With the final race of the 2026 Questars Summer Series behind us, we have been reflecting on what a challenging yet satisfying Series it was to organise. We decided to go BIG this year, and BIG we did, with six summer events it has definitely been a busy summer! Whether you joined us for a race or helped behind the scenes we wanted to take a moment to say a huge THANK YOU for making our Series so memorable.
The Series was our biggest yet with events in Wiltshire, the Chilterns, the Brecon Beacons, the Malvern Hills, West Yorkshire and the South Downs. Each location offered a variety of terrain, interesting areas to explore and many a chance to get lost in stunning surroundings!
It was a Series marked by a pretty incredible run of weather – from memory we only had about two minutes of rain all Series!
In total, we had 740 different racers at our events and an impressive six hardy souls (WOW – Jonathan Ward, Lee Ciancamerla, Liz Jones, Maggie Salter, Nick Gracie and Tom Hards) who completed all six of our events. Kudos to you all!
Our Series
At the start of our Series, we unveiled our updated 2026 Hall of Fame for racers who have achieved over 10,000 lifetime points with us and it was great to add a further ten names with David & Joanna Taylor, Robert Sharman, Charlotte Griffiths, Kirsten King, James Lea-Cox, Steve Burnham, Ellie Caple, Ben Hawkins and Sarah Russell earning their Hall of Fame Numbers during the Summer Series – a brilliant achievement!
Our Series Winners
Our Series ended with four very deserving Series winners who all engrave themselves into Questars history by having their names added to our Series Winners Fingerpost (and an extra star added to their race numbers):
- Emma Gill won the Female category title for the second time after a really consistent Series of racing. The Chilterns was her best performance and laid the foundations for another Series win.
- Campbell Walsh rolled over his impressive form from our Winter Series (where he took home the title) to add another Series to his name – joining Tom Hards and Tom Davies as a three-times Summer Series Champion. Campbell was impressive throughout and won all four of the races he took part in.
- Liz Jones and Maggie Salter retained their Female Vets category title with a really consistent Series, peaking in the final race in the South Downs where they blew away the field and recorded their best ever Series score!
- Kevin Stephens won the Open Vet category for the first time, adding to his Open category win of a few years ago. Kevin had a brilliant Series with his overall Brecon Beacons win being his strongest performance.
You can read more about our Series results here.
Our Highlights
We are often asked what our favourite thing about putting the events on is and we think it has to be the post-race atmosphere with that brilliant buzz of accomplishment where racers are hanging around, chatting about their individual races – the routes they took, the mistakes they made – and sharing tips and advice for next time all over a bowl of our world (?) famous chilli nachos.
Picking one highlight out of the Series is a near-impossible task but, for us, or at least Kim, the fantastic weather was a huge highlight. Summers in the UK have predictably been pretty erratic, but this summer showed the best of the UK and what happens when the weather is fine and the adventures are plentiful. The atmosphere of our events is something we truly pride ourselves on, so having the extra time and weather to relax and unwind with lots of friendly faces is a highlight we will never tire of. Another key highlight has been seeing so many kids join their parents at this years’ events. With the icing on the cake being our eldest trying her hand at racing with Kim in West Yorkshire. She absolutely loved it and will definitely be back!
Behind the Scenes
Of course, none of this would have been possible without the incredible volunteers, marshals and support staff who made each event run so smoothly. Their tireless efforts ensured that every race went off without a hitch, and we are so grateful to have such a brilliant team behind us. Thank you to Aaron, Abbie, Andy, Artem, Becki, Becky, Charlie, Clive, Colin, David, Debbie, Denise, Gabby, Hilary, Jerry, Jim, Joe F, Katherina, Lucy, Neil, Paul, Robert, Rich, Sarah, Serhii, Stephen, Stu S, Tim, Tom W!
We are also very grateful to Adam Rose, Daniel Seago, Naiche Kempson, Rich Taylor and Rob Howard who provided such fantastic media coverage of our events. Head over to our website to nab some great photos of yourself from our photo archive.
Looking Ahead
We hope the Questars Summer Series has left you with some great memories and a burning desire for plenty more! For us, our attention now turns to our Winter Series which kicks off in November in Wiltshire and we are also well underway with plans for our 2027 Series with four one-day races and one two-day race planned. We are also planning our 25th Anniversary celebrations with a big anniversary event in October, more details to be released soon. Summer Series dates are already out and entries to open shortly, so get your calendars ready and we can’t wait to start filling them with all things Adventure!
Thank you once again for being part of the Questars 2026 Summer Series. The adventure was epic because of YOU!
Kim and Joe
