Thursday 4 November 2026
An epic adventure to celebrate 25 years!
We had planned our Long Mynd 25 event as a unique, 25-hour non-stop adventure race to celebrate 25-years of Questars events on the weekend when the clocks go back – giving teams a full 25-hour racing window within a 24-hour period.
Based around the spectacular Shropshire Hills and Welsh Marches, the event was designed to give teams a proper adventure: a non-stop test requiring careful strategy, good navigation and sensible decision-making. The terrain offered no shortage of difficulty and we knew that it was going to be an event to challenge even the hardiest of adventure racers, and that was before we saw the weather forecast!
Storm Austen, the first named storm of the season, hit the country just before the event delaying a lot of racers and volunteers and also meaning we had a real race on our hands to get checkpoints out before the storm hit! A day and a half later, Storm Boelo hit during the event bringing with it apocalyptic conditions of wind and rain making an already difficult challenge even harder and giving racers a real adventure to remember – although we had always wanted our 25-hour event to be a memorable way to commemorate 25-years, we hadn’t necessarily planned for the weather to make it quite so memorable!
The race
The race combined mountain biking, trail running, trekking and the odd unique stage and was designed to be accessible to teams new to longer adventure races while offering plenty of challenge for experienced racers as well. We had wanted to bring the flexible nature of our regular events to this style of racing which we did with the use of mandatory and optional checkpoints, with the optional checkpoints carrying time penalties for missing them. The mandatory checkpoints kept teams on the shortest route whilst the optional checkpoints allowed teams to play to their strengths and be strategic with which checkpoints they visited and which they skipped.
In terms of the race, teams registered on Friday evening with a mandatory safety briefing that could be summed up with: ‘if you think you’re not doing very well, there is most likely a percentage of people doing worse’ – motivational stuff indeed! We wanted to keep the course a surprise right up until the start of the event so no maps were given out and, instead, teams were told to be ready for an early morning bus ride to a mystery location.
As the buses pulled up to our start location at the impressive Powis Castle, teams were able to open their starter packs which included their first map and their race bibs. There were quite a few shocked faces as the first ‘map’ was far from normal – a cloth map without the normal OS Map detail! It hopefully added to the surprise of the event as the course was revealed in a very different fashion – on the back of the race bibs that everyone received.
The event started with a group saunter around the stunning grounds of Powis Castle before teams headed down to kayak on the Montgomery Canal and then headed out into the wilds of the Welsh Marches and Shropshire Hills in search of checkpoints and adventure!
The Welsh Marches area has some real hidden gems and we tried to take the course to a number of them with a small foot section around Montgomery Castle and checkpoints at the (second) Ironbridge, Hopton Castle and Clun Castle. Mixed in was an urban orienteering stage around the historic market town of Bishops Castle and a trip to Hopton Woods mountain bike trails and a cave bus stage (who loved the ball pit!?) before teams made their way to the Gliding Club on top of the Long Mynd for the penultimate stage before a final descent to Church Stretton and the finish line.
With continuous hills and challenging trails, the Welsh Marches and surrounding Shropshire Hills provide a fantastic playground for adventure racing – but a real tough one as well! At around 150km and with over 2,500m of climbing, even the route picking up just the mandatory checkpoints was going to be a real challenge and at around 210km and over 5,300m of elevation we had planned a full course that we knew would not be completed but that would give teams plenty of options in terms of which checkpoints to visit and which to skip.
The combination of wet weather, powerful winds and a long race distance meant that teams had to constantly reassess and manage energy levels and looking after teammates and keeping spirits high were every bit as important as finding the next checkpoint. As ever with our Questars events, there was no single perfect approach. Teams had to weigh up their options, balance ambition against fatigue and make the most of the time available. With so much happening over the course of the race, the ability to adapt was crucial. With the weather adding another layer of uncertainty, the race became a genuine test of adventure-racing resilience.
On the Sunday, we were asked how the race had gone and the overwhelming felling was one of pride – pride that we felt we had put on a race that was memorable and true to our adventure racing ethos, pride in the way that our team of marshals had delivered under the most difficult of circumstances, but most of all, pride in the way teams had overcome the hardest of conditions, pushed through against all odds and finished with one hell of an achievement.
Adventure Racing Spirit
As ever with our events, there were incredible stories of camaraderie. Before the race had even started, we had Gavin Goodhart and Carrick Amer agreeing to team up with Emma Roe after her original race partner had dropped out through illness. Emma had raised over £1,000 for charity and we were so pleased that she was not only able to race but that all three of them had a brilliant racing experience.
We had plenty of stories of teams lending inner tubes, bike tools and all sorts out on the course to allow others to continue with their races – we wish we could name you all but we have lost the piece of paper where we wrote it all down, apologies! It really was an event carried out in the true Questars adventure racing spirit.
