Friday 27 March 2026
The sun was shining in Wiltshire for the first of our six Summer Series events and what a cracking day for adventure racing it was! We somehow managed to hold on to a bit of sunshine before the wind, ice and cold returned this week. Thank you to everyone who came out to race and support at our event and helped to make it a brilliant start to the Series.
It’s an area we really like planning races in due to the variety of rewarding terrain within reach of the event base. A couple of days of glorious sunshine before the event had dried the course out nicely whilst still leaving a bit of mud for those who are partial to it.
Out on course, at just over 26km and with over 450m of climbing, the run course was a toughie. Despite this, four teams managed to clear it with Ben Hawkins fastest in a brilliant time of 2:22 followed by Campbell Walsh (2:29), Team James and John (James Lea-Cox and John Pattinson in 2:44) and Mark Montgomery (3:00). Helen Chapman had the best run in the female category picking up a terrific 375 points in 2:34 whilst in the mixed category, Team Gill had the best run picking up 320 points in 2:25.
Dan Thorby had the most profitable run picking up 2.75 points per minute followed by Ben Hawkins (2.73).
In the Novice category, Simon & Alex Vickers had a terrific run picking up 305 points in 2:45 for the best run of the day which, at 1.84 points per minute, was also the most profitable.
In the Duo category, as well as clearing the course, Mark Montgomery had the most profitable run picking up 2.16 points per minute.
At around 54km and over 850m of climbing, the bike route was another beast of a course and it took a brilliant effort to clear it with only Nick Gracie (3:22) and Eugene (4:20). A few others gave it a really good go with Daviel Thorby, Tom Davies, Campbell Walsh, Kevin Stephens and Safe Strength Chepstow (James Brown and Mark Gillett) all just dropping one checkpoint. Julie Banton had the best bike in the female category dropping just three checkpoints on her way to collecting 395 points in 3:35 whilst in the mixed category, Team Clare & Mark (Clare Dallimore and Mark Ponsford) had the best bike to pick up 420 points in 2:30 – dropping just two checkpoints.
Campbell Walsh had the most profitable bike leg picking up 2.88 points per minute followed by Team Clare & Mark (2.79). In the female category, Team In Search of Control (Eleanor Thackeray and Pollie Boyle) had the most profitable bike picking up 2.18 points per minute.
In the Novice category, Team Burning Sensation (Stefan Douglas and Nick Hopewell) had the best bike picking up 345 points in 3:39.
In the Duo category, Eugene cleared the course in 4:20 whilst Christopher Casanovas had the most profitable picking up 2.19 points per minute.
At around 6.2km, the kayak was slightly shorter than normal and an impressive 37 teams managed to clear the course including three teams in the shorter Novice category. Campbell Walsh was quickest in an incredible time of 50:47 ahead of Iain Porter (51:40) and Team Clare and Mark (Clare Dallimore and Mark Ponsford – 52:07). In the female category, Team Dirty Ditches (Serena Howell and Ellie Caple) completed the paddle quickest in a time of 53:24.
After some furious paddling, Dave Salter cleared the paddle with just 11 seconds to spare in a time of 59:49 whilst team 20 Two (Chris Watkins & Craig Nicholson) were unfortunate to be just on the other side finishing just 11 seconds over the one-hour limit and picking up a 50-point penalty for their troubles.
Team Frisky Whiskers made good strategic choices to have the most profitable kayak of the day, picking up 3.1 points per minute, followed by Campbell with 2.9 points per minute.
In the Novice category, Team KBO (Andrew Southby and Tom Ridgway) were quickest in followed by Burning Sensation (Stefan Douglas and Nick Hopewell in 55:38) and C Squared (Clare & Chis Gibson in 56:26).
The kayak leg proved to be the most profitable with teams picking up an average of 2.47 points per minute compared to 1.98 points per minute on the bike and 1.85 points per minute on the run.
The recent dry weather meant the course was running faster than we were expecting, particularly on the bike. Despite this, we were reasonably confident that with a big run and bike course it would not be clearable. We were right, but only just! Campbell Walsh dropped just one checkpoint on his way to a winning score of 982 points, an incredible performance.
Rewards just about outweighed penalties on the day but there were some herculean efforts to try to flip this with the likes of Jon Ward picking up an impressive 220 penalty points in being 44 minutes late!
Our Hall of Fame welcomed our youngest inductee in Aidan Williams. Aidan has been racing with his dad Graeme for the last couple years and has not only grown a few inches, but has got stronger – so much so that he ended the run leg with his dad on tow!
As ever, the race base was abuzz with stories of adventure at the finish including Phil Haycock who had to ride most of the course on a single speed after his gears broke! Our hearts were warmed with tales of misadventures to dummy checkpoints (from someone who really should know better – you know who you are!) and even one team who took a wrong turn at the first checkpoint and ended up off the map!
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 a great start to our Summer Series. Huge thank yous as well to Abbie, Clive, David, Debbie, Denise, Hillary and Paul who volunteered as marshals for the day, Harry and Sara our medics and Dan, Naiche and Rob who provided excellent photography. Thank you everyone!
For us, our attention now turns to our next race in the Summer Series in the Chilterns in a few weeks’ time. 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)
Ed Condon (Handcuff the wind) finished in third place on 236 points after a 24-point time penalty. Jessica Collins, came in second with an excellent score of 248 (with an 8-point bonus for coming back early). Topping the podium with 274 points was team Directionally Challenged (Emma Clarke and Daniel O’Connor) who clearly need to change their name!
