(Photos credited as per event website: All other photos by Adventure This / Boghoppers)

All Adventure Races have their own journey, all teams have their own story, this is ours..

Itera-Lite is a 3 day multisport adventure race, covering anywhere between 280-350km, disciplines are mountain biking, trekking, kayaking, orienteering and various “special” stages. Teams visit checkpoints along the way, any missed checkpoints incur a time penalty, some checkpoints are mandatory, others are optional.

The clock only stops when you cross the finish line, so teams need to establish, when and where they sleep.

The events take place around the UK. The “Lite ” element is in reference to the full Itera, which is a five day event, with a similar race format.

There had been 3 “lite” events to date, 2023 in South Scotland, 2024 in Wales, and the Scottish Highlands in 2025.

During the close out of the 2025 event, the Itera organisers announced that the next years event would be in South West England during July.

By now we had a growing pool of sporting friends who were showing an interest in having a go at the event. We could possibly enter two or maybe more, teams.

Carol Lock, John Woodrow (JW) and John Patchett (JP), were up for going again.

James Armstrong and Gary Clark who had been in Ireland for the Beast 24hr Adventure Race with Carol & I, were also keen to step up to the three day version.
Minnie Brockelsby, a family friend, made the mistake of saying “that looks great fun” on my Strava post of the 2025 Itera, so she was in!

Our final squad member would be Sabrina Barnes, who I’d met during the Rat Race Patagonia trip in 2025, she was really strong on the bike, kayaked in pretty tough conditions on that trip, and had done a few of the other Rat Race trips / events. I knew she had the temperament, attitude, endurance and fitness for an Itera event. After a few calls and discussions / concerns about sleep, or the lack of…she agreed to give it a go!

So, by early Spring 2025, we had our squad of 8!

We entered two teams, the first would be “Adventure This” our squad team name from 2024 & 2025 (this would be Carol, JW, Gary & James) and “Boghoppers” our original team name from 2001 for JP & me, we’d be teamed with Minnie & Sabrina.

We’d got a lot out of our squad April training weekends over the previous few years, so again made our pilgrimage to Aviemore for biking and trekking.

From left: Alan, Carol, JW and James

We also arranged a kayak session with the Outdoor Education Centre at Lochore Meadows in May, who took as for a coastal kayak on the coast of Elie, Fife (as we were expecting a coastal kayak in July).

Minnie, left : JP & Minnie, right

Three weeks before the event, Minnie & I were mountain biking in a remote part of the South Highlands , when unfortunately Minnie went over the handlebars and dislocated her shoulder.

This was a big blow to Minnie who was looking really strong and ready for the event. It was also a big blow to the squad as Minnie not only lowered the average age, but brought lots of positivity and enthusiasm to the squad.

Fortunately for us, Richard Haynes, a team member in 2024 and my friend from the Heb race series, was coming back from injury and was already suffering from FOMO (a fear of missing out) so was able to step in. This certainly would help with the navigation as he had strong knowledge of the area, given that he lives in Cornwall.

As usual, the race schematic came out 2 weeks before the event. The schematic shows the stages, disciplines, distances and expected times. It also shows what team bag would be where, so you could plan what food / kit to be in a particular box. The only thing missing is location…

What jumped out to us was a 30km kayak (looked likely to be coastal) and a huge bike section totalling over 160km, a big trek section (35-55km) which had a Dartmoor feel to it, then other various stages of kayak, biking and trekking, some with optional disciplines back to the finish line, expected to be sometime Monday (between 8.30am and 5pm)

Before we knew it, the race weekend was upon us. Five of us would head down from Scotland via van/car, Richard would meet us at Race HQ, Sabrina would head over from North of London to meet us in Exeter, whilst JP would cut short his life of international travel and luxury apartments, to join us at the Race HQ at Slapton Ley.

The Exeter squad (Sabrina, Carol, JW, Gary, Alan & James).

There are a few admin stages to deal with before the race would start on the Saturday morning (at a location yet unknown). We had to sort out our various kit boxes and bags which the event organiser would transport around the course, as well as go through race registration and kit checks, particular focus was put on the PFDs (personal floatation device) which again made me suspect we were indeed hitting the sea.

As is traditional with Adventure Racing, you don’t find out the course until a few hours before the event. Racers gathered in the town hall for the “course reveal“.

We found out we’d be bussed at 6am to Minehead in North Devon for a 9.30am start outside Butlins Holiday Camp. We’d kayak west along the coast towards Lynmouth with a checkpoint midway at Porlock Weir before following the coast west by foot, then bike towards Dartmoor for a trekking stage, back on the bikes towards the River Dart where we’d do a night kayak down to Dartmouth, back on the bikes to head west then finish with a trek around the South Devon coast towards the finish at Slapton Ley.

