Thursday 9 July 2026
Hanley Swan Village Memorial Hall played host to our fourth event of our 2026 Summer series and the Malvern Hills were an imposing and impressive backdrop to our venue. As many of you who know us, you knew that these hills were going to be on the maps!
Thank you to everyone who came out to join us in the Malvern Hills, an area Questars hasn’t visited in nearly 10 years and a first for us, but most definitely not the last! (We’re already considering a day-night winter event there – watch this space!).
We continually joke about the ‘Questars Magic’ as the days are truly magical and the weather has seemed to shine a bit brighter for us at our recent events. We are still waiting for the cold, wet and rain to get us at some point (and we’re sure that it will), but for now we are truly revelling in the dry and sunshine as we know you are too. Given the heat, I know a number of you were very appreciative of the free energy drinks provided by our sponsor FIXX Nutrition.
The day started with a nice cool overcast morning, but we knew that the heat was coming and by mid-afternoon the course was basking in temperatures in the mid-twenties. The racers who started with the kayak, on a lovely stretch of the River Severn, had to bike first, which over the course of 6 hours on a hot day, can be costly as tired legs tend to work a bit better on a bike than on foot. But the later kayak slot would rely on timing and execution going to plan…strategy at its finest!
Out on course, it really was a route of two halves with flatter, faster areas close to the event base and hilly areas with tricky navigation in the Malvern Hills proper.
The run route was a biggie at just over 26km and with over 700m of climbing. We had weighted more points than normal to the run but still felt we were maybe being a bit harsh – particularly given the heat which tends to impact the run more than the bike. In a reflection of just how tough the course was, only two people cleared the run with Dan Thorby fastest in a time of 2:45 and Mark Montgomery in a time of 3:31. Tom Hawley also came close with just one checkpoint dropped.
Ben Hawkins had the most profitable run, picking up 2.4 points per minute followed by Carl Silver (2.25), Helen Chapman (2.20) and Clare Dallimore (2.14). In the Novice category, Team Bin Juice (Daniel Sanders & Mark Preskett) had the most profitable run picking up 1.6 points per minute.
At around 45km and with just over 700m of climbing, the bike leg was shorter than normal but what it lacked in length and elevation it tried to make up for with some tricky navigation on the warren of bridleways and bike tracks on the Malvern Hills.
An impressive six racers managed to clear the course with Gary Davies quickest in a time of 3:00, followed by Rob Smart (3:05), Nick Gracie (3:10), Kevin Stephens (3:11), Helen Chapman (3:15) and Andy Prince (3:16). Campbell Walsh would also have cleared the course (2:41) but rode past a checkpoint without dibbing – having done this ourselves several times over the years it’s good to know this also happens to the best of us.
Despite his dibbing error, Campbell had the joint most profitable bike picking up 2.67 points per minute – level with Clare Dallimore (who had her own error by erroneously skipping a 40-point checkpoint!). Tom Hards had a great bike to pick up 2.53 points per minute for the third best of the day. In the Novice category, Team North Side (Stuart Whiting & Aaron Lynch) had the most profitable bike picking up 255 points at 1.52 points per minute. Whilst in the Duo category Mark Montgomery had the most profitable bike picking up 1.71 points per minute.
At just over 6km, the kayak was a little shorter than normal and faster than predicted with less flow than expected. A brilliant twenty teams managed to clear the course with Tom Hards fastest in an excellent time of 49:58, ahead of Campbell Walsh (50:05) and Beacon AR (De Wet Kruger, Vanessa Fisher – 51:06), unsurprisingly these teams also had the most profitable kayak with Tom picking up 2.6 points per minute. Team Rush Hour (James & Toby Dalrymple-Smith) were the only Novice team to complete the kayak in a great time of 54:29.
The kayak leg proved to be the most profitable with teams picking up an average of 2.23 points per minute compared to 1.61 points per minute on the run and 1.63 points per minute on the bike – lower than normal an indication of how big the course was.
The glorious weather tempted racers to stay out for that bit longer meaning that penalties far outweighed rewards on the day and there were some impressive penalty contributions with five teams amassing over 100 points and two teams (Dean Ricketts, who had a race ending puncture meaning a long walk back) and the Sausage Monkeys (Steve & Kirsty Ryan) joining the 200 club!
There were some incredible performances with Campbell taking the overall win on 875 points and Clare Dallimore winning the female category with the second-best score of the day on 861 points. Nick Gracie also had a terrific race to win the Vets category with an adjusted score of 880 points.
