Exciting News for 2025!
I hope your all enjoying some down time, rest and recovery, easy training and reflecting on your 2024 race season! Over the next few weeks its maybe time to start planning your races and goals for next year. The Annual Report has been published, I hope you have seen it, and as always if anyone has any suggestions please dont hesitate to contact us.
BQA Chairperson Now were at the end of our 2024 season Mark Pryor has retired , he has been Chairman for at least 18 years, for as long as I’ve been in the sport Mark has been around so that’s at least 25 years! Over those years he has organized many races starting way back with the Winter Quadmire Series at Wadenhoe, where we spent many a winters day breaking the ice to paddle on the river, riding our MT Bikes around a couple of undulating skiddy fields, and then up to our knees in mud or snow running a challenging hilly 5km! He then took the race over to Box End Waterpark where we continued to have many fabulous races, most of them in beautiful warm sunshine, it never failed to be a memorable weekend away and always superbly organized by Mark and his Team! You only need to ask any of our Quadrathletes about Box End and everyone will have a story to tell, and say what such a great event it was!
Mark has always been a great support and has always been on the end of the phone, he knows the standards we wish to aspire to when putting on our races, his many years of being involved in Quadrathlon have been vital to running of the BQA. A Huge Thanks to Mark for all those special years, I am sure we haven’t seen the last of him and he’ll still be around supporting our Quadrathlon Family!
Our new Chairperson will be Donna Chappill (Lincsquad) I on behalf of the BQA are very pleased to welcome her to our Team. Donna has had plenty of experience in Quadrathlons, and has been a big part of Lincsquad for many years, she’s raced Quads, been an integral part of race organization and is also part of their coaching team. She is very approachable and knows many of us well, she will be a great asset to the BQA and I’m so looking forward to working with her …. Welcome Donna!
The National Trophy Calendar and the World Cup Series are for 2025, at the moment we will have 4 Trophy races here in the UK, including a National Championships and we have 2 WQF World Cup Races in GB, including the European Middle Distance Championships! If there is enough interest it would be good to target a race in Europe and hope to have a GB Team heading out there this summer.
I am so pleased to announce the ‘The Brigg Bomber’ will be hosting the European Middle Distance Championships, and that ‘Manvers Dearne Valley Sprint Quad’ will also be a World Cup Series Race. The Brigg Sprint will be our National Championships.
So get these dates in your diary’s and entries in, then have a reason kick start your training right now, having a goal does wonders for your motivation!
BQA National Trophy Events for 2024
RACE 1 – 1st June – Brigg Bomber Quad – EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS 1500km river swim/40km road bike/8km river kayak/10km road run. A superb race to start the season, extremely well organized by our Top Quadrathlon Club ‘Lincsquad’ a fast flat and safe course, its the European Championships so certainly not to be missed, Lincsquad will certainly pull out all the stops to make this a brilliant day! Entries OPEN Brigg-Bomber
The Keyo Brigg Bomber Sprint is running along side the Bomber and consists of a 750m river swim, 18k bike, 4k kayak & 5k run. This Sprint distance is not a European WQF Race, but will carry qualifying points for BQA trophy series (slightly less points than the Bomber) Entries OPEN Brigg-Bomber-Sprint
RACE 2 – 22nd June – Dearne Valley Sprint Quad WORLD CUP RACE and QuadKidz – 800km lake swim/4.4km lake kayak/13.2km X/MT bike/5km trail run. This race takes place around the Manvers Waterpark and its surrounding area, all the racing takes place within this lovely venue, this race gets better each year! We are so pleased this race will host the National Championships, its organized by a great team of enthuiastic Quadrathletes, who offer training sessions all year round! The Junior Quadrathlon will run along side the sprint event, with various distances for the 3 age groups … it will be time for our Quadkidz to Shine! Entries OPEN Dearne Valley Quadrathlon
RACE 3 – 7th September – Brigg Sprint NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS – 750km river swim/18km road bike/4km river kayak/5km road run. This is a great sprint event organized by the dedicated Lincsquad Team. The course is flat, fast and ideal for both experienced quadrathletes and those wanting to race the shorter distance. Its our National Championships, so great racing is guaranteed! Entries OPEN Keyo-Brigg-Sprint
RACE 4 – 11th October – Awesome Foursome Quad – 800km sea swim/30km road bike/10km canal kayak/10km mixed terrain run. This is one of our longest running established Quadrathlons, in beautiful Cornwall in the surfing town of Bude. It never ceases to amaze me, I have raced it in all weathers …. it is always a brilliant exciting and challenging race and a great end the race season! Swimming in the sea, there’s plenty of hills on the bike, a historic canal for the kayak and amazing coastal views on the run! It’s one of those addictive races that keeps drawing you back. The race is on a Saturday so plenty of time for sun, sand and surf too!
Running Alongside and NEW for 2025: The Sprint
“A little smaller but just as Awesome” This shorter-course quadrathlon will be run at the same time as the full Awesome Foursome but will be roughly half the distance. It will start with the main event and be based at the Canal Wharf but will follow similar routes for the swim, cycle, and run as the Shoreline Triathlon. The swim will be one lap of the Bay, the cycle ride will only go as far as the Widemouth Manor before returning to Bude on the A39, (eliminating the severe cycling hills around Millook). The Kayaking will be one lap of the canal and the Run will only go as far as Rodds Bridge before returning to Bude via Lynstone Road. Entries OPEN Awesome Foursome Quadrathlon
All links to these races are on our ‘events’ page. I hope I have tempted you …. keep you eye on the events page as some race organizers offer Early Bird race discounts!
