Saturday 25 April 2026
We were treated to another glorious day in the Chilterns for the second race of our 2026 Summer Series where spring had properly sprung! Thank you to everyone who came out to race and support at our event and helped to make it a brilliant day of adventure racing.
The Oratory School provided an excellent venue to explore a lovely part of the Chilterns where the bluebells were out in force and the trails were in near-perfect condition – we had racers commenting that it felt like riding through Tuscany in parts – we’ve never been to Tuscany but we may well plan a trip now! Added to that was a lovely stretch of the River Thames for the paddle. This was a new area for us but one that we definitely plan to return to.
Out on course, at just over 26km and with over 400m of climbing, the run course was a toughie and it was no surprise that only one person across the day completed the course – with Mark Logie doing so in a time of 2:35. Time Beale, in the run-only category, had the most profitable run picking up an impressive 2.83 points per minute followed by Masters Category racers Dan Thorby (2.76), James Brown (2.62) and Campbell Walsh (2.56). In the Mixed Teams category, Mike and Amanda Yorwerth had the most profitable run picking up 2.22 points per minute whilst Ella Pyman and Sally Mortleman had the best run in the female category picking up 2.11 points per minute.
In the Novice category, Christopher Casanovas and Andrew Wallis had a great run picking up 290 points in 3:02 whilst in the Duo category, Scott Richardson had the best run picking up 295 points in 2:14.
At around 55km and over 800m of climbing, the bike route was another beast of a course, despite this an impressive six teams managed to clear it with Campbell Walsh quickest in an unbelievable time of 2:51, followed by Phil Haycock (3:14), James Lea-Cox & John Pattinson (3:16), Jeremy Waite (3:24), Tom Watt( 3:37) and Bonnie Van Wilgenburg & Roel Bulthuis (4:19). Ellie Caple and Serena Howell had the best bike in the female category dropping just three checkpoints on their way to collecting 440 points in 3:40.
Unsurprisingly, Campbell Walsh had the most profitable bike leg picking up 2.85 points per minute followed by Ross Remnant (2.83) and Tom Hards (2.71). In the female category, Ellie Caple and Serena Howell also had the most profitable bike picking up 2 points per minute whilst in the Mixed Teams category, Emma & Richard Gill picked up an impressive 2.4 points per minute for the most profitable bike.
In the Novice category, Thomas Connor had the best bike picking up 270 points in 2:26 whilst in the Duo category, Syd Hardy had the best bike picking up 455 points in 3:31.
At around 6.3km and with a bit of flow and the chance for a horrible headwind on the way back to base, the kayak was a tough one to judge. A lucky thirteen teams managed to clear the course, including Stewart Graham (59:10) on the shorter Novice category. Campbell Walsh was quickest in an incredible time of 52:26 ahead of Tom Hards (54:18) and James Lea-Cox & John Pattinson (54:41). Harry Smith & Aston Bell were the fasted team in the Mixed category (55:00). Graeme & Aidan Williams (55:05), Emma & Richard Gill (55:50), Zoe & Andrew Hodder Smith (55:54), Jim Weatherston, Elaine Waugh (56:14), Andrew Wingfield, Phil Sapey (57:08), Phil Haycock (57:17), Thomas Harrington, Jennifer Heyes (57:50) and Nick Gracie (59:04) all also completing the course with what must have been some furious paddling back upstream into a headwind!
Harry Gow and Ian Sharps had the most profitable kayak, picking up 2.71 points per minute followed by Campbell Walsh (2.67) and Ellie Caple and Serena Howell (2.62).
The kayak leg proved to be the most profitable with teams picking up an average of 2.27 points per minute compared to 1.87 points per minute on the run and 1.84 points per minute on the bike.
We had been amazed at how quickly the course had dried out with the trails in near-perfect condition. Despite this, we were reasonably confident that with a big run and bike course it would not be clearable (we had added a couple of extra checkpoints the week before the event after a final recce showed how quickly the course was running!). We were right, but only just! Campbell Walsh dropped just two checkpoints on his way to a winning score of 976 points, an incredible performance.
