Questars
Questars on the Isle of Purbeck
12.07.2006
As adventure racers from across the UK converged upon the historic walled town of Wareham in Dorset last Saturday racing conditions were near perfect. The hot and humid temperatures of recent days had given way to more pleasant temperatures with warm sunshine and clear views. David Hunt, Questars organiser, welcomed teams at the modern sports centre that doubled for the day as the event centre, saying that racers were in for a real treat. He encouraged everyone to enjoy the magnificent scenery and fine views afforded by careful placement of the checkpoints in some of the best viewing places in Purbeck.
It has long been his aim to hold an adventure race in the Isle of Purbeck and from the reaction of teams upon completing their chosen courses it has now also become a firm favourite with many who had not visited the area before.
The format of this Questars varied a little from normal as there was just one single Transition Point between all stages - located a couple of miles from the Start and Finish point. This enabled teams to enjoy a longer kayaking stage and also enabled some of the best off road mountain biking to be included in the course.
The kayaking stage took place on the tidal River Frome just downstream from Wareham. The wide river, which meanders through reed beds on its way into Poole Harbour, provided some great paddling. With checkpoints to visit both upstream and downstream teams had to decide which way to turn out of the wharf and whether they could manage to visit all the six checkpoints and earn a valuable maximum score of 200 points on this stage. A record number of thirteen teams managed to do exactly that and everyone else also seemed to thoroughly enjoy paddling on the cool water.
As racers emerged off the water cramped legs made it hard to scramble up the slipway to the bike transition area. However after a drink and a stretch teams were soon away either on the extensive off road mountain biking routes or to do their trail running stage.
Stage strategy and route choice are major factors in adventure racing. Playing to a team's strength and also balancing the amount of checkpoints visited over all three stages of the Questars Trio are amongst the keys to success. Whilst it's often tempting to try and clear the whole of the running or biking stage this can lead strong teams to leave themselves too little time to gain a good score in the next stage. So alot of thinking as well as physical activity was going on amongst the leading pack.See All Event Posts