You must be a BQA member to race for the ‘GB TEAM’ at the World Championships or in a World Cup race, and also to qualify for all BQA prizes in the National Trophy Series. We do need your memberships to help fund our sport. Money goes towards various areas within the organization, one being our website, where we keep you updated with the latest news and events. Our biggest annual outlay is insurance, which we use to cover the races on the British Quad Calendar, without this insurance many of our races wouldn’t take place. We also affiliate to the World Quadrathlon Association ‘WQF’ so our athletes can race at World Cup Races the World and European Championships. The future of British Quadrathlon is in our hands, so please support the BQA and you will be helping to keep our small sport alive!
BQA 2025 Trophy Series
1st June – Brigg Bomber EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS plus Brigg Bomber Sprint Race
23rdJune – Dearne Valley Sprint WORLD CUP RACE & QuadKidz
7th Sept – Keyo Brigg Sprint NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
7th Sept – Bude Awesome Foursome Quad plus Mini Awesome Foursome Sprint (early bird discount)
WQF 2025 Trophy Series
11th May – Kassel (GER) Sprint European Championships
17th May – Gyékényes (HUN) Middle World Championships
1st June – Brigg (GBR) Middle European Championships
14th June – Koberbach (GER) Middle (Reserve middle distance EC and WC)
15th June Cazalegas (ESP) Sprint
22nd June Seyssel (FRA) Middle
22nd June – Dearne Valley Manvers (GB) Gravel Bike Sprint
28th June – Tyn (CZE) Sprint World Championships
12th July Bydgoszcz (POL) Sprint (Reserve sprint distance EC and WC)
9th Aug Nagyatád, Gyékényes (HUN) Long World Championships
30th Aug Bohinj (SLO) Middle
Races supported by BQA (not Trophy Races)
18th May – Montgomery Canal Triathlon (Charity Event)
14th June – Norfolk SuperHeroes Quad Norfolksuperheros
6th July – Deva Divas Quad Deva Divas Quad
Wishing you all a Very Happy Christmas … Safe Training over the winter months, look after those bodies and train well! We look forward to a very exciting 2024 Quad Season!
Jean and the BQA Team
Sadly our National Trophy Series was down to just 3 races this year, Shrewsbury has finally folded completely, which is very sad news, and Bude was also cancelled due to lack of support. Thankfully we still had 3 excellent races in our calendar, The Brigg Bomber (World Cup Event also) Dearne Valley Sprint, and The Brigg Sprint. On behalf of the BQA I’d like to say a Huge THANK YOU to all our Race organizers and volunteers, who work so hard each year to put on these events for us, it is a big commitment and we really do appreciate your time! Thanks also to all the Sponsors who support them, and to you the BQA Members for you annual fees, which are vital so we can run the BQA Governing Body and more important provide the ever important Insurance fees to be able to support the Race Organizers…. Big Thanks! I would also like to say an enormous thanks to John Kavanagh who produces the BQA and WQF Tables after each race, this is a huge commitment and we are all very grateful … Thanks John 
Big Thanks to LincsQuad Quadrathlon Club for hosting the race, and to the ‘Small but amazing Team’ of organizers and Marshalls who work timelessly to make this event possible! The race consisted of a 750m river swim, followed by a 19km road cycle, then a 4km Kayak and finishing with a 5km run. The course is flat, fast and ideal for both experienced quadrathletes and those wanting to race the shorter distance. There was a good turnout of 24 athletes, a lot of them looking for those vital National Trophy Points, as it was the final trophy Race of the Season!
Second place overall , and subject to the time adjustments for the roadworks on the bike section, I really hoped I had done enough for the BQA Trophy Series Win. Due to the roadworks it turned out to be a real headache for the organisers working out the results …but in the end, I had done enough…woohoo! 
Shoe change, keep the fleece on, still freezing, eat a cereal bar, jelly babies, move number to the front. Out on the run, lovely run, about 1k into the run took my fleece off, feet were still freezing though, home straight back into the leisure centre job done. The exhilaration at the end is terrific… that’s why you do it! such a sense of achievement. 1
My first Quadrathlon was at Manvers a sprint distance, a fantastic setting for an event, I got to the end of it but thought never again! Well for a day anyway. So planned to try and do 3 of the events the next year, injured my shoulder so did the Triathlon at Manvers instead. I couldn’t kayak but I wanted to do The Brigg Bomber so I entered a Ladies team, everyone loved it, and all said they would like to do it again, I did the swim leg. Then Covid hit putting everyone out of action. Post Covid I entered The Brigg Bomber again, another Ladies team, this time I did the run leg, again all loved it. I announced to the team that I would like to do it as an individual.
WQF FINAL RESULTS 
Registration done Friday afternoon, not a lot of English was spoken, but was assured that at race briefing in the evening, an English version would be done as it turned out I sat through 90 minutes of presentation and explanation, in mostly Hungarian, German and French I think, asked when we would have the Quadrathlon briefing to be told it would be at 7am tomorrow morning, just before we started ….Hey ho.
Our next British Quadrathlon Trophy Race is ‘The Awesome Foursome’ on Saturday 7th September. Every September since 2002 Simon Hammond and his Team have run the ‘Awesome Foursome Quadrathlon’, an extreme multi-sport race for individuals, pairs and relay teams to enter. This is an established event in the British and European Quadrathlon calendar regularly being a World Cup ranking event or the European Short Course Championships. This Year it is part of the World Cup Series!
The Norfolk Superhero is a charity quadrathlon for those who relish an endurance challenge. Participants take part in teams of two and together cover a course that includes a 1 mile swim, a 4 mile kayak through the creeks, a 45 mile circular cycle route and an 8 mile run across the beach finishing with the last mile over the marsh. Teams must stick together and help each other out although there is a good mix of competition on show as well.
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