Quest ARS
Day 2 – Tell it to the Marines!
Tim Lloyd / 18.04.2002
Stage 4 – Canoeing
Sunday began with 2 hours canoeing on the Exeter Ship Canal, starting from the scenic Piazza Terracina in the heart of the town. The Piazza was a buzz of excitement before the start, with competitors inflating canoes and standing by. There were a considerable number of punctures – which for canoes that had only been used once before was surprising, and can only be put down to the broken glass and concrete on the start line! Still, every team made it off, and, despite some amusing capsizes around the portage section at Double Locks, everyone made it back in once piece. Team McSweeny were looking forward to this leg. “This should be our strongest discipline� said team captain Chris McSweeny, “Norm and I have raced kayaks a lot so we’re expecting to wrap it all up on this one�. And true to his word, wrap it up they did, getting maximum points with19 minutes to spare. It was clear from the start that no-one would catch them on the water, all the other teams could hope for was to keep them as close as they could.Second on the leg were North Downs Mountain Rescue, with Wadenhoe High Five and Team Dynamics collecting full points with 2 minutes left. Another solid performance by Team Wales (despite one team member having an unexpected swim) saw them gain full points with 50 seconds to spare. “That was cutting it fine,� said team captain Angela Brand-Barker, “ we gambled for the final checkpoint and it paid off�. The gamble was a good one, and one that Big Pack Kona decided not to take. It was a costly decision, with the team arriving 10 minutes before the maximum time and dropping 100 points to their rivals. Sadly ‘Team Wave’ who had come over from France to compete, withdrew at this stage.
At the end of stage 4, Wadenhoe High Five were in second place overall, with RMR Bristol in third, Team Wales were now back to fourth, and Kona’s mistake has dropped them to 5th.
Stage 5 – The Endurance Course
The much anticipated finale to the race was to take competitors around the revered Royal Marines endurance run. This 10km stage included tunnels (some of which were full up with water), some energy-sapping muddy sections, and waist-high pools of water. The cruel scoring for this stage saw competitors lose 5 of their hard earned points from the previous stages for every minute they took on the course.
The original intention was to set competitors off in a pursuit format, with points difference translating to timing, but with Team McSweeny a clear 155 points (i.e. 31 minutes) ahead of the field, teams were let off at 30 second intervals instead. McSweeny had cleared every stage within the time limits so fare and only needed to finish in order to take the honours, but the race for second was a very close one. Only three minutes separated the second, third and fourth place teams so it was all to play for.
Team Wales capitalised on their running strength, setting the fastest time of 1:01:13 which catapulted them from fourth to second overall. Second on the leg and equal third overall were Wadenhoe High Five in 1:06:54, and RMR Bristol finished in 1:08:22. Team Big Pack Kona finished fifth in 1:10:36.
It was a tough, but popular, finish to the weekend and all the racers finished wet and muddy, but with a smile on their faces.
SleepMonsters
