He did a great job of the results and prize-giving and the trophies were SPECIAL so a big thanks to him (he didn't even get to run today) and all the team of the Borders XC for putting on a such a quality series of races, and the best cross country events in Scotland / the Borders.

You lookin at me?

The clocky trophy!

Then back to the car for even more fun and games. Mike had wanted to join the submergathoners and spared no expense (on ebay) getting a wetsuit and gloves/hood/socks for around £40 total. As we drove to Gullane for his maiden voyage we realised there was a psycho on the back seat...

Jason had also been following our briny exploits and wanted to witness them first hand so we managed to give him the heads up when we were within 30 mins of splashdown and he came along to take photos.

First up we had to take the temperature. This week: air 10' and water 5' so quite a bit warmer than than the last 2 weeks. In fact it was a delightful afternoon - as soon as we crossed back from England into Scotland the sun came back out and there wasn't much wind, leaving it warmer and easier to mess about in the water than it had been all year. And the sea was also behaving - very smooth except for the occasional, large roller. Great fun.

riding along...

a chandelier in the sky

Mary and Mike floating in the low sunlight

perfect!

Jason took the photos below