2021 Series Championship - The Full Story: Race 4
- Monday 22 November 2021
Last week we took a look back at the 2021 Questars Adventure Series one race at a time. And we revealed the series scores and positions after each of the first three races.
Today, it’s the turn of the fourth and final Questars Adventure Race of the year. This event took place in the New Forest in October.
Race 4 - New Forest
The weather was kind for the 2021 New Forest Adventure Race, and unseasonably warm for October. But more importantly, the winds were light with only a gentle breeze, which made for some pleasant kayaking in the Solent.
However, a period of wet weather in the weeks leading up to the event had softened the ground in places. This didn’t affect the mountain biking much as the off road sections were largely on well maintained gravel tracks in the forest. However, it did make the trail run slippery in places under foot.
On the whole, the terrain in the New Forest is relatively flat / gently undulating. So what the course lacked in terms of ascent and descent, was more than made up for in terms of distance, to ensure even the top adventure racers were suitably challenged and the race was a fitting end to the 2021 Series Championship.
Highest Scoring Men
Tom Hards and Michael Krajewski both cycled first, and both visited all the mountain bike checkpoints (450 pts). Very little separated them when they transitioned over to the trail run, with Tom just one minute ahead, clearing the mountain biking course in 2 hrs 43 mins.
Both opted to take identical routes to the kayak transition, visiting the same trail run checkpoints along the way. But when they arrived at the kayak transition after some 45 mins of running, Tom had increased his lead over Michael to 6 minutes. However, it all changed on the kayaking. Tom completed two full laps of the kayak course (180 pts) in 47 mins 47 secs, where as Michael only did one lap (105 pts). This cost Michael dear in terms of points.
After kayaking, Tom dropped one of the trail run checkpoints and lost 5 pts for going over the 6 hour time limit by 1 minute. However, the points gap (from the kayaking) was too much for Michael to make up, despite him clearing the trail run (370 pts) and making it back to the finish in 5 hr 51 mins.
And so it was Tom Hards who won the race with a huge score of 975 pts. Michael finished second on 925 pts – the same number of points as Carl Silver, who with a slower time of 5 hr 59 mins ended up in third place overall.
Carl cleared the mountain biking in 2 hr 47 mins and the kayaking in 51 min 28 sec. But by the time Carl came off the water from the kayaking (after four and a half hours) he was 12 mins down on race winner Tom Hards, which resulted in him dropping three trail run checkpoints on the final run in to the finish.
Highest Scoring Women
Competing as solos in the ladies class, Helen Chapman and Hannah Cooke both scored 425 pts (out of 450) on the mountain biking. They both biked first and visited all but one of the mountain bike checkpoints, with each dropping a different bike checkpoint. However, Helen did so in 2 hrs 45 mins, some 23 mins quicker than Hannah.
Helen & Hannah also matched each other on the kayaking. They both ended up visiting four out of the possible six kayak checkpoints to score 130 pts, with Helen doing so some 3 mins quicker than Hannah.
Helen put the time advantage she’d built up to good use and made it count on the trail run. She visited all but two of the trail run checkpoints earning her 320 pts where as Hannah dropped four run checkpoints to score 275 pts. This proved to be the difference between them at the end of the day, with Helen Chapman finishing as the winning lady (and a very impressive 5th place overall) on 875 pts.
The second and third highest scoring women both scored 830 pts. Hannah Cooke did so in 5 hrs 52 mins to secure second spot, 5 mins quicker than third placed women Jenny Symons who took part with Stephen Cox in a mixed team. Running and kayaking first, they transitioned after 2 hrs 32 mins, which left them just enough time to visit all the mountain bike checkpoints and make it back to the finish in a time 5 hrs 57 mins.
2021
Adventure Race 4
Mens Winner
Overall Highest Scoring Man
1st
Tom Hards
975 pts
Ladies Winner
Overall Highest Scoring Lady
1st
Helen Chapman
875 pts
Best in Each Discipline
Just two people cleared the trail run by visiting all the trail run checkpoints. One was race winner Iain Porter, who ran over 24 km with 400 m of ascent in 2 hrs 21 mins (and this after 4 hrs of mountain biking and kayaking). The other was Charles Nell who finished 5th overall. He ran first and took 2 hrs 26 mins to visit all the trail run checkpoints.
Six teams visited all the mountain bike checkpoints. In doing so they cycled over 45 km with 800 m of ascent. Carl Silver was the highest placed finisher to do so in 2 hrs 49 mins.
And 20 teams scored the maximum 160 pts for the kayaking by clearing the kayaking course. Giles Davis & Jeff Grainger were the fastest to do so. Kayaking together as a men’s team they took 50 mins and 45 secs to paddle the 5.8 km circuit between all the kayak checkpoints.
Class Winners
Congratulations to everyone that took part in the 2021 New Forest Adventure Race, and in particular the winners of each class who are listed below…
| Race | Class | Winner | Team | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trio Masters | Men's Solos | Tom Hards | Tom Hards | 975 pts |
| Trio Masters | Veterans | Carl Silver | Downwind | 925 pts |
| Trio Masters | Ladies | Helen Chapman | chappers | 875 pts |
| Trio Masters | Men's Teams | Andrew Cawthorne | Need for Speed | 855 pts |
| Trio Masters | Men's Teams | David Birrell | Need for Speed | 855 pts |
| Trio Masters | Mixed Teams | Jenny Symons | Atlas Fitness Southampton | 830 pts |
| Trio Masters | Mixed Teams | Stephen Cox | Atlas Fitness Southampton | 830 pts |
| Trio Novice | Men's Solos | Nuno Cerqueira | Paredes Mantequilla | 772 pts |
| Trio Novice | Men's Teams | Peter Ellis | Legends | 665 pts |
| Trio Novice | Men's Teams | Mike Dencher | Legends | 665 pts |
| Trio Novice | Veterans | Antonia Cox | Coxy Crew | 635 pts |
| Trio Novice | Veterans | Paul Cox | Coxy Crew | 635 pts |
| Trio Novice | Ladies | Tracy Jagot | Whiteleaf Warriors | 535 pts |
| Trio Novice | Ladies | Julia Haworth | Whiteleaf Warriors | 535 pts |
| Trio Novice | Ladies | Belinda Aird | Whiteleaf Warriors | 535 pts |
| Duo | Duo | Clare Dallimore | Freedom! | 775 pts |
| Duo | Duo | Mark Ponsford | Freedom! | 775 pts |
Series Points
The scores from the 2021 New Forest Adventure Race have been converted into series points, with the overall race winner Tom Hards receiving 1000 series points (see the full series scoring details here). Click on the button below to see the series scores and positions after this race.