The glorious weather tempted racers to stay out for that bit longer meaning that penalties outweighed rewards on the day and there were some impressive penalty contributions with Michael Miller, Katie Webber (115) and Jon Ward (155) all joining the 100 club!
As ever, the race base was abuzz with stories of adventure and misadventure at the finish including Kev Stephens who had to run his bike back from the kayak after his tyre slashed open! One of the biggest hurdles to overcome was with our regular racer Andrew Ryan who had his bike stolen from off his car in the Premier Inn car park, fortunately he was able to ride on the day as Cyclexperience came in to save the day (Thanks Ross!) which was just as well as he was racing in a team this time around with his sister who was visiting from the Middle East.
It was a bit of a local stomping ground for some of our regular racers with Hall of Famer Jeremy Waite seeking pre-approval to go 50m off the map to visit his house during a Questars event – a dream for many I’m sure!
All in all, it was another amazing day of racing and a huge thank you to everyone who came out to take part and support at our event and helped to make it such a great day. Huge thank yous as well to Abbie, Clive, Debbie, Denise, Jerry and Robert who volunteered as marshals for the day, Harry and Neil our medics and Dan, Naiche and Rob who provided excellent photography. A special thanks as well to regular racers Jules Kingsbury and Katherina Pedersen for helping out with registration and clear up. Thank you everyone!
For us, our attention now turns to our next race in the Summer Series in the Brecon Beacons in mid-June. Our two-day event is not to be missed, we hope to see you there!
Full results can be found here and pictures here (where you can search using either a selfie or your bib number and download high-res images for free). A summary of results is below.
Run-only (two-hours)
Runners had two hours to reach as many checkpoints they could, and we had some ambitious folk out! In third place in the Open category, Mark Logie collected all checkpoints but was back just over 35 minutes late with the maximum 370 points cut down to 298 points, sometimes those penalties are worth it when it’s so nice out?! I think many agreed on Saturday! Oscar Sly finished in second with 303 points with almost near perfect timing (just 49 seconds late), which we have come to expect from his runs with us. That left Tim Beale coming in victorious with 333 points, dropping just 3 checkpoints along the way and coming in three minutes early.
In the Mixed Team category, we had two sets of parents making good use of a well-deserved morning off to duke it out for top spot. Ruby’s Rockets (Sarah & Mark Lowden) had a terrific run to finish top of the podium with 276 points ahead of Team Date Night (Emma & Charlie Pughe) on 257 points.
Bike-only (three-hours)
Mountain bikers had an hour bonus on Saturday as it was just too good a course to rush back early for and everyone seemed to appreciate the extension. In third was Let’s give it a go (Kathryn & Michael Burns) in a score of 305 but just a few minutes behind Wheelie Tyred (Rebecca Pope and Christopher Masters) who finished on second with the same score. In first came Two Old Blokes! (Paul King and Daniel White) who scored 309 points in just over the 3 hours.
Duo (run and bike five hours)
5 hours to complete the Run and Bike course saw some excellent timekeeping and some healthy scores out there. In third was Chris Maskell with 560 points (with a 10-point bonus). In second came Sid Hardy on 603 points (13 bonus points) focusing mainly on the bike and dropping just two bike checkpoints. Scott Richardson came in victorious on a huge score of 696, timing it just right (with 1 minute to spare) to top the podium.
Trio Novice (run, bike and kayak five hours)
The Novice Mixed Teams category saw lots of new faces on the podium, and what a day for it! In third place we had the trio At least we tried (Russell Hill, Emma Hill, Sophie Papps) with an excellent score of 487 (with 12-time bonus points). Followed by Runner’s knee-d a cider (Jessica Howell, Matt Strand) on 547 points (12-time bonus points). In top position were sibling duo Team Twyx (Dexter & Dora Twycross) showing us they’ve been having a great year of training since we saw them last year at our two-day event in the Peaks. They scored a massive 620 points but with a few extra minutes out on course (-26 time penalty points), their score was brought down to a still very impressive 594 points – the best score of the day across all Novice categories.