Bike-only (three hours)
Matthew Radburn (Badsey Wayfinders) finished in third with 110 points (a 15-point bonus for coming back early. In second, Thomas Blindell (Peaky Blinders) snuck in with a whip round of the course and a score of 220 points in just 1 hour 34 minutes and the 15-point bonus for getting back super early. In the top spot, Edward Gillet had a brilliant ride to win with a score of 295, coming back just 5 minutes late.
Duo (run and bike five hours)
In third place was Christopher Casanovas with a score of 535 including the full 15-minute time bonus. Just 15 points ahead in second place was the Three Pickled Eggs (Mark Beverly, Tim Hitchins, Greg Schembri). (Montyzoomer) Mark Montgomery came in flying with a score or 595 to take a well-deserved win.
Sarah Francis took the win in the Female category with an excellent 421 points and Team Keen and Not So (Tracey & Malcolm Hayes) took the win in the Mixed category with 355 points.
Trio Novice (run, bike and kayak five hours)
In the Open category, in third place father and son duo Simon and Alex Vickers (Team Come on us) had a fantastic day out and 523 points to show for it. At 13 years old, Alex was our youngest racer with us on the day, and he seemed very comfortable being out for nearly 5 hours, impressive! In second position was Chris Runcie (Uno Hombre) with 573 points and to top the podium was Andrew Southby and Tome Ridgway (Team KBO) with 589 points.
In the female category, Grace Cartwright and Hanna Chapman (Team Cartman) came in second with 320 points including a 15-minute time bonus. Beverley Hawkins (Going round in circles) must have been doing impressive circles as she came in first with 365 points including a full 15-minute time bonus to boot.
For the mixed teams category, there was just 12 points between third and second positions, David Bhatoolaul and Debbie Armstrong (Team Saga Louts) just missed out with a score of 408 with Clare and Chris Gibson (Team C Squared) pipping them out on 420 points. At the top of the podium, Kathryn and Michael Burns (Let’s give it a go) came in with an excellent 507 points.
Trio Masters (run, bike and kayak six hours)
In the mixed teams category, Sarah and John Russell (Team Frisky Whiskers) were indeed looking frisky out on course, not only getting some great snaps from our media team, but racking up 690 points with the full 15-minute time bonus. Strategy and experience are obviously helping this team go from strength to strength and ending up on the podium the last few events– well done! In second position, the ever-strong Emma and Richard Gill (Team Gill) looking in peak form to collect 765 points. And to top the podium, we had Clare Dallimore and Mark Ponsford out with a very impressive 880 points – an excellent effort and deserving winners! Special shout outs to Jo and David, hopefully they weren’t too disappointed to go home with Dry Socks! Robert and Charlotte Griffiths sporting their Questars Bucket hat (the only team whose kit list includes a change of bucket hats for their TA box)! And finally, Laura and Alex Alcock, who travel all the way back from China (just) to do our events (and maybe see some no-AR family and all that), but they definitely win the prize for travelling the furthest to get to an event!!
Our female teams were not shy with points either, with the two tops teams reaching over 700 points and 5 our of 6 teams collecting all the kayak controls and not one expensive penalty on the water – excellent work!! The podium was graced by June and Julia Kingsbury (Queen Bees) with an excellent score of 660 points the mother and daughter team seem to be doing something right, with some excellent strategy and execution on the day. They finished just behind Serene Howell and Ellie Caple (Dirty ditches) on 717 points. And to top the podium, Eleanor Thackeray and Pollie Boyle lead the way with an exceptional score of 773 points. A new member to the Masters Female Team lineup: Britteny Thorpe…thanks to Amy Worden for bringing her along to the AR family and we’re sure we haven’t seen the last of Team Plodders, though we imagine that name will change faster than we can blink!!
Our Open Teams were out in full and going for big points. 10 out of 11 teams completed the kayak within the time! Robert Carter and Ed Gurney (On Yer Bike) were looking fresh on their bikes collecting 774 points to finish in third. James Brown and Mark Gillett (Safe Strength Chepstow) came in with 795 points timing it perfectly at 05:59:50 to finish second. On top were James Lea-Cox and John Pattinson with a massive score of 892 points.
In the female solo category, Helen Chapman was on top form for our first outing out this Summer Series. She held the lead throughout the day with 810 points followed by Jen Hunt with 715 points. Ella Pyman finishes the podium with 669 points. It was great to see Mandy Hibberd and Kirsten King back to form and back in the Masters category to start the 2026 series. Looking forward to some friendly competition this series!
Some exceptional racing out there with our Open Solos as the top 5 all had scores of 900 or better! It was quite the race to the finish as we watched Campbell Walsh, Dan Thorby and Ben Hawkins sprint to the finish and leave not an ounce out on course! We can expect some exciting things in this years’ racing! Less than 50 points in it for the top podium positions, starting with Tom Davies (Team Endurancelife) in third with 935 points. Just 33 points ahead of Tom was Dan Thorby in second on 968 points. Campbell Walsh came up on top with an astounding 982 points, dropping just 1 bike control.
In the Vets Open category, Dave Salter put in a terrific performance to take the win with an adjusted 935 points, ahead of Kevin Stephens (894) and Nick Gracie (850). In the Female category, June Kingsbury topped the podium for the first time with a terrific adjusted score of 838 ahead of Pollie Boyle (808) and Emma Gill (799).
