Hi all,
Back again with another fantastic trip, this time to the peak district! We set off from campus after lectures for a drive through the night up to Sheffield during which we discovered that it was apparently Adam’s first day on earth.
After a restful night, we were up at the crack of dawn to pack up camp from the village hall, before heading to Bakewell to pick up some obligatory tarts. We made the individual race just in time to apply the appropriate face paint, before setting off running through bog and all other manner of delightful peak district terrain in lovely sunshine for ~8-9km. Most of us got twisted ankles due to the holes literally everywhere and Katie’s shoes finally gave up, allowing her socks to poke through. However, it was a very good performance from a big BUMC team with Joel being the best performer in the Men’s A race followed by Adam and then Joseph with just 4 seconds between them. In the Women’s race there were more strong performances with Eva leading the BUMC contingent shortly followed by Alexandra and Katie.
5 of the group split off, to get some trad climbing in before heading back to the accommodation, whilst the remainder began constructing some high-quality DIY Viking costumes out of some helmets. With those acquired, we headed to the city centre to socialise or not with the other universities. After some massively overpriced food, and some play fighting that definitely irritated the other clubs, we headed to spoons to round out the night. And with that Adam completed his 2nd day on earth.
On the final day we had the eagerly anticipated relay race with Luc and Ben being the only ones not qualifying and therefore stuck in an ad hoc team. Sam graced us with his singing prowess with an emotional rendition of “Starships”. Another lovely day and some much more runnable terrain led to a fast relay event with 3 full BUMC team and an Ad Hoc team involving Luc, Ben and someone from Imperial who had represented Hong Kong forming a well-balanced team. In the women’s race Bloodbath (Eva, Alexandra and Katie) performed very well taking home 8th place, whilst Bath Bombs (Joel, Joseph and Alex) were the highest ranked team in the Men’s relay. All in all, great relay results, despite numerous obstacles such as a pitch invasion by sheep which targeted Joel, whilst Adam wanted it known that not only was it his 3rd day on earth, but he also beat Joe (this time by 64 seconds).
Upon arriving back, we also found out we had placed 5th overall as a university behind only Edinburgh, Sheffield, Oxford and Cambridge, an incredible achievement showing the success of Orienteering as a whole this year which also qualified us for the European Universities Orienteering Championships! Overall, a great trip superbly organised by Joel.
Till the next time,
Luc
