RACE EIGHT RACE REPORT
The Surrey
Hill Quest - 16th OCTOBER 2004
Race
Report by David Hunt - Race Organiser
Teams arrived at Swinley Forest with just a clue that the eighth
race in the Questars series would have a slightly different format.
All became clear with the issue of race instructions at Registration
when it was revealed that instead of the usual three stage format
today's race had no less than five stages.
Another break with tradition of starts every 30 seconds was a
mass start at 10 o'clock. Each team lined up on the start line
and after activating their electronic scoring devices collected
an envelope containing Stage 1's Hill Challenge.
This turned out to be a map observation quiz requiring close scrutiny
of the competition maps.
Teams had to find and name hills marked on the map and arrange
them into up to eight categories ranging from three hills named
after trees to three hills that could be consumed. In addition
to the planners proposed answers racers found one or two additional
hills and imaginatively placed them into one of the set categories
to earn 40 questars and get their race off to a flying start.
In fact all but four teams managed to get full marks and in the
process closely familiarise themselves with the competition area
over which they would be navigating for the rest of the day.
The brain teasing didn't stop there as teams had to think through
their best strategy over the next three stages of mountain biking,
a trail run and a canoe stage. All A roads were out of bounds,
so teams not only had to consider the best route and order of
visiting the variably valued checkpoints but also consider the
amount of time to spend on each stage. There was also a mystery
fifth stage worth an additional 160 questars - details of which
were only available after four and half hours.
The canoeing was at Horseshoe Lake near Yateley which teams accessed
during their mountain bike stage. In very light wind the well
sheltered lake provided calm conditions for novice teams and masters
alike. This did not prevent a fair amount of '360 degree canoeing'
as the inflatable canoes showed again they had a will of their
own! That said many teams were lightening fast around the five
canoe CPs despite their location of the next one being revealed
progressively at each CP.
As the teams returned to transition for the last time and collect
details of the mystery fifth stage the calm if cloudy conditions
for most of the day finally gave way to drizzle and then rain.
Nevertheless teams were still up for the final challenge to choose
between an additional trail run or mountain bike stage. There
was a fairly even split between the two options for this final
stage with some teams timing their race to perfection and enabling
all the available questars to be added to some very impressive
overall scores.
All teams were congratulated at the results and prizegiving on
rising to the challenges presented by the forest, the weather
and the planners five stages. The scores showed that many teams,
including the largest category of Novices so far this year, had
all had a good day and many left looking forward to renewing the
challenge at the last Questars of the year in Sussex on 27 November.
Category winners :
Novices - Mark Smith & Mark Watson Norfolk'n'Chance
720 questars
Masters
Veterans
- Mark and Chris Goodman -Team Goodman 570
Women's Solo - Karin Plait 515
Mixed team - Marina Steadman and Guy Chessell
From the old folks home 845
Men's team - Simon Fisher & Mark Childs -
The Orange House 785
Men's solo and Overall winner - Liam Corner 955
