The final race of the 2023 Questars Winter Series took place under blue skies from the wonderful setting of Lifford Memorial Hall in Broadway in the Cotswolds. After a few hilltop finishes in the Series, racers were no doubt pleased to finally see a venue at the bottom of the surrounding hills!

Maybe a bottom of the hill finish is the way to go as the event broke all records with only eight teams coming back late and amassing a miserly collective 146 penalty points (this compares to 1645 penalty points last time out!), even Team Tomlins Brake Dance (Ian Chapman & Andrew Hose) were only 15 minutes late having been back one hour and 13 minutes late last time out – surely a personal best?

The course itself was a really challenging one, with lots of hills and the recent rain turning trails into a mixture of mud and rivers. The clear blue skies certainly rewarded those who were able to make their way to the top of the surrounding hills with fantastic views stretching out over the nearby counties.

Incredibly, there was an even split of points between the disciplines with racers picking up an average of 1.57 points per minute whilst either running or biking – a course planner’s dream and something that we will likely never be able to repeat!

Ian Cartwright once again led the way on the bike picking up a brilliant 2.67 points per minute on the bike-only course for the best points per minute on the day, with Dan Thorby next closest on the bike with 2.56 points per minute. Ben Hawkins led the way on the run with a superb 2.584 points per minute just ahead of The Try Hards (Tom and James Hards) with an average of 2.581 points per minute.

Three people managed to clear the bike course with Jeremy Waite quickest in 3 hours 24 minutes, ahead of Rob Smart in 3:38 and Mandy Hibberd in 3:56. Dan Thorby was incredibly the only person to clear the run, doing so in 2 hours 20.

The performance of the day has to go to Helen Chapman who had a race for the ages to finish second overall with a whopping score of 675 in 4 hours 49. Fantastic Helen, a brilliant way to finish the Series!

We have really enjoyed putting on the events and planning is already well underway for another Series of four winter races starting in November. You can read all about our Series here.

Full results can be found here, pictures here and Sleepmonsters race report here. Thanks for making our inaugural Winter Series so spectacular. We can’t wait to do it all again soon!

A summary of the results follow:

Run-only (2 hours)

In the run-only category, Ben Hawkins had a superb run on his first outing with us, topping the podium with 303 points in 1 hour 56 minutes with Simon Jones once again in second place with 256 points and Oscar Sly and Richard Bennett rounding off the podium with 240 points just two points ahead of Andrew Marchment who finished with 238 points. Team Cotswolds Lions (Sarah Kerswell & Maxine Emes) had a great run to finish in fifth and as first women with 205 points in a near-perfectly timed 1:59:14.

Bike-only (2 hours)

In the bike-only category, LiteOption/Torq (Ian Cartwright) topped the podium once again with another great ride to win with 317 points in 1 hour 58 minutes followed by Old and Knackered (Kenneth Wells) with 110 points.

Duo Taster (Run & Bike 3 hours)

In the mixed category, Team Stinkies (Jacobus & Carolyn Le Roux) improved on their third place finish last time out to top the podium with a brilliant 193 points ahead of Team Sausage Monkeys (Steve & Kirsty Ryan) on 171 points with Team Andy&Olivia (Olivia Robinson & Andy Conley) making up the podium with 162 points.

In the Open Category, Stu & Mark (Stuart Morris & Mark Moran) finished first with an excellent score of 275 just seven seconds inside the time limit! Pea Packing Pests (Baz Flynn & Peter Walter) finished just behind in second place with 255 points and Tomlins Brake Dance (Ian Chapman & Andrew Hose) rounded out the podium with 245 just ahead of Oh solo me-o (Robert Naish) on 239 points.

Duo Full (Run & Bike 5 hours)

In the Open Teams category, it was a battle of the brothers for first place with Team Try Hards (Tom and James Hards) coming out on top and finishing in first with 620 points ahead of Need for Speed (Andrew & Alex Cawthorne) with 594 points. Team DaToJo (Dan Bracey, Tom Bolton, John Harris) rounded out the podium with 558 points.

In the Mixed Team category only three points separated first and second with Team Mongaru (Katherina Pederson & Nick Gracie) taking their second win of the Series and denying Team Gill (Emma & Richard Gill) theirs with 598 points to 595. Team M&M (Amanda & Mike Yorwerth) completed the podium with 530 points which was incredibly impressive given Mike had a late accident, dislocating his collarbone!

In the Female Team category, it was another incredibly close battle with only 10 points separating the top three teams! Team Waspy (Isla Reynolds and Nina Ingham) won the day with 460 points ahead of Energetic Educators (Ro Cole, Abbie Maddocks) and JPEG (Pollie Boyle, Eleanor Thackeray) who both finished on 450 points with the Energetic Educators taking second place by finishing in a slightly faster time.

In the Female Solo category, Jennifer Hunt had a brilliant race, improving her score from the previous race by an impressive 63 points but it was not enough to overhaul Helen Chapman who had an absolutely unbelievable race to finish in first on 675 points. Mandy Hibberd put in an impressive performance, clearing the mountain bike course, to improve her score from last time by 145 points to finish in third on 530 points.

In the Open Solo category, our reigning Summer Champion, Dan Thorby, had a great race to win his first winter event with a score of 720 points ahead of Iain Porter on 675 points with Eddie Winthorpe having a brilliant race to finish on 626 points and taking his first podium.

All in all, a brilliant day of racing and a very fitting end to our first ever Winter Series!