One of the unusual aspects this year was that the teams would have to take photos to prove they had been to certain checkpoints. They would then show them to the marshal at the end of each stage to gain the credit for having visited the checkpoint.

First task was to go through the route book and mark up the maps with our anticipated route before trying to get some sleep in the really warm dorm we’d been allocated.

4.45am Saturday: wake up to get ready and get breakfast, before boarding the bus. A couple of hours later we had a few minutes to get our kayaks ready before we gathered outside Butlins for a group photo.

Photos courtesy of Richard Taylor Photography

On the start line, our two teams wished each other well and got ready for the short “Le Mans” style run to the kayaks.

Photo courtesy of Richard Taylor Photography

“5-4-3-2-1- Go!” As we ran along the beach to the kayak and out onto the water.

Photo courtesy of Richard Taylor Photography

30km of kayaking lay ahead of us as we settled into our rhythm. Sabrina & I on one kayak, and John & Richard on the other.

Photo courtesy of Richard Taylor Photography

As we got round the headland the line of the coastal cliffs came into view, the water was choppier than expected.

We settled into a routine of paddling for 15 minutes then taking a quick break to fuel and get some water in.

As the route went on, I could feel the strength of the sun and thankful I had a wide brimmed hat on.

We came into a harbour around half way for a checkpoint and it gave us a chance to get closer to JP and Richard, I looked across and saw Carol on her kayak and we shouted a few words of encouragement to each other.

After a few hours the fatigue and discomfort of the kayak was starting to set in, and it was with much relief that we eventually came into Lynmouth and hauled the kayaks out of the water and up onto the collection area.

Photos courtesy of Richard Taylor Photography

Stage 2 11.30am Saturday: The Valley of the Rocks

The next stage was an orienteering section along this beautiful section of coast, woodland and upper meadow.

The checkpoints were fairly straightforward to find but for me, the heat was having an effect and I knew I had to manage effort.

Photo courtesy of Richard Taylor Photography

We conferred as a team and agreed to cut out the last two checkpoints and head to the transition and get onto the bikes. We knew that the next stage was a huge section of around 160km.

Photo checkpoint: signpost

Into transition, unpacked the bikes and got some food in. We saw Carol’s team and said a quick hello. James had been ill on the kayak, maybe heatstroke, and wasn’t looking great, but he was managing and able to get food in. He’d quickly bounce back.

As we headed along and around the north coast the paths were brutally undulating as we went from bay to bay & cove to cove.

After a few hours we started to hit the seaside towns of Combe Martin and Ilfracombe where there was a photo checkpoint at the iconic Landmark theatre.

Photo checkpoint: Landmark Theatre

We stopped for cans of coke, ginger beer, and for me, an ice lolly.

Photo checkpoint: coastal bench

Photo checkpoint: reservoir

On we headed round the coast, through towns where the wine bars and restaurants were packed. Sabrina said something about “questioning life choices…”, “absolutely!” I replied, “Who wants to be tucking into steak and Malbec on a night like this!”

As dusk settled we arrived at another town and again saw Carol’s team, they were heading off looking for food as the local chip shop had just shut.

Photo checkpoint: local church

We stopped for drinks, ten minutes later I could sense myself starting to shake as my body cooled down, JP spotted it too and got me inside, pronto. That helped, but it was a small wake up call to prepare for the cooler night.

11pm Saturday: The Golf Course Incident…

After an hour or so, the route then took us along a right of way that went between two golf courses. We cycled along the tracks for a few km before realising the path was fading out and we were on a fairway. We knew something was wrong and we tried a few options to try and get back on the right of way, but couldn’t find it.

Tiredness was affecting our judgment.

The moon was to our right so that convinced “some of us” that this was east, as the moon rises in the east. While “another” pointed to to hotel/golf club behind us, which was north, as confirmed by the compass. The town on the map, which we could see to the left is east…(for info, the moon was setting, not rising so was in the west, it had simply rose earlier in the day) it was clear we didn’t know where we were so we decided to go back to the north to find the start of the path again.

Finally we realised what we had done wrong, found the signpost we’d missed, and carried on. This had cost us an hour or so, but had at least lowered our handicap.

Our GPS track: The highlighted bit being the section we got wrong. It’s easy if you have GPS… and daylight!

We got to the midpoint transition of the stage, a coastal/ dune orienteering section. We were quite far behind at this point and decided not to do this activity & continued on the bikes instead.

The biking route took us along a cycle path / old railway and we were making good progress, although as it was dark, we couldn’t see much of the surrounding landscape, and there was a tunnel effect with the lights.

At around 2am I was feeling heavy eyed, the lack of visual stimulation was having an effect. At the next gate crossing I chatted to Richard, he was the same, we’d already passed a few teams snoozing by the path, so we thought, “why not?”

