2006 Report - Race 2 - Brecon Beacons, 27th May

QUESTARS 27th MAY 2006 : RACE REPORT - Brecon Beacons

Over 300 adventure racers from all over the UK and beyond converged upon the delightful village of Llangors yesterday to compete in the second event of the Questars adventure race series. Llangorse lake is the largest natural body of water in South Wales and is wonderfully set in the heart of the Brecon Beacons National Park.

The lake waters had been been augmented by the heavy rain in the week before the race and the whole countryside was pretty waterlogged. Forewarned at the pre event briefing to be aware of the slippery conditions adventure racers wisely revised their intial planned routes as they started to experience the wet conditions. Many trail runners returned to the run / bike transition point with gleeful reports of overtaking mountain bikers on the muddy bridleways!

Despite the inital rain and low cloud paddling conditons were near perfect on the lake. Many teams took advantage of this and cleared the whole course earning themselves maximum points on the kayaking stage. The other stages proved much harder.

Trail running checkpoints were scattered across the locality on footpaths and on the nearby open access hills. The morning mists made the latter a real challenge. Particular congratulations to the three male solo racers (Andrew Wood, Simon Proud and Chris Volley) who still mananged to clear the whole trail running course.

Mountain bikers quickly realised that the bridleways were going to make slow going. Many took longer routes to avoid the worst of the mud and still accumulated very impressive scores in the biking stage. Those that made it over the 1000 foot summit of Allt yr Esgair were rewarded (at least later in the day) with magnificent views. From this height the colourful fleet of sit on top kayaks looked like a rash of giant waterboatmen scampering across the still waters of the lake. Both the Black Mountains and central peaks of the Brecon Beacons showed themselves in full glory as the sun came out to greet adventure racers home to the finishing line.

Even more welcome were the enticing smells of bacon rolls and homemade soup emerging from the warmth of the village hall. After reviving showers and lots of food and drink teams gathered for the prizegiving very soon after the last teams had returned. Congratulated upon achieving their own chosen routes in such tough conditons all teams gave each other a rousing round of applause. Prizes were awarded to the winners in no less than thirteen classes and categories, which are detailed below.

These scores will add into the series leaderboard. Teams' best three scores from the four Questars events in the series count towards achieving the overall Questars trophy as well as leading positions in each of the classes and categories.

The next Questars event promises to be very special. Its located in the beautiful Isle of Purbeck in Dorset close to Poole Harbour, the magnificent ruins of Corfe Castle and the chalk ridge of the Purbeck Hills. Based at a large sports centre in Wareham the event lends itself to those that wish to come adventure racing by train as its less than a kilometre from the main line train station on the London line. Make a date in the diary for Saturday 8 July and book your entry early. All Questars events sell out well before their closing dates.

Results of the Brecon Beacons Questars event:

Questars Duo:

• Real Food is Best - John Worth - 390 points
• Die Tryin' - Ian Grace & Dudley Manning - 345
• Climbit - Adam Bunning & Ian Teague - 330

Questars Trio - Mens Solo and overall event leaders

• Matthew Leathwood - 805 points
• Lost in the Trees - Andrew Wood - 770
• Simon Proud - 695