I don't think for one minute that getting up at 4.30, getting in the car at 5.30 and driving for 2 hours is anybpdy's idea of "fun" but this was the only boring bit I had to endure of the Bridging Finance 24 hour Endurance Race at Hoylake.When we were ten minutes or so away, I got a text from Kev saying the wind was 17-20mph onshore and it wasn't raining - hurrah! We got there and set up and registered before heading down onto the bank to find somewhere for our pits. After a pilots briefing, we buggied about a bit before the start of the race which was a Le Mans start – Andy was the first racer on our team using his 10m Venom 2 and there are some fantastic start videos of everyone running to their kites. A couple of teams tangled badly but all in all the race started quickly with few problems.I went out in the buggy more to have a shot while the wind was good – I’d never buggied Hoylake before and I was really looking forward to it so I couldn’t wait to get out. When Andy returned I went out to clock up miles for real on our yellow 4m Buster but not knowing the kite very well I soon went back for
The day carried on and pilots changed, the wind varied slightly in its speed but was more or less constant until it picked up at about 10pm.
The night shifts began, the glow sticks came out and the mood became a bit quieter and a bit eerie – many pilots were put off by the thought of buggying in the dark but a few teams still had a pilot willing to disappear into the void.
Pilots went out with lights affixed to their buggies and some with kite lights – white lights on the front of buggies and red on the rear – with large lights as markers for the course. Unfortunately as the wind died and shifted the course became more difficult for pilots with kites with a poor upwind performance and would mean a trek right down the bank to be able to make certain markers and so several pilots found a space and went back to going back and forth to earn their kilometers.
This regime continued until about 3am when wind disappeared completely and the rain took its place – I think everyone decided to get some sleep in at this point myself included as I went to sleep on two Centuries, a Little Devil and a Buster.
At 4.30am I decided I’d had enough when the tent I was in began to leak and so went to look for someone else I knew who was awake – it was light enough by now to be out again but it was still pouring with rain and there was still no wind. A few of us ended up making a trek up to the Clubhouse and going to sleep in the dry and comparative warmth and comfort there.
Kev went back out at 7.30am after hearing the wind had picked up but the rest of us stayed asleep until 8.30am before returning to the bank.
All the teams tried to clock up some more km in the early morning, variable and temperamental wind – at least it wasn’t raining much any more.
10.30am came along and the finish came around – Team Ozone taking the title of World Record Holders with over 600km and the Youthful Yokels coming second not all that far behind.
Everyone returned to the Clubhouse and cleaned up and packed away before going in for the Prize Giving. All 17 teams received something for their efforts as well as being able to be proud – this was my first medal for anything ever and it made me feel so proud of myself and my team.
Next year the event will hopefully run again and be bigger and better than this year – I hope so because I really want to do it again.
