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The Mud After the Storm

Mark Pryor (Quadrac Racing) / 22.01.2009

This time around it was the storm before the calm. As I was preparing the race supplies on Saturday evening it was blowing a hooley and lashing it down with rain. However there was no need to worry as the racing Gods were going to be kind to us on the Sunday. Pre-dawn [at some un-godly time in the morning] saw the dedicated Quadrac team labouring away in the muddy fields to put up the racecourse. As the last glimmer of night faded into dawn it was clear that we were going to have a great day, as the Kiwi’s would say, “Awesome�.

It was great to see so many new faces on the start line coming to try out the delights of Wadenhoe for the first time. Also it was good to see our oldest and youngest competitors out again, ranging from 13 to 75 years of age [it really is a sport for all].

It all started at 10.30 sharp and all the competitors sprung away from the start line with an eager bound and a jump. It was a little different by the time everyone crossed the line after completing the first run lap. That famous glutinous mud had already taken its toll by literally sucking the energy out of the competitors. I saw one guy on his knees with mud up to his armpits looking for his running shoe [oh, for a camera at that point!].

As per the norm we had a wide spread of ability levels taking part in the Wadenhoe Winter Challenge, from the serious athlete to those just wanting a bite of fun and a challenge. That’s what makes Wadenhoe such a great race!

In the Quad Tim McDowell put in a great run and was the first to set off in a kayak. However, he is quite new to the sport and was soon hunted down by the experienced paddler, Doug Herbert, who put in an awesome time in the kayak stage and took the lead in the Quad race. Doug’s small lead was finally demolished when Tim McDowell posted the fastest bike time of the day [in both events] by some 3 minutes.

Down to the final run Tim put in another good show to increase his overall lead and crossed the line in a time of 1:21:12. The first lady to cross the line was Nicole Zahn in a very creditable time of 1:56:09. The first junior [still only 13] Ryan Hunt completed the whole course in a time of 2:28:58.

I would like to personally congratulate everyone who took part as it was quite gruelling conditions, especially for those who were competing for their first time and did not know what they had let themselves in for.

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