Alistair Morris along with his For Goodness Shakes! team mate, Si Enderby, took the winter Open 5 series crown at the final event of the season in the Peak District this weekend. They finished 2nd in Sunday’s event. Local Phil Scarf took the event victory in the Male Solo class too.

Sunday’s race was the final race out of six of the Open 5 series which is staged across the country from the North Pennines down to the Quantocks. The pair had won three races and took one second place to become overall champions of this popular event. The event comprises of 5 hours of both mountain running and biking with navigation being an important aspect. The pair have endured tough winter conditions in their campaign to win the series. The first race in the Southern Lake District was warm but with heavy rain. The second close by in Bacup threw hail, snow, rain, wind and thunder at the competitors with many dropping out early. Alistair and Si won but with Alistair suffering frost nip in his fingers. The third event was up on the Warcup Firing Range in snow and sunshine. With the army performing manouveurs and checkpoints on tanks there was a military theme to this event.

Sunday’s race was in glorious sunshine in the Peak District centred around Dovedale. The routes took in the steep sided Dovedale – running across rather than up or down to pick up the checkpoints high on the sides. Dropping one checkpoint on the run the pair headed out on the bike with confidence. With many cycleways the riding was fast and a crash an hour in left Si with an injury to his thigh slowing the pair down resulting in them dropping a further two checkpoints to give them second place. Despite this they still beat the only two other contenders for the Series prize ensuring an outright win.

Phil Scarf took on a strong male solo field an won after a fast and well navigated route. The For Goodness Shakes! team also took the Female Pairs Series title and Alistair and Si will be teaming up with one of the pair, Fi McBryde, to take on Britain’s top teams, including the 2009 Adventure Racing World Champions, later this year in both 48 hours and 5 day races as part of the UK Championships.

The result moves Alistair to 4th place in the UK Adventure Racing Rankings based on the last 2 years results.