Questars - Q2 The Quest Challenge - South Downs

Sunshine on the South Downs

Daniel Carrivick (Questars) / 15.10.2012

The sun shone in the South Downs for the sixth and final event in the 2012 Questars Adventure Race Series. Nestled in the heart of the South Downs in East Sussex, the event base provided a great place from which to access the Downs both to the east and to the west. The good weather really showed the area at its best and how spectacular the countryside is in this part of the UK.

This two-day adventure race called Q2 – The Quest Challenge consisted of 3 separate stages, with time to rest and recover in between. Participants collected their waterproof map for the first stage at registration. The map had all the checkpoints (and a few more) marked on so people could begin to plan possible routes. But the checkpoint values were not issued until the start, so participants had to be ready to change their plans once they discovered which checkpoints were dummies.

Stage 1 began on Saturday morning soon after the race briefing. All participants had up to a maximum of six hours to visit as many run, bike and kayak checkpoints as possible. But Novices were advised to finish early, take the bonus points available for doing so, and conserve their energy for the following stages.  

Everyone left the event base on bikes and visited mountain bike checkpoints on the way to the transition point at Seven Sisters Canoe Club, from where the running and kayaking took place. There were two parts to the running; an orienteering section in Seven Sisters Country Park and a trail run along the coast over the Seven Sisters themselves. Participants didn’t have to do both, but those that did could combine the two and visit some orienteering checkpoints before, and others after, doing the trail run.

The orienteering checkpoints were marked on a different sort of map which was handed out at the start of the run. With the clock ticking it was tempting for people to make up a route as they went along. However the orienteering map didn’t have any contours on it and the hilly terrain meant the shortest route between checkpoints wasn’t necessarily the best, as some participants soon discovered. 

The kayaking was on the Cuckmere meanders; a lovely isolated body of water some 2km long which is home to many birds and wildlife. Due to limitations imposed by the stretch of water, participants had to visit the kayak checkpoints in either ascending or descending order if they wanted maximum points. The checkpoints were positioned such that anyone visiting them all would have to go back and forth a number of times, kayaking a total distance of 7.5 km in the process. Those who chose not to visit them all had to think carefully about which kayak checkpoint or checkpoints to drop. If they got it wrong, they could end up kayaking significantly further than they needed to for no extra points.