Sunday the 1st March 2009 saw the fourth Open 5 in the series at Malham. We drove down on Saturday arriving at the campsite in the dark, with the weather looking settled if cloudy, and positively warm compared to the previous event.

The next morning we realised not only what a beautiful place Malham is, but also how popular it is with the public. Through out the race we thought Dave had done a fantastic job planning the course so that as well as taking in the main tourist attractions, we didn’t spend all day having to avoid the numerous day trippers (all slightly confused as to why all these people were running past in different directions with maps).

February 1st saw the 3rd round of the 2008/2009 Open 5 series, with the event starting just outside of the North York's village of Stokesley. Even though the BBC had been forecasting snow down the East coast for Sunday, the turn out was still pretty impressive, although the cold wasn't conducive for hanging around for a chat!

On the drive in from Newcastle that morning, I did start to wonder if this was going to be a 'flat' Open 5 - nothing really stood out in the way of hills... Until we left Stokesley and headed North. Ahh... those hills. Not particularly high, but what they lost in altitude they made up for in gradient.