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THE LAKE DISTRICT JULY 2004
Race Report THE CONISTON
QUEST To celebrate Questar’s first event in the wonderful Lake District there were extra canoe checkpoints on Coniston Water – the lake which inspired Arthur Ransome’s novel ‘Swallows and Amazons’ and where Donald Campbell set world water speed records. Whilst there were no speed records set this time due to a stiff wind, there were some heroic efforts made by many adventure racers in both the Masters and Novice categories. Half the Masters managed to contend with the choppy conditions to clear all the canoe checkpoints and two Novices teams, the Kennilworth Troopers and the Pink Posse visited all bar one. Congratulations to all that braved the water and particularly the two teams that capsized and gamely carried on with the assistance of the Quest safety boat. Conditions for the trail running and mountain bike disciplines were fair as competitors set out from the Coniston Sports and Social Club across some of the most scenic parts of the Lake District. A wide choice of routes across the lower slopes of the Old Man of Coniston, through Yewdale to Tarn Hows, around Holme Fell and into Grizedale Forest afforded both great views and enabled racers to cover some very varied terrain. Many competitors were bowled over by the tremendous scenery. Racers were able to choose to run or bike first and incorporate their canoe stage within either. This allowed competitors to plan routes that played to their strengths. A good number concentrated on the trail run first with several teams nearly covering all 15 checkpoints. Just one team managed to visit them all, the Veterans team of Frank Hird, Martin Hall and Peter Murray who certainly surpassed their team name of ‘The Plodders’ to collect a full 410 questars. Mountain bikers were rewarded with some great descents on off road trails as well as some stiff hill climbs and a network of quiet lanes and bridleways. Some great scores were posted by many with two solo entries achieving all 15 bike checkpoints: Liam Corner and our scorer Allan Farrington who took time out in the middle of the day to get some exercise. Teams did an excellent job in their full use of either the 5 1/2 hours for Novices or 6 hours for Masters - with only four teams picking up penalties for being over time. The timing of the first heavy shower of the day was also spot on coming just after everyone had congregated inside the Sports Club and were comparing notes on their routes and adventures with fellow racers over a drink from the bar before the prize-giving. One competitor received a special mention. Sandra Lee celebrated her 30th birthday on race day by bringing along some friends and entering as the Pink Posse, all in matching colourful pink outfits, having breakfasted on champagne! The Novice category with 18 teams was a strong field with the top two finishers collecting 670 questar point (Kennilworth Troopers) and The Lone Ranger (David Jones) winning with 735 questars . This stunning score would have put him into second place in the Masters Men’s Solo category. In the Master’s competition there was good competition in the Women’s Solo class which Sarah Bland won with 465 questars running without her usual partner as ‘Just Me and the Dog’. The top three positions in the overall Master’s event went to three category winners. Pete Robinson running as Robin of Sherwood was particularly pleased to win his first adventure racing prize as Veteran team category winner with 645 questars. Samantha Dring and Paul Noble won the Mixed Team prize with 735 questars and exemplified their team name of ‘Total Adventure’. The overall winner was Liam Corner, which now puts him into the top position so far as the current overall series leader with three further Questar events to go in 2004. The next Questars event is a new Coast to Coast Challenge across the south west peninsula from the Taw estuary in north Devon to the Exe estuary in south Devon over the weekend of 11/12 September. For more more details click here. In summary the winners were:
Solo women Just me and the dog Sarah Bland 465 Mens Dodsey Legs Mark Dodds & Tim Leggett 630 Veterans Robin of Sherwood Pete Robinson 645 Mixed Total Adventure Samantha Dring & Paul Noble 735 Solo men & Overall
winner Liam Corner 750
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