2012 Quadmire Series – Wadenhoe Race 2

Wadenhoe Quadmire Race 2 Sunday 2nd December. The week leading up to this, the second in the four race series, saw torrential rain and significant flooding of the Nene valley, so much so that pictures of the extensive flooding around Aldwincle were featured on national TV bulletins.  We had to make a decision early as to whether to go ahead with the run/kayak/bike/run and decided in the interest of safety that we should run the R/B/R only.

By Thursday the rain had cleared and the sun came out.  The water levels began to recede and by race morning we had a very cold frosty morning.  The course was still very wet and the infamous ‘quagmire’ next to the river was ready to drag poor unsuspecting runners into the mire.

The start of the race saw Jez Cox and the Young Tom Stead vying again for the lead, but it was Jez who was the stronger and gradually built up a lead by T1.  Steve Giles and Glynn Preston  led the next grouping with Roz Giles, the only lady in the race, looking strong and maintaining good pace.

By lap 3 of the bike, Jez was building a 3 minute lead over Tom who was now looking decidedly tired. As each lap progressed, competitors became increasingly mud-spattered head to foot but actualy looked as though they were enjoying it!
By the last lap of the bike, Tom had had enough and retired (speaking to him afterwards he had been on a bit of epic bike training session the previous day and this had finally caught up with him).  In the words of Arnie “He’ll be back”.

Jez pushed on and finished in 1hour and 4 minutes with Steve Giles (1st MV40) finishing just over 4 minutes later.  Glynn Preston finished a strong 3rd, just a minute behind Steve.  Dave Rayment and Martin Hamilton finished in 4th  (1hr 14m) and 5th  (1hr 14m 43s) Respectively with Keith Reid first MV50 in 1hr 18.48.  Roz Giles, 1st lady finished tenth overall in 1hr 21.45.

With the race over, most of the competitors headed straight for the village hall for the spicy sausage soup, hot coffee, cakes and bacon rolls.  What (weather) will the next race bring?  1 foot of snow?
See you all on 13th Jan (and bring your mates!!)

Full Results Race 2

Richard Piron