Berghaus Trail Chase 2015 Day 2 – Race Images and Summary

Posted on August 10, 2015 by talkultra

Overnight camp had been a relaxed and casual affair as the heat of day 1 subsided to leave a calm night. Beer and cider flowed in the village hall, Joey (Joey’s Coffee) had his coffee machine in full flow and a duo of folk artists provided a mellow soundtrack as runners rested, re-hydrated (sort of) and re-loaded energy stores for day 2 of the Berghaus Trail Chase.

Starting as on day 1, runners had 3 courses to run (black, red or blue) to head back to base camp and race start (from Saturday) in Osmotherley. It was a shorter day for all but with some added pressure! Yes, the CHASE was on.

Starting in finishing order, runners were released with time gaps respected and as such if you ‘CATCH’ the runner infrontt of you, you have gained a place!

It’s a great idea and one that adds some real buzz and adrenaline to events. Leading lady in the blue category Niandi Carmont post race said:

“I didn’t think I was that competitive but I was caught by 2nd and 3rd ladies on an early climb in the blue race and then I waited, paced myself off the 2 of them and then ran as hard as I could to go past them and then hold them off. It was so exciting but also so stressful; in a good way! I am just glad today was 14km in length. I loved it.”

This sentiment was echoed by another runner as the sun greeted everyone back at the finish.

“I normally don’t push myself when I race but this format really added a different angle to racing and it’s so inspiring. I had visions I was in a Tour de France time trial.”

For once, the UK provided a perfect weekend of sunny warm weather, the only blip came during the night when a few light showers came. However, they were welcome. It broke the humidity of day 1 and although day 2 was sunny and warm it lacked the oppression of day 1 that caused so many runners to suffer.

The North Yorkshire Moors were resplendent with shades of green and vibrant lavender providing a natural palette that added to colourful racing.

Results

BLACK

Simon Jones
Charmaine Horsfall

BLUE

William Normand
Niandi Carmont

RED

Chris Stockdale
Catriona Curtis

Full results and times:

Full results are available HERE

Berghaus Trail Chase 2015 – Day 1 Images and summary

Posted on August 8, 2015 by talkultra

Three spectacular courses located in the North York Moors National Park provided the setting for the 2015 edition of The Berghaus Trail Chase. Starting on Saturday, runners were transported from the event centre to their respective starts for the adventure to begin. Using a colour-coded format pioneered in skiing (black, red and blue), Shane Ohly RD at Ourea events offered three fully way marked courses: long course as one would expect is black, middle course red and the shortest course will be blue.

Starting 12:30 (red) 13:00 (black) and 14:00 (blue), all three courses converged at the same overnight campsite at the end of the first day. The only difference for runners will was the distance covered. Day-1 camp provided a relaxed and friendly atmosphere with an emphasis on an opportunity to relax, have fun and share stories of the adventure day-1 provided. A village hall was available with live folk music, bar and food.

It was a hot day on the trails and many suffered in the latter stages primarily due to dehydration.

Sam Thompson was the 1st finisher for the black route in 3:52:11, Charmaine Horsfall was the 1^st lady 3:52:52.

David Camm was the 1^st finisher for the red route in 3:05:12 and Catriona Curtis was the 1^st lady in 3:32:48

Liam Swann was the 1^st finished for the blue route in 1:21:55 and Niandi Carmont was the 1^st lady in 1:40;37.

(Results will be available for pairs on the race website)

Sunday is when the real excitement begins and the true ‘chase’ commences. Runners will depart in the order they finished on day-1. The objective? Front-runners will try to hold the lead and respective places while behind a battle will commence as they CHASE the runner in front. It’s simple, catch a runner, you gain a place!

A real head-to-head race will develop and tactics will come into play. Go out too hard and you may blow up… go out to easy and you will possibly loose places. The Berghaus Trail Chase brings an innovative format to trail running and one that not only provides a new incentive and experience to each and every runner, but also really does put the fun back into racing.

Berghaus Trail Chase 2014 – Summary and Images

Posted on August 18, 2014 by talkultra

The inaugural Berghaus Trail Chase took place at the weekend in the North York Moors National Park. Organised by Shane Ohly and the team from Ourea Events, this race offered a unique format that was suitable for all abilities and experience.

Three courses: Black (white flags), Red and Blue offered three distances of varying difficulty over 2-days on way marked courses.

A full set of race images are available to view HERE

The event HQ was located in Thinmbleby, Osmotherley. This location provided a hub for runners to assemble, register and prepare and then on the stroke of midday buses arrived to transfer runners to three different starts.

Using ski piste colour coding, runners participating in the black route would run 32.8km with 1012m elevation on day-1 and then 21.3km (814m+) on day-2.

The red route covered 25.3km (801m+) and 17.4km (582m+)

And the blue route provided an entry level race that could appeal to all abilities covering 16.6km (326m+) on day-1 and 10.1km (291m+) on day-2.

Logistically, all races on day-1 would finish at the same campsite in Chop Gate and then on the following day, black and red races would start from the overnight stop and the blue runners would be transferred to Locker Wood for the shorter last day. As one would expect, all races finished at the race HQ in Osmotherley.

Vibrant heather, lush green fields, dense bracken and rugged trails along with lush green forests and bridle paths provided a stunning backdrop to all 3-races. Despite heavy rain during the overnight camp, the weather gods played ball providing everyone with a couple of excellent days running. Add to this live music, flowing beer and some excellent food in the Chop Gate village hall and Ohly and the Ourea team have the makings of a great event.

Day-1 for all three races started as one would expect with mass starts for each respective race. The sting in the tail and the unique nature of this event became clear on day-2 when the CHASE began. Starting in finishing order of day-1, runners would leave in order with exact time gaps adhered to. The objective? Catch the runner in front and you gain a place. It brings a whole new meaning to running scared and the cat and mouse scenario adds a real element of excitement to the event.

Post race, not only had the Berghaus Trail Chase race format provided a challenging experience for each and every participant but it had also been fun! The atmosphere was very relaxed and the whole experience had been a real positive.

Of course, racing did take place over the 2-days and some hard fought battles were run out on the trails of the North York Moors. However, it very much felt that racing was secondary to fun and enjoying the moment.

The Berghaus Trail Chase will be back in 2015. Bigger, better and I can only hope that Ohly books some great weather once again. I for one will be back.

RESULTS:

Black