Duncan ArcherAfter an inaugural annual review of 2021 I thought let’s do that again. So here we go… Orienteering has been somewhat selective this year. As I moved up to M45, I was super pleased to win the British Night Champs for the first time (and only my second ever British O champs title in any […]
My last couple of years have seen various injuries meaning I’ve never put in a solid block of training and had to watch with envy as people do personal challenges and chase FKTs, especially during Covid when there was no racing. However, the last few months have been good and I decided to have a […]
In the absence of any one major thing to write about this year, I thought I’d write a post about everything that has been going on with Pippa and I. It has not been a great year regarding injury and illness. We have both thankfully dodged Covid (so far at least!), but the last year […]
After several months of lockdown it was late summer, and time for a holiday! We had been due to go climbing in Morocco again just after Easter, but obviously that was out. And despite quite a few days and weekends in the Lakes as lockdown eased, we were keen for a proper climbing holiday. The […]
“So we go round this hill, through the broad col, and the control should be just over that hill.” I point towards number #6 and Shane nods his head. Everything seems to fit including the valley to the left. We get our heads down and plough on through the grassy tussocks and heather. Over the […]
This summer Pippa had a conference in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, so like any keen orienteers we thought we’d see if there was any orienteering nearby. As luck would have it there was five days of O only an hour away in the hills! The map samples looked interesting, lots of rock features, and a new European […]
Four years ago I did the Tour de Mont Blanc, 167km, 12,500m ascent, with Shane and Heather Ohly. Similar to the UTMB non-stop race, but we took it at a more leisurely running pace, spread over four days, staying in mountain huts. A wonderful experience, great views and trails, but also very popular for walkers […]
“Safe Pippa!” I yell. They guy next to me at the top of the crag detects my accent and quaint climbing calls (not the American “On belay!”). “You don’t sound local?” he says. “No, we are over from England.” “Wow, have you climbing on the gritstone?” I mumble something about not really liking god’s own […]
“I think this is the right place?” We peer over the edge, contemplating a committing 90m free hanging abseil (so the guidebook says – our rope is 100m), onto a platform that you can’t see from above (hopefully non-tidal…), to do a three pitch E2, which some others did yesterday but said the bottom pitch […]
“I don’t want to get to the finish in second place feeling like I could have tried harder.” These words from Shane are ringing in my ears as we struggle up a long rising traverse, the last significant hill on day 2 of the Original Mountain Marathon 2016 in Galloway. We alternate between “maximum shuffle” […]