Polaris is on this weekend at Kielder. Last event in 2012 was pretty well attended and really well organised, so I’m looking forward to this one.

Anyone on STW taking part?

Also curious about what the trails are like around Kielder. I’ve never ridden there, but the stories of the (now defunct) Kielder 100 suggest it’s pretty harsh on brake pads. Anything else worth knowing?

Im in, think it will be a damp one

I used to do Polaris events back in 1992 onwards; one of those early events was at Kielder. Disc brakes hadn’t really gone mainstream when we started, nor had suspension forks. Be prepared to cover some massive areas and take lots of energy food; fit some fast commuter tyres to the bike because you’ll be on tarmac a lot of the time and if you’ve got a choice take a light hardtail in preference to a bouncy bike; it’s all about covering ground as fast as possible. Take some good protein for the evening meal; it will help you recover for the Sunday.

Looks like it is just me and PB at the mo, so a podium finish is on the cards 😉

Thanks for the advice globalti. Was planning on using the HT so good knowing it’s the right tool for the job. Not sure I have the legs for massive distances this w/e, but it’ll be good to ride there.

Done a few it’s more off road these days and I’m going with my HR as it looks pretty damp

Interesting to see that the OMM have posted separate maps for Sat/Sun on their website

http://www.theomm.com/events/OMM_Bike_Spring/

In all the past Polaris events I’ve done (maybe ~10) I’ve never seen that. Ok, they’re not providing details of what controls are active, but still surprising.

What Globalti said basically. I think the last Polaris we did was 2001, (foot & mouth year, Kielder?)
Then the entry fees started to hike up & we didn’t bother anymore. 😐

I think it is being organised by the same team that run the MTBO in North Yorks, and in the last couple of years they have published the maps without controls on the website a few days ahead of time.

You used to find the same few people spending ages monopolising the maps before events so this system gives everyone a fair crack and has proven popular in the MTBOs.

Do these events still attract the same number of entrants that they used to? I remember seeing team no 600 & something back then.

Good luck pal. Hope the weather holds for you. Im in gisburn for the enduro. Looking forward to swapping stories next week

Thanks Martin, have a good ride at Gisburn. Try and not break anything 😉

esselgruntfuttock – I remember competing in events with 450-600 teams of 2, but those times have passed. OMM picked up the Polaris name/format in 2012 for an event around Askrigg. The course and organisation was superb. I thought the turn out was pretty good given that MTBing seems to have moved on; IIRC there were about 100-125 teams of 1 or 2 doing the no wild camp format, with about 50 teams of 1 or 2 doing the full Polaris format.

I’m in. Expecting rain and wind, so packing the bbq steaks and cold beers.

How’d you all get on?

Was planing on coming up and joining in, but still recovering from injury…

Cheers,

Rich

It was a good event, that was well organised by the OMM – loads of check points over a big area, so plenty for you to think about in terms of route planning. The course was based mostly on the forest tracks and roads, as the bridleways were less well defined and slow going. So the scenery was a bit samey, but non-the-less good riding. Weather was decent on Saturday, but Sunday was a bit dreich.

There were some big rides and suitably big scores. Not from me though. I had a decent 5 hrs on the first day, but wasted the last 2 hrs with some daft decisions and some bad navigation. Sunday was better in that regard, except I misjudged how far I could ride. Although I executed my route perfectly, I finished ~1hr EARLY, with no options for a few extra check-points. So, more bad planning I guess.

There were only ~75 people taking part (compared to ~275 people in an enduro event my mate rode in on the same weekened), so it’s going to take some effort to build the event back up to it’s previous levels. I don’t think that is the plan. Stuart from the OMM was really enthusiastic and is making a big effort to put a quality endurance MTB event together and keep it going. I will definitely be taking part again.

Sounds good – you thinking of going to the September one? Going to do my best to get to that one.

Rich

I’m thinking of going to the Sept event, but I have a trip to US with work and the 3 Peaks all in Sept, so I may not be too popular at home if I do the Polaris too.

Did the long event 12 hours in total great enjoyable endurance event. Small is good. I’d like to see some sort of handicap system based on gender and age