RACE 13 - QUESTARS NEW FOREST - 27th March

This update is being drafted from a very nice hotel (The Feathers) in Helmsley in the North Yorkshire Moors. Up here for a few days walking, eating and drinking! Its called a holiday. The town has pretty much everything: a castle; famous walled gardens; a babbling brook running through the centre with banks covered by daffodils; tearooms; country pubs/hotels with good food (with enormous portions!); gift shops; a town square; nearby Rievaulx Abbey and of course the moors - claimed to be Britains' largest heather moorland.


Saw something in The Independent which pretty much sums up the time of year - changed a bit but the sentiment is the same - "a switch seems to flip, the air warms, and somewhere there is the faraway sound of a bee buzzing. It's spring - so suddenly that it seems indecent, as if a person has stripped off their clothes in the park and there's slightly too much skin showing". As good a description of spring I've read this year and certainly what I found in the New Forest.


However getting a bit ahead of myself. Saturday consisted of a hockey match down in Tunbridge Wells and we thumped them 9-3. I should come clean though as one of the goals I let in was scored by the smallest player on the pitch who was only 12! Then a dash back to London to load up the car with the bike and all the gear I'd need for Sunday. Also i remembered and put the clocks forward. Why was I so prepared? It was the night of the annual hockey club dinner in the centre of London - the women all glammed up, the men black tie. Needless to say although I didn't drink too much (comparatively) it was such a good time that I arrived home rather later than I'd intended even though I hadn't gone clubbing with the "youngsters".


So after four hours sleep, it was in the car (which I was really relieved to have packed the night before) for a drive down the M3 around Southampton, across the New Forest to Fordingbridge - a town on the River Avon, just to the west of the New Forest (see  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fordingbridge).  Originally named Forde it was renamed because, you've guessed it, someone built a bridge.   


Finally found the school where the race was being held, collected the map with all the checkpoints on - but not the piece of paper that tells you their points value or which ones are dummy ones with no value. Basically you have to work out various routes and scenarios and only decide when you cross the start line. You can always guarantee, the carefully thought out circuit with a cluster of checkpoints will be a) of lower value and b) won't work as there is a dummy slap bang in the middle. The other thing you have to take into account is that you have a set time for the kayaking stage. So my start time was 9:48, kayaking was 11:40 to 12:20 and finish after five hour of 2:48. What I decided was to cycle to the transition zone passing a couple of low value checkpoints and then start running until my kayak slot then spend the rest of the time on the bike.


In the queue at the start I was chatting to another guy doing it on his own - slight digression here. Most but not all competitors are in teams of two or three who have to remain together for the whole race. It can be men only, women only, mixed or veteran categories. Anyway, chatting while waiting for the off and we were debating how hilly it would be. He was fairly sure it wouldn't be too bad, while I was less sure as I'd cycled in the vicinity last summer and thought that although there weren't many contours on the maps, those that were were close together and from memory  I seem to remember a lot of "undulations".   


The race organisers report was pretty good (and you must be getting sick of my writing 'style' - or lack of) so I've added it in full.  "The sun shone all weekend upon the participants in the first Questars event of the 2011 series. The event which took place in the New Forest, with Novices  [ that's me] taking part on Sunday following the Masters and Questars Duo  [the people that take part in a lot of these races and unlike me, tend to be able to read a map, and don't stop to take photos etc.] participants that competed on Saturday.


Adventure racers were advised at the Race Briefing that the clear weather of recent weeks had dried many of the trails and tracks across the forest and heathland making for ideal conditions. In order to gain access to some of the best terrain in the national park everyone departed from the event HQ on bikes and headed via a scattering of optional biking checkpoints for the remote transition point that was located beside one of the many lakes in the Avon Valley. 

Here teams could choose whether to run next or kayak on the lake. The attractive lake provided a very scenic venue for the kayaking stage of the Questars Trio event. The Quest fleet of orange and yellow sit on top kayaks were a colourful sight as teams fanned out to all corners of the lake in search of the floating checkpoints. Everyone then converged upon a special X checkpoint on the western shore to validate the points gained.  For many newcomers the nerves of kayaking for the first time were soon overcome as racers appreciated how straight forward the kayaks are to paddle [absolutely true but what a number of us novices noticed was boy did it give you back ache!  So along with the "colourful sight as teams fanned out to all corners of the lake" there was an interesting variety of contortions and paddling styles - including one person in Last of the Mohicans kneeling style]  . A good number of teams managed to collect all the available points by visiting all the kayaking checkpoints [I wasn't one of them]. There were many smiles and not a few stiff legs as teams disembarked to continue their race on bikes or on foot.

During the Trail Run stage teams discovered that the New Forest is not as flat as they thought! After some checkpoints close to the lake further trail run points were only available after climbing up the western edge of the New Forest plateau. For those with the energy to do so, this afforded some wonderful views all across the wide open heathlands of the north western parts of the national park [absolutely spot on!]. Whilst most of the area had dried well there was still some mud to be found. A clue in the name of the area around CP18 advised teams to be prepared for wet conditions in Linwood Bog! [Now he tells us! I didn't spot this on the map and went through the middle becoming rather 'damp' and muddy]. A few brave teams managed to collect all 16 of the trail run checkpoints  - a significant achievement [again - not me].

Other teams majored on the biking checkpoints and really enjoyed the network of designated cycleways that criss cross this part of the New Forest. A lot more teams managed to visit all the biking red checkpoints and in doing so covered over 50kms [and yet again not me!]. Teams returned with many tales of seeing a variety of livestock including the iconic New forest ponies, plus donkeys, cattle and deer. Indeed the course planner sighted a rare albino deer when placing out the checkpoints the day before.


Most teams timed their return to event HQ well and crossed the finish line within their allocated 5 or 6 hours. For others caught by the temptation to visit just one more checkpoint or those that suffered an unwelcome puncture there were a few penalty points for arriving back late. The sense of achievement at completing for many their first adventure race was evident. Rest and recovery at the end of the day was boosted by the welcome sight of the Quest Kitchen providing food and drink [which was welcome as were hot showers! Highly civilised and almost unique feature in races I've done to date] . A sports massage service also aided rapid recovery from all the exertions.


Teams then gathered in the spacious sports hall to applaud the class winners and view their own results. [One prize was a mountain biking course for the lowest placed team as it was felt they would benefit most! Another innovation in this race series and resulted in a lot of banter....] Congratulations to all participants and especially to those that took part in an adventure race for the first time."

So the scenery was stunning with a combination of heaths and woodlands, the blossom was out (although no sign of bluebells just yet), the wildlife was varied and the sun was shining - all-in-all a great day out that just happened to be a race.  


A couple of other reflections.  There was a husband and wife team with a daughter of 2 maybe 3 years old who did the race with them!  Basically he had a mountain bike to which they added a trailer with large wheels in which she sat during the cycling sections, that converted with the additional of another wheel into an all-terrain pushchair.  I'm assuming only one of them did the kayaking stage but it was amazing seeing them in action and they were no slouches - they overtook me at one point!  Also on one part of the course there was the ultimate of temptations - a country pub!  I had been there last summer and it had good food, beer and a terrace overlooking the forest.  It was really tempting to forget about the result and chill out - as it seemed a whole cycling club was doing as there was mass of bikes propped up on the fence and a lot of men (of a certain age) in lurid lycra.  My will power was such that I didn't..... but it was close! 


Result: 7 out of 32 veterans; 19 out of 115 overall with 530 points (out of a possible 1000 -  top score was 680)