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Introduction You take two breaths and summer has gone, its that time of year when your not sure if you should be wearing a down jacket or a pair of shorts that being the fickle weather we all enjoy. At Open Adventure it was definitely shorts as the sun blazed up the Open5 at Grassington. We have news on that event, the Open5 series, as well as plans for 2008. We also see our role in public service announcements with telling you where else you can get that outdoor fix. Read on
Mountain
Hardwear Open5 Series Grassington proved a real treat, the sky was blue and to be honest we were a little overdue one of those on an Open5 events - I think most competitors were shocked just how hot it was after such a chilly fresh morning. The local area did it's utmost to show off the great MTBing and the views that peppered the trials of navigation. As ever results were up on the internet that evening and they can be inspected here. Judith Hughes still recovering from injury put pen to paper and told the story of the day which can be found on Sleepmonsters here. And James Kirby also nursing a knee injury was hopping around taking photos also now on sale on Sleepmonsters here. All of which should keep the armchair racer in you amused for a while.
The event has left pretty much all of the categories with all to
play for in the Mountain Hardwear Open5 series with a few dark
horses lurking down the table ready to have a snap at the title (the
score is made up from the best 3 events of the year). Its worth a
look, with Tim Higginbottom, Nick Gracie and Andy Simpson all
looking up at Dave Spence lead in the series with wry grins. Its a
similar story in male and female pairs categories - it really is
down to the last event as to who will win and as all of them know
its far from given. Coniston promises to be pretty special. For those not in the know - the area sits in the awe of one of the lakes greatest mountains - the Old Man and on the shores of a magnificent lake, and in the back garden of some of the best MTBing in the country. It would be wrong not to let you at least get a glimpse of what this part of the world has to offer, so don't expect to be stuck in the trees for five hours looking for black boxes but do expect to be tormented by the great views. Open5 2008 / 2009!!yep 09 we are changing the way the Open5 series works next year so here's a heads up. I guess we have just followed other providers of events in the UK by putting an annual calendar together, however the Open5 series has always had to stop start for the summer. Then when it finishes in December, it starts again in January - bonkers really so we took a step back and have moved the series so it will run from November to May. Events will run EVERY month bar January so that's 6 events and they will be on the first Sunday of the month. Mountain Hardwear have already signed up so as ever expect some great prizes. That does leave a little gap - what about next spring. Well we don't intend to run a series, just plug the gap with three events, one in January March and May. The May event will be the first event of the 2008 endurance series. We have some guest planners on board helping us out with these events so expect some surprises in store. The exact locations of the events will be confirmed in the next newsletter. January 27th - York Moors
For those of you who have checked out the website, we realise that we have posted the dates for next years Open12 and Open24, with the Open5 date above - the endurance series is almost complete. We are looking at venues with a few competitors who are keen to exercise some vengeance, don't worry I am tempering expectations. Suffice to say we are heading south... Open5 May 18th
That's the Long Distance Walkers Association - these guys put on a huge number of walks each year, some of which are open to runners. The guys at Open Adventure had a crack at the 50 mile Long Mynd Hike in Shropshire for the princely sum of £17.50 each which included breakfast and serviced checkpoints. It was great crack and amazingly well organised - the field was made up of the red sock brigade to the thong and a bum bag club. I think we were somewhere in the middle - they had some quirky
rules which come from its heritage in the scouts - but whose to
complain at this price. You don't have to set off on a 50 miler,
plenty of other shorter events. It's worth checking out the
runfurther website here - whilst this series has finished this year
it does give you an idea of the events that will engage with those
that are keen to get around as quickly as possible. 
SCK Web Works Lastly SCK Web Works. Who?? Well this is a company set up by James
Kirby and a few friends, arguably James has been our biggest sponsor
over the past 3 years in helping with photography and the website as
well much of the design that has gone in to the banners, maps,
leaflets and adverts. So when he set up a company designing websites
we were more than happy to put his logo alongside the best. The
website speaks loud enough - suffice to say if you need help James
is a great guy to speak to I can't recommend him highly
enough. 
Map Boards We put these together last month and they have been selling like err hot cakes??? well kind of - we only had a 100 made and we are about to go and get a whole stack more made up. If you need a simple map board for that trailquest, adventure race or even just to have on your bike for that cycle tour - you can find ours here. They are for sale at £9 online or £8 at an event.http://www.openadventure.com/map_board.htm
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