Questars Duo Race - Brecon Beacons
A Bearing on the Beacons
David Hunt (Questars) / 25.05.2011
The Brecon Beacons event always promised a big challenge. The hilly terrain is probably one of the toughest areas visited by Questars. At the pre event briefing participants were advised that this big country, with big hills and big descents, provided a big potential course and the biggest available haul of points available in a Questars to date.Feedback from teams afterwards confirmed the scale of the challenge described as ‘absolutely brilliant’ and ‘the best one yet’. Another team said it was ‘tough’ and that they had ‘really enjoyed it’. The next Questars on 16 July in the Wiltshire Downs and 3 September in the Cotswold Hills whilst quite hilly will not be as tough as the Brecon Beacons.
The village hall at Llangynidr makes for an ideal base from which to explore the surrounding countryside. The transition between the bike and trail run stages was in the adjacent car parking field. From here the highest checkpoint atop Tor y Foel at 551m was clearly visible.
After the starts teams split fairly evenly between those that decided to bike first compared to those that embarked upon their trail run stage first. Others headed straight to the nearby kayaking transition point on the Monmouthshire and Brecon canal. This made for a great kayaking stage with checkpoints suspended from trees on the south side of the canal. To match the scale of the rest of the course this was a big kayaking stage with 65 minutes available to teams to visit up to six checkpoints whilst paddling the colourful sit on top double kayaks.
There were key strategic decisions to take too. Whether to go west to collect the single checkpoint in that direction or head east and aim to collect all five checkpoints that way. Most chose to do the later but some teams were caught out by the time limit and picked up a time penalty for being on the water for more than or beyond their allocated time. But judging by the smiles on most kayaker's faces this stage was one of the highlights of the day.
The bike checkpoints were widely spread over the hills, off-road trails and narrow lanes. The course map was cunningly designed to ensure that to gain high points involved climbing high. It was also important to read the map carefully to ensure the variety of allowable public rights of way were followed closely and a useful key to these were included and reiterated at the event briefing. Many teams having made the ascent to the wonderfully scenic ridgeway to the east of Talybont Reservoir had then to decide whether the descent to CPs 25 and 26 below was going to be worth their 75 points.
The biggest views had been promised from far away CP35 which was the goal for many teams. This was set on the edge of some quarries used for filming Dr Who. Teams had been advised to keep alert for daleks and other extra terrestrials. Even the checkpoint there had had to be changed from the planned finger post as it had been earlier exterminated and replaced by a big boulder!
Seven teams visited all 15 of the available mountain bike checkpoints. In doing so they covered more than 41 kms of varied trails and routes with significant climb and descent. Tom Davies the event's overall winner managed this feat in less than three hours - a remarkable achievement.
For full results and details of the rest of the Questars series see <a href="#" onClick="javascript:newsitewindow('http://www.questars.co.uk')" class="main">www.questars.co.uk</a>. See All Event Posts
