Race 1. The weather and ground conditions were near perfect for the
first race of the 2011/12 Wadenhoe Quadmire Series, with the prospect for some
fast times [if only the athletes were up for it]

From the word go the faster competitors sped away to try and get to the first obstacle [a style]. The field was lead out by Mat Stephenson closely followed by 15 year old Tom Stead. Unfortunately the quagmire was fairly dry with not much mud and water to impede the passage of the athletes; we will try to do better for the next race.

In the Quad event Mat was the first to arrive at the kayaks
and successfully launched himself to paddle away into the distance without
capsizing, for a change. He was hotly pursued by young Tom, about 20 seconds
behind. The River Nene level was very low, for this time of year, and flowing
quite slowly which was ideal for our less experienced paddlers. Roz Giles was
the first lady to hit the water with Octavia closely on her stern. After the 2
mile return paddle Mat was the first to arrive, closely followed by Tom who
unfortunately misread the race instruction and thought he had to go for a short
swim.

Over in the Duathlon 3 people virtually arrived in to
transition, after the run, together: Nathan Smith, Matthew Wootton and Rob
Hammond were all in contention to lead out on the bike leg. Being positioned
down at the river I missed all this action and I do not know who was in the
lead. The dry conditions made the bike course easier than normal; however, we
did have a couple of bike failures. The bike route is still surprisingly hard
for such a short 6m course. Nathan retained a short lead from the bike going
into the final 2 run laps which he managed to maintain all the way to the
finish line, crossing in a time of 01:00:06 followed shortly by Matthew. Naomi
Brewer was the first lady home in 01:20:51.

 

After Tom’s surprise swim Mat managed to retain his lead
throughout the bike and the final run in the Quad event. Mat crossed the line
in a very respectable 01:13:55 followed by Tom in a time of 01:20:18, this was
about 20 minutes faster then last year and he is only 15 [Mat I think you need
to watch out, he will be kicking your heels soon] During the paddle Octavia displayed
her paddling skills and managed to overtake Roz, unfortunately to no avail as
Roz was very fast on the bike and run to be the first lady home.

Quadrathlon Results WADENHOE QUAD 1 RESULTS

For a full list of results view our website: www.quadracracing.co.uk I would like
to thank everyone who took part in this small friendly event, please tell your
friends about it. The next race is on Sunday 4^th December. After the
race most people retired to the Village Hall for well deserved soup and cake.

A big thanks must go to all those who helped out at the race.

Mark Pryor Quadrac racing