Over 400 adventure racers arrived at Brockenhurst in the heart of the New Forest last Saturday morning, for the first Questars event of the 2006 series. They were rewarded with bright and blustery conditions that made for some fun on the water and brilliant views across the varied terrain of the Forest. Overnight heavy rain had added to the standing water in some parts of the forest heaths and also to that other commodity much beloved of adventure racers - the mud! Just as well there were four changing rooms and hot showers available afterwards as well as a very popular bike hosing service.

There was great anticipation in the air as teams readied themselves, got their kit to the bike transiotion zone and reviewed their course map. Pre marked with the locations of the trail running, mountain biking and kayaking checkpoints it was soon clear that there were many possible route choices. The extensive course stretched between the event centre at Brockenhurst and the kayaking transition point at the head of the Beaulieu River and also deep into the Forest and open heathlands. Whilst relatively flat the New Forest should never be underestimated in providing some challenging country as teams were soon to discover.

As teams crossed the start line they received a laminated card detailing the descriptions of the checkpoints, their values and which three of the run and bike stages were the illusive dummy ones - marked on the map but not actually exisiting. This disclosure led a number of teams to quickly reevaluate their outline plan and swap to using their mountain bikes first to cover the ground and pick up as many points as possible en route to the river.

High spring tides combined with rain swollen rivers to make for some exciting kayaking conditions. Undaunted and aided by advice and encouragement from four safety boats, teams soon got to grips with the bouyant and manouverable sit on top kayaks. Finding some of the waterbourne checkpoints proved to be a little harder especially after an early competitor in his haste to grab checkpoint 41 sank it to the bottom of the river never to be seen again! Tourists flocking to see Beaulieu's Palace House and National Motor Museum were entranced by the colourful sight of the yellow and orange kayaks darting across the beautiful river. Great fun to watch and from all reports by teams great sport to participate in too.

Teams then had further choices. Whether to bike back via the southern route over Beaulieu Heath and the upper reaches of the Lymington River or to pick up other checkpoints they hadn't visited on the way out through the extensive off road cycle network in the Forest. By all accounts the mountain biking was rated very highly. Fourteen teams in fact decided to major on it and cleared all 15 checkpoints to earn a full 425 points.

The trail run stage covered even more varied country. In addition to the well drained off road cycle routes it also ventured into the extensive open heathland areas of the New Forest. As the sun shone runners splashed and slid through many muddy trails and envied the steadiness of foot of the other inhabitants of the forest - the ponies, and donkeys that add great character to this picturesque part of the country. Given these conditions it was quite a feat by two of the Masters solo racers Gerry King and Simon Proud to complete the whole of the running course bar just the cunningly centrally positioned checkpoint number 4.

As it turned out the best strategy was to balance time devoted to all three stages. This is what the overall event winner Matthew Leathwood did, mananging to clearing all but 1 of the available kayaking checkpoints, all but 2 of the biking and all bar 4 of the trail running stages. This gave him 795 points and the top prize of £75 worth of aquapac goods as well as the ever popular sealsinz gloves or socks that the other category winners were rewarded. Daniel Carrivick who has moved to the Questars Trio from the Questars Duo category this season actually amassed an amazing 820 points. But as he incurred 25 penalty points for being just over 4 mintes over the allotted 6 hours, he came in a very close second place. The quality of the field was further emphasied as past Questars winners made up many of the top 10 positions. So it looks set to be a battle royal for overall leadership in the Questars series this year.

The large event centre at Brockenhurst enabled teams to relax afterwards with food and drink provided by the sports centre staff and even a welcome reviving sports massage. Masters and the many newcomers to the sport in the Novice categories swapped stories of their exploits. It was also good to see Families taking part and for Jake and Tom the event coincided with their birthdays - so no doubt an extra celebration was had after completing the event.

The event centre for the next race, in the Brecon Beacons on Saturday 27 May, is equally welcoming but not quite so large. Numbers of places will therefore be more limited and so teams are encouraged to enter early to ensure they gain entry to what will be another great course and with a few hills thrown in to add to the challenge!

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