We opted for a 30min power nap and nipped into the wooded clearing at the side of the track. We grabbed coverings / emergency blankets from our packs and settled down, I could hear JP say “two nights ago I was in a luxurious apartment in Bologna, last night an crowded dormitory and now I’m sleeping in a wood beside a badgers set! This has de-escalated quickly!”

As I tried to sleep I could hear Carol’s team go past, but I had no energy to shout out a greeting.

40 mins later we were up and needed to get going. JP and Sabrina said they didn’t get much sleep, we hoped to get a chance to snooze later in the warmth of Dartmoor.

Photo checkpoint: memorial

We carried on the cycle path and a few hours later we popped out near the transition. Richard knew there was a service station nearby so we headed along to get coffee and a bacon roll. A couple of other teams joined us on the grass.

Stage 4: Dartmoor Trek

Above: Into transition at Dartmoor

We quickly refuelled, packed up the bikes and got ready to set off on the long trek through Dartmoor. This stage had been worrying me as it would be a long day exposed in the sun, luckily the day started overcast, but it would warm up.

This was a big stage and we opted to mostly go for the Mandatory checkpoints plus any others that were on the direct route.

Fatigue was starting to set in, so we had a short snooze in the sun, maybe no more than 5-10 minutes as we were cautious about getting sun burned.

Above: Photos by AA

Photos courtesy of Richard Taylor Photography (inset photo above; a really nice photo of Carol & JW)

Photo checkpoint: stone bridge

Prior to getting to the stone bridge above, we stopped for a drink at a nearby pub. I bought myself a Guinness Zero, Jamie Simpson, the event Marketing Director was in the pub at the time (charging his electronics & working!) and couldn’t believe his eyes when I walked past with it! Nor could any of the other teams sitting outside, it generated a bit of discussion (as they didn’t know it was zero alcohol) , but it hit the spot!

Finally, after several hours, we started to head into Princetown and head to transition.

Stage 5: Back on the bikes!

The route left Princetown and headed South East along a bridleway with a long section of hike-a-bike. Later on, as we were flying down a road I could see a car that had passed us earlier heading up a steep hill on the other side…uh-oh… that didn’t look good…😬.

Once we crossed the bridge at the bottom it was a horrendous climb up the other side. The only consolation was to end up with my favourite photo of the weekend, Sabrina topping the climb with the setting sun behind her.

Another one of the photo checkpoints was Buckfast Abbey.

The organisers had considered offering racers a drink of the tonic wine, thankfully they didn’t…

The next stop on our journey was to Pridamsleigh cavern, this was not for the feint hearted, it was slippy, very muddy, and we had to find the checkpoints located throughout the cave system.

Photos by Richard Taylor Photography

Finally out of the cave we headed to TA7 for the kayak.

Stage 6: Midnight Kayak down the River Dart

At the race briefing we had been advised that:

a) the high tide was at midnight, so if you wanted a good tow down to the coast, get there around that time

b) there are sand banks, if you get stuck, DO NOT GET OUT OF THE KAYAK. You will need to wait it out

c) look out for a flashing beacon, that will be the point to head into the marina to get out, if you go past it, you could get swept out to sea and it’ll be a hard kayak back in...

Just as we were about to head into the water, we were advised that the flashing beacon was broken, watch out for a flag instead…that didn’t sound easy…

As we got into the water I quickly realised how difficult this was going to be. We could hardly see a thing, even with our headtorches. In addition, the river was really wide so not easy to see any sandbanks.

As we paddled onwards together, a low mist started to form – that was even more concerning.

Sabrina commented that this was another “first” that she’d be writing to her mother and daughter about on their WhatsApp chat…

She soon had something else to write about as we spotted dozens and dozens of leaping fish, one hit me on the leg, whilst another landed in Richard and JP’s kayak!

These turned out to be sea trout trying to get to the insects that are active during the summer nights.

This felt a slow going kayak as we often found ourselves in doubt as to what way we needed to go, we ended up in a few coves and on a couple of sand banks, which we quickly got off. The river was actually flowing fast with the tide so you knew if the water was “slack” you were out of the river channel.

Above: You can see the close ups of the bits where we ended up going in the wrong direction

Finally we could see the marina, but we couldn’t work out where the flag was to mark the exit point.

Some flashing / moving lights caught my eye to my left, it was race marshals trying to attract our attention, I realised that the exit point was maybe 50m to my left, we quickly manoeuvred the kayak and headed for shore. We were all so happy to get off the kayak and into TA8.

Stage 7 : Mountain Bike

It was pitch dark as we got ourselves sorted with the bikes.

However we needed to get to the other side of the harbour. This had been covered at the race briefing.

As we were outwith the normal ferry times, the harbour master had volunteered to ferry racers across to the other side. This was one of the small highlights for me, it was just a lovely little element of the organisation and the local people helping to solve problems.

