First British Champs Qualifiers from QuestARS in Devon

Rob / 17.04.2002

The second Questars race of the season took place in Devon last weekend and though Wadenhoe High Five were 3rd overall, behind Team McSweeny and Team Wales, they were the first mixed team of 4, so claimed the free place in the finals.

The weather was fine all weekend, and with no rain for the previous 3 weeks the course was fast and furious, so much so that on the first trail run stage 14 teams got maximum points. The field spread a bit more on the next mountain bike stage where Team Big Pack Kona and Team McSweeny got full points. One of the favourites, Team Wales, lost ground here, suffering 2 punctures and missing some checkpoints, a real setback.

Next came the night navigation stage where team ‘4kinnell’ distinguished themselves by being over an hour late and nearly having a rescue called out and the final stage was the trail run and Royal Marines endurance course on Woodbury Common. This proved really tough, especially as the scoring system changed and points were lost for every minute on the course!

At the end of it all the top 5 teams overall were:

1. McSweeny – Chris McSweeny/Jude Shenton/Norman Dunroy – 695 pts

2. Team Wales – Angela Brand Barker/Aled Rees/Mark Thomas - 565 pts

3=. Wadenhoe High Five – Keith Read/Mark Bennet/Ibby Neville/Lee Rankin (555 pts)

3=. RMR Bristol - Sath Stevens/James Penny/Ben Turner/Barry Smith - 555 pts

5. Big Pack Kona - Neil Gard/Killian Lomas/Kath Newbury/Richard/Patan - 475 pts

There were also guaranteed (but not free) spots in the final for the 2nd and 3rd placed teams, but there was a lot of confusion over whether this applied to teams of 3 or 4.

The end result was that both the 2nd and 3rd placed mixed teams of 4, AND the top 3 mixed teams of 3 will be offered a guaranteed spot. As there was a tie for the 3rd placed team of 4 these are:

Teams of 4
• Team Big Pack Kona
• Team Dynamics
• Team SWART

Teams of 3
• Team McSweeny
• Team Wales
• Team Ajax

You can see the full results on the Quest site.