Team Accelerate Approach to AR Pays Dividends
Stuart Hale (Team Accelerate) / 27.11.2007
Peak District based Team Accelerate have been going about their business of racing over the last two years and at the weekend their approach paid dividends as they dominated the racing at the final Open 5 event at Coniston. Across four of the five categories they raced their way to five podium positions on the day, including three wins, and did not have a Team member out of the top six.In the Open 5 Series Caroline Bullard and Eddie Winslow dominated the Mixed Pairs winning 4 of the 5 events. Eddie commented, “Caz only started racing last year and we finished third in this series. We decided that we would come back and see if we could win the 2007 series. Caz has come on in leaps and bounds. She’s such a fast runner I need to cycle first just to give me a chance to keep up on the run!â€
Team Accelerate also won the Male Pairs series with father and son partnership, Adam and Will Haynes. Will started racing at the end of last year and Dad is now struggling to keep up. Kev Honeysett and Rob Smith were a close second, both having raced consistently all year. New Team member Dave Spence raced his way to third in the solo series, having never been off the podium all year and in the Female pairs Keri Devine and Debs Smith won all three of the Open 5 events they entered and took the series title as a result.
Away from the Open 5 Series Debs Smith and Adam Haynes had previously won the mixed pairs category in the Open Endurance Series with a win at the Open 12 and thirds at the Open 5 and Open 24. In adventure racing competiton Debs and Adam have not been off the podium all year
Team Accelerate also competed in the 2007 3 Peaks Yacht Race, supplying the winning runners (adam Marcinowicz and Keith Read) to Vlad the Impaler, and took third at the Gael Force 12 with a team that included two members who had never raced over this distance before.
The squad members all joined to be competitive and be a part of a team that also sees planning as critical to any success. The Team’s age range is 16 to 46 and there are a total of 15 racers in the squad, a third of whom are below the age of 25. The team’s policy is not just about recruiting established competitive members but also in looking for new and aspiring talent, at any age, and introducing them to the Team. Will Haynes, Adam Marcinowicz and Caz Bullard are three successful young racers that have come through with the help of the more established athletes in the squad.
