Questars Trio Race - Brecon Beacons
Brecon Questars AR
Press Release / 08.09.2012
The Brecon Beacons were looking their best in the late summer sunshine and the mountains themselves formed a stunning back drop to the course as hundreds of adventure racers made their way to this lovely part of South Wales on Saturday for the fifth race in the 2012 Questars adventure race series.
Starting and finishing in the town of Brecon itself, participants began on bikes and either headed east along the Usk valley or south onto the lower slopes of the hills around Brecon. Those that headed east were treated to a long flat section of riding along the Monmouth and Brecon canal whilst those that headed south had inclines to contend with as they weaved their way up and down across the foothills of the Brecon Beacons. Whichever way participants chose, they would return by the other route so it was a case of whether to attack the hills first and save the flat for later or start on the flat and return over the hills at the end. Those that decided to return over the hills enjoyed the rocky descent off the last hill back down into Brecon town.
A fair amount of the mountain biking was on minor roads and off road cycle routes as the warm wet summer meant several of the bridleways were unfortunately just too overgrown to use. However, there were still some short technical sections, which were rocky in places and wet and muddy in others, to keep participants on their toes – literally in some places! The mountain biking course was a bit shorter than for previous races this year due to the more hilly nature of the course, but this did not stop several of the top teams visiting all the mountain bike checkpoints.
The transition point was located at Cambrian Cruisers marina and this was where participants began and finished both their kayaking and their trail run. With the three kayak checkpoints to the north of the transition point mirroring - both in terms of spacing and points value - the three kayak checkpoints to the south of the transition point, there was nothing to choose between them in terms of which was the best direction to head first. A few teams managed to visit all six kayak checkpoints within their allocated 55 minute timeslot, but many of the top teams decided to play it safe and not risk incurring a penalty by visiting all but one of the kayak checkpoints.
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