2004 Report - Race 8 - Swinley Forest, 16th October
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
- 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