Taryn and Andrea have many adventure race podium places under their belts and are currently leading Ireland's Premier Adventure Race Series.

The Roe Valley Rampage involved 5½ hours or racing a course around, and on top of!, Binevenagh, by a combination of mountain biking, trail running and kayaking – all while orienteering to collect compulsory checkpoints. At various stages there were special tasks that had to be completed, such as a zip wire, crawling through murky tunnels and blindfolded navigation through a mud pit forest bog.

Quote
"The weather conditions were atrocious on Saturday, with near gale-force winds and very cold showery spells. All of which made us love it even more. The true spirit of adventure! The highlight of which was biking along the cliff edge of Binevenagh, with gusts whipping the bikes sideways on a very narrow track and continually passing signs saying "WARNING: Dangerous cliff edge". Well, if you're not living on the edge you're taking up too much space!"

On completion of this part of the race, the girls had 3 hours to warm up and eat before heading out on a night navigation course at 8pm. This stage involved a 3 mile uphill bike to a forest, where orienteering maps were issued for a course to be completed on foot, before returning the 3 miles to the starting point on bike – with a maximum time of 90 minutes and penalties to be incurred for lateness. The aim of the game is to collect as many of the checkpoints as possible within the maximum time.

The girls loved this section, apart from a slightly ill-fitting head torch!, and on only two occasions were haunted by an image of a Crimewatch reconstruction as they rampaged through the forest in the darkness!

The final part of the 2-day event started at 9am Sunday and was predominantly an orienteering course on mountain bike, although with a 60-90 minute compulsory run section thrown in for good measure. For those that have been involved in such orienteering on bike, this section was effectively a Trailquest (fast growing sport of mountain bike orienteering, no running).

The aim again was to collect as many checkpoints as possible in the maximum time allowed of 5 hours. The weather had brightened up and this part of Ireland's north coast was at its glorious best. 

Quote
"Yes, we made sure we had time to take in the stunning scenery! The Sunday section was tougher than expected and the one and only navigation blip of the day cost the Bikedock Belles a lot of time. With 3 and ½ hours on the clock it became clear that we would not be back in 5 hours and would be facing time penalties. However our never say die attitude kept us going - the sheer enjoyment (?!) of pushing your body to complete a course no matter what!"

At the finish line, Andrea and Taryn were then delighted to be asked to present prizes to young people that had been taking part in a CCAR Youth Adventure Race that had been running that day. They were introduced to the crowd as the Bikedock Belles and a summary given of our Race Around Ireland challenge as well as their success in Adventure Races in the past year – said to be an inspiration to the young people there. The Bikedock Belles were honoured to play a part at the conclusion of this successful youth event and hope to play a further role in the future.