The Novice Ladies all finished within 100 points of each other. In third place was Doris adventures Jnr (Toni & Matilda Flint), mother and daughter team who had a great day out with 365 points. It was Matilda’s first event with us, and as our youngest athlete at just 11 years old, we will hopefully see much more from her in future events! Stok Kangri (Danielle Cook, Gemma Cathcart) jumped into that second spot with 420 points including all 15 time bonus points. In first was Three quarters of a quad (Nicky Best, Issy Currie, Polly Gough) who steamed ahead with 443 points timing it just right and losing just 2 time penalty points.
In the Open category, Casawally (Christopher Casanovas, Andrew Wallis) had such a great day out they had a few time penalty points (-20) giving them a score of 445 to finish in third. Wargrave Warriors (Richard Smith, Paul Lamacraft) came in with 470 points and all 15 time bonus points to give them the edge against Casawallys. Thomas the crank engine (Thomas Connor) certainly did crank it out with a massive score of 561 and nigh perfect timing.
Trio Masters (run, bike and kayak six hours)
With 21 mixed teams, this was one of our larger categories and it was tight at the top! In third place, Need for Speed trio (Andrew & Alex Cawthorne, Imogen Walsh) were looking strong with a score of 740 (with full time bonus points). Rob Smart and Nicola Adams took second spot with 762 points, with great timing and smiles all around on a great day out. Team Gill (Emma & Richard Gill) were back on top with an impressive 836 points going full kayak getting 6 of those lovely time bonus points, looked like the perfect day out for this experienced duo.
In the Female Teams category is was all about ‘the rivalry that never was’ (and we’re going to be in trouble for sharing this!) – Team Dirty Ditches had a long-standing rivalry with In Search of Control, though (we think) the latter were none-the-wiser. Sometimes the course, the body and the day just align and dreams do come true…as they did for Serena and Ellie on Saturday. Hopefully the confidence this win brings to these amazing ladies will see them on many a podium to come! A salute to Pollie and Eleanor for being the beacon that so many chase; we are looking forward to much more exciting competition in the ladies’ category to come! Huge congratulations to team Dirty ditches (Ellie Caple, Serena Howell) who turned the podium on its head, they had a smashing day out with a final score of 720 points. Just behind them were In Search of Control (Eleanor Thackeray, Pollie Boyle) on 703 points (13 time bonus points). With Ella Pyman and Sally Mortleman finishing up the podium with 668 points – this was Sally’s first race with us having been brought along by regular racer Ella and it looks like we have another strong team on our hands!
Team Fusion Adventure Racing Team (Graeme Williams, Aidan Williams) continue to excel with another great day out with a score of 804 to give them that third place spot in the Open Teams category. This was the first time they have broken the 800-point barrier and is a terrific achievement. In second On Yer Bike (Robert Carter, Ed Gurney) had a strong day out with 829 points but once again James Lea-Cox and John Pattinson took the win with a terrific score or 862 – having a particularly good day on the bike and kayak.
In the Female Solo category, Laura Ashfield finished third on 600 points after a great run, Isla Reynolds (racing solo for the first time in a long time) had a brilliant race to finish in second place on 661 points after a brilliant bike leg. Julie Banton, looking resplendent in her brand-new purple race bib (having achieved 40,000 lifetime points at our events), came in victorious on 699 points and the best kayak in this category dropping just one kayak checkpoint in 50:20.
It was a close battle for podium places in the Open Solo category with just nine points separating third and fifth. Carl Silver won the battle to finish in third place with 904 points, just edging out James Brown (896) and Ross Remnant (895). Daniel Thorby had a fantastic day out taming a beast of a course, amassing a brilliant 959 points along the way – on many other days this would have been enough for overall victory but in stepped Campbell Walsh who picked up an incredible 976 points to win the day dropping just two run checkpoints and coming in a minute early. Wow!
Vets
In the Vets Open category, Nick Gracie put in a terrific performance to take the overall win with an adjusted score of 946 points, ahead of Carl Silver (931) and Rob Carter & Ed Gurney (904). In the Female category, it was a really close battle for the podium with just ten points separating third and fifth. Liz Jones and Maggie Salter came out on top to finish in third place on 799, just edging out Maryvonne Hassall (791) and Amanda Yorwerth (789). June Kingsbury put in another impressive performance to finish in second place on 813 but there was no stopping Emma Gill who finished on an incredible adjusted score of 874 to take the win.