As ever, the race base was abuzz with stories of adventure and misadventure at the finish including many a tale of woe in the warren of bridleways of the Malvern Hills!
We had a number of family groups out with us, including regular racers Dave Chaplin and Simon Tatum who both brought their daughters along with them for their first races with us and Simon Cooper who brought along his ten-year-old son Joseph for his first outing.
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, Artem, Becki, Hillary, Jerry, Serhii, and Sian who volunteered as marshals for the day, Neil and Sarah our medics and Dan, Naiche and Adam who provided excellent photography. A special thanks as well to regular racers Helen Chapman and Mark Montgomery for helping out with some checkpoint collecting post-event. Thank you everyone!
For us, our attention now turns to our next race in the Summer Series in West Yorkshire in mid-August. A brand-new area for us and one not to be missed, we hope to see you there! We have access to the hall on the Friday night so just reach out if you need a space to crash!
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)
Team Just Start (Oliver Whitifield and Elliot Jones) came in third with a score of 243. Russell Adams and Simon Tang took second spot on the podium with 313 points, just behind Daniel Thorby on 323 points. Daniel is a regular in our Masters category and mixed it up by entering the run-only event with mates Russell and Simon (joint 2nd place). After a chat with Joe, he went out with the aim to clear the course, even if it meant incurring the inevitable penalty points, but with great hopes that his risk was worth it…and it was, just! He won with a score of 323 points in the end (92 penalty points for coming in just shy of 46 minutes late) and just pipping the others for the win.
Duo (run and bike, five hours)
For the mighty win, Mark Montgomery finished top of the podium with an amazing score of 540, ahead of Arguing in the Woods (Elaine Bettaney and Charles Murray) in second with 382 points and
Big-B (Steven Burgess) in third with a score of 349.
Trio Novice (run, bike, kayak, five hours)
In the mixed and female category, Team Michael Scott paper company (Tim & Emily Griffin) came in third with 342 points, behind Team Tea and Cake (Peter, Tom, and Emilia Riley) with 368 points. Team ECDC (regular racer Dave Chaplin and his daughter Ellen racing for the first time) came in with the win at 408 points.
In the Open category, Team Rush Hour (James and Toby Dlrymple-Smith) came in third with 441 points, just behind Christopher Casanovas in second with 457 points and inning was Team North Side (Stuart Whiting and Aaron Lynch) with 469 points.
Trio Masters (run, bike, kayak, six hours)
In the mixed team category, Team Frisky Whiskers (Sarah & John Russell) came in third on 624 just eight points behind Team Beacon AR (De Wet Kruger and Vanessa Fisher) on 632 points. Returning to the top spot of the podium was Team Gill (Emma & Richard Gill) with 730 points (even after a 20-point time penalty).
In the female team category the Mad Old Tarts (Maggie Salter and Liz Jones) finished in third with 570 points, behind In Search of Control (Pollie Boyle and Tamara Curnow) on 622 points. The Dirty Ditches (Ellie Caple and Serena Howell) keep getting stronger and better with another win with 702 points…they seem to have caught the winning bug and it’s great to see the females building up some fabulous friendly competition!
In the open teams category, Fusion Adventure Racing Team (Graeme and Aiden Williams) were back racing together again after Aiden missed out on our two-day due to GCSE exams last month and were back on top of the podium with a great score of 695 points. The Slippery Otters (Alexander Hurst and William Savage) were in second on 525 points with Ale & Pace (Simon Hill and James Harrison) third on 470 points.
In the female solo category, Mandy Hibberd came in third with 678 points behind Helen Chapman on 819 points. Clare Dallimore swooped in for the win with 861 points, the second highest score of the day…what a performance!
In the open solo category, Gary Davies and Ben Hawkins were tied on 835 points but Ben just nudged Gary off the podium with a quicker finishing time. Carl Silver finished in second on 850 points with Campbell Walsh with 875 for the win and the best score of the day – a brilliant performance.
Vets
In the Vets Open category, Nick Gracie put in a terrific performance to take the overall win with an adjusted score of 880 points, just four points ahead of Carl Silver (876) with Andy Read finishing in third (858). In the Female category, it was a really close battle for the podium with just ten points separating third and fifth. Emma Gill had another brilliant race to finish first on 763 points, ahead of Liz Jones and Maggie Salter in second place on 707 points, with Mandy Hibberd in third on 688 points.
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