This was an event where everyone suffered and overcame to get to the finish line. But, it’s fair to say, there were a couple of racers who suffered more than most and were fully deserving of their Adventure Racers of the Day awards: Nick Cann & Clarice Tatum. This was the first event of this length for both of them but they pushed through when every single sensible bone in their body was telling them to do otherwise. Nick somehow managed to make it to the finish alongside his race partner Andy Prince, whilst Clarice pushed on in the morning to get back out on foot with her Dad, Simon.
These are just a few of the stories that crop up and reasons why we love the sport so much. The resilience and determination that we see emerge at our events is just brilliant.
Results
In all, we had ninety-seven hardy racers on the start line, around 60% of whom had never done a race of this length before so it was absolutely unbelievable and testament to the grit and determination of all the competitors that ninety-one got to the finish line in Church Stretton – an absolutely incredible achievement at the best of times, and Storm Boelo ensured that these were not the best of times! Congratulations everyone. Full results can be found here, a summary of the podium positions is below:
Open Team
Congratulations to The Flying Unicorns (Tom Hards and Iain Porter) on taking the overall Open Team victory. They finished in a time of 38:30:08, ahead of Team Endurancelife (Gary Davies and Matt Perry) who claimed second place in 39:41:11. Team Knot a Clue (Iain Tinkler and Paul Passey) completed the podium with a time of 46:49:29.
Female Team
The Female Team category was won by In Search of Control (Pollie Boyle and Julia Robson) finishing in 45:30:43. Spa day fail (Anna Bramall and Heather Kieniewicz) took second place in 47:02:48, with The Wild Wombles (Ellie Caple and Vanessa Fisher) securing third in 48:02:35.
Mixed Team
In the Mixed Team category, experienced team Type 2 Fun (David Spence and Caroline Bullard) took the win in a time of 41:11:14. Team Double Trouble (Alice Buchanan and Liam Buchanan), finished second in 44:30:34, while Lat, Long & Lost (Andy Read and Jen Hunt) claimed third in 45:56:38.
Congratulations to all our podium finishers, and to every team that took on the challenge.
More than just a race
Long-distance adventure racing is about much more than the finishing place and times. It’s about the decisions made when you’re tired, the teamwork that gets you through a difficult section, the ability to laugh when things don’t quite go to plan, and the satisfaction of completing something that once seemed a little beyond your reach.
The Long Mynd 25 certainly provided plenty of opportunities for all of those things. Storm Boelo made the event considerably more demanding than anyone would have wished for, but that is part of the unpredictable nature of taking on a big outdoor adventure. The teams had to dig deep, look after one another and keep adapting as the conditions unfolded.
For those who finished, there was the satisfaction of having conquered a genuinely memorable challenge. And for everyone who came to the start line, there was the experience of taking on an adventure to remember.
Thank yous
This event was a massive step up for us in terms of logistics and difficulty and we couldn’t have done it without the key input from a brilliant team of people.
Before the event started, we had help from Kev, Andrew, Paul T, Jim and Hilary who helped with the planning of the course and who joined Joe on various recces of the area and performed absolute miracles during the event as well!
We then had Paul T, Steve, Gill and Mark helping to get the final checkpoints out (almost) before Storm Austen hit.
We had a number of our regular racers who gave up their weekends and travelled great distances to help put the event on – a huge thank you to Becky, Maggie, Dave, Liz, Howard, Alex, Jon, Stuart, Pete, Duncan and Paul E.
We had number of our regular marshals in Jerry, Robert and Debbie along with Chris who has volunteered for many of the longer UK-based adventure races and brought with him his experience and can-do attitude.
Ross brought not only bike rentals all the way up from the New Forest, but also a sense of adventure in doing and being everywhere and anywhere for us.
Mick (Boultons of Shropshire) was not only excellent with ferrying both bikes and people to start locations but also provided a wealth of local knowledge in the lead up to the event.
Neil and Sarah were our medic team and they fantastically covered the event with their ever-roving eye. They made sure all participants who came into a transition were checked if needed and left transitions ready and rearing to go.
Dan, Rich, Emma and Elle provided brilliant media coverage from the event in really challenging conditions getting out on course and stuck into what a really tough event to cover.
What’s Next?
For us our attention turns to our Winter Series which kicks off on Saturday 14 November from Broad Chalke in Wiltshire before visits to the Surrey Hills, Chilterns, Peak District and Cotswolds. We are putting finishing touches to our 2027 Summer Series and expect to release dates and locations for these events by the end of the month.
We love the Long Mynd area and plan to come back for one of our winter events as part of our 2027/28 Series.
A huge thank you to every competitor who joined us for the Long Mynd 25, especially those who travelled a long way to be part of the event. Your determination, good humour and willingness to embrace the challenge are what make Questars events so special. Racing in such wet and windy conditions was no small undertaking, and you should all be proud of what you achieved.
Thank you, too, to everyone involved in helping to organise and support our crazy adventure. Events like this take a great deal of work behind the scenes, and that effort is especially important when the weather throws in a few extra complications.
Our Long Mynd 25 race certainly gave us an adventure to remember. We hope you enjoyed it and we look forward to seeing you soon!
Results can be found here, photos here and a highlights video here.