Photo courtesy of Richard Taylor photography

Above: not us, but a good shot of them getting the bikes off the boat.

Above: On the ferry

Out on the other side and we headed west through the town

This section was one of what seemed endless undulating hills with climbs of 20%, it was being felt on the legs. I was having issues with the gears as it wouldn’t go into the easiest gear, Richard and I stopped to have a look but couldn’t risk trying to move the derailleur by force. Whilst we were doing this we could see JP’s eyes close and head dip to the ground, he perked up once the legs got going again as we headed off to the West.

Photo checkpoint: sign

Photo checkpoint: not a ford…

Photo checkpoint: the actual ford..🙄

By now we’re on the last page of the race map book and only 7km to the last transition.

As we headed up yet another beast of a climb out of Frogmore, my freewheel hub broke. That meant no power from the pedals was being transferred onto the back wheel to turn it.

We pushed the bike to near the top of the hill and pulled into the driveway of Winslade Farm.

Our situation wasn’t looking good. Sabrina passed me our emergency phone and I phoned Event Control.

I told them the news, where we were and they said they’d come back to me. I looked at the phone and the battery was at 10%…😬

I felt terrible, we were looking at a DNF, only a few hours before Sabrina asked if I’d always finished the event, I’d said I had, but only with help from the team. I had been confident we’d finish here, yet here we were.

I needed to charge the phone, so walked down to the farm while Sabrina and JP snoozed under a tree, as I approached the house I saw a couple in their garden, having a nice relaxing morning…I explained the situation.

Tom at the farm, grabbed a charge lead and a portable charger and asked what was wrong with the bike.

30 minutes later I was heading out on Tom’s bike with a charger and charge lead for the phone whilst he looked after my bike.

A truly humbling act of kindness and generosity.

I phoned in to Event control to let them know we were okay.

I woke up Sabrina and JP to tell them we were back in the race!

30 minutes and several more steep climbs later, we reached TA9 at East Portlemouth.

Stage 10: To the finish

We had two options, either cycle back to the finish or head round the coastal path on foot.

We opted to cycle back as we were not confident of getting back to the finish before it closed at 5pm if we walked the 17-25km route.

The route back continued the undulating theme of the day, and after we thought it was downhill to the finish, we were met with a final 20% climb as a final sting in the legs.

Finally we arrived at race HQ!

It was a fantastic moment for the team after our 53+ hours of being out on the course and we were delighted to see our sister team there at the finish to cheer us in.

Above: Tom’s bike, the one that got us home.

We learned that Gary had taken a tumble on Dartmoor resulting in a badly swollen ankle and had to retire from the race, after he walked 33km on it to the next transition… that takes some steel, kudos Gary.

This had meant the team missed out on the kayak section but the other 3 had completed the cavern activity before biking back to race HQ, arriving at 5am.

As the rest of the squad started to collect and dry out our kit, Richard & I dropped off Tom’s bike and collected my one.

As I said at the start, all Adventure Races have their own journey, all teams have their own story.

In my phone calls and messages to pitch the idea of joining us for the event, I’d said to Sabrina that whilst it might not always be “fun”, as we’d no doubt have issues that we’d need to deal with, there would be moments & experiences that she’ll remember for years to come, in a good way….and that it was very much down to how we all worked as a team.

At some point on Dartmoor during Sunday morning, as Richard and JP were looking at the route to the next checkpoint Sabrina looked around and said “I get it…I get it…”, and that is exactly it, Adventure Racing is to me, all about the dynamic of the team and how we trust and are open with each other, whilst working together to get to the finish line.

When JP and I started adventure racing, one Race Director’s only words of advice were “make good decisions”. I loved that summary. We felt we made the right calls, didn’t over stretch and we dealt with the issues that faced us.

Monday evening was the buffet dinner, prize giving and announcements. Paul McGreal’s last story was about our team’s bike dilemma and how a local resident had helped save the day. Paul is from Devon and proudly praised the local community for their support with the event.

Tuesday morning, we all said our goodbyes to Sabrina and Richard.

We had breakfast at the beach before the long journey home.

I remember reading in a forum somewhere when someone asked “how do you train for adventure races?” The answer offered was that “it is a lifestyle choice.”

The last words should belong to Sabrina, who at points, maybe questioned how she ended up cycling past comfortable restaurants and bars on a Saturday evening, sleeping in the woods beside badger skat with three men she hardly knew, dozing on a hill in Dartmoor, crawling through a muddy cave and avoiding being hit by flying fish in a midnight paddle. She summed it up well when she sent us all a message after watching the first draft of our GoPro footage edit:

“I’m still not sure what day or time it is, but watching that back has made me realise that actually, I make the best life choices”