European Championships at Brigg Bomber 2025
A HUGE THANK YOU to Donna Jeff and the Team at LincsQuad Quadrathlon Club for putting on a great race for the BQA and the WQF yesterday as always they pulled out the stops! Despite having such a small team of helpers, there’s one thing for sure they are 100% committed to make sure these events happen for our small sport of Quadrathlon.
Thank you to everyone who supported the race, all BQA members and competitors, those International athletes too, all helpers marshals time keepers and key event organizers ……. you put a smile on everyone’s faces, made a lot of athletes very proud and gave us all a day to remember.
Big Thanks on behalf of the BQA … Jean 
Race Results – Brigg Bomber Middle & Sprint Results
National Trophy Results – BQA Trophy after 2 of 5 races
WQF Results –
WQF race 3 of 9 results with point
WQF National trophy after 3 of 9 races
A Big Thanks to Ian Cooke for his excellent report of the day – European Middle Distance Quadrathlon Championships
(and accompanying sprint distance BQA points quadrathlon)
It’s 08:29 on the 1st of June 2025 in Brigg, North Lincolnshire, the first day of meteorological summer and a fine and warm day with a little bit of breeze blowing in from the west.
In the river Ancholme, around 110 multi-sport athletes are awaiting the start of their events, now just 1 minute away. The athletes are participants in one of four events being held on that day.
Firstly, there is the prestigious third international quadrathlon championship event of 2025, the European Middle Distance Quadrathlon Championships. This event also doubled up as the third of the 2025 season in the World Quadrathlon Federation World Cup series, following earlier races in Kassel and Gyekenyes. Secondly, this one day championship event was accompanied by its slightly shorter sibling race, a sprint distance quadrathlon, with points being awarded and counting towards the national British Quadrathlon Association series awards. Finally and separate to this race report, there was an accompanying standard distance and sprint distance triathlon.
The Race – Suddenly, the race director, Jeff calls out loud and clear to the athletes in the water…….
‘Is there anyone here doing the duathlon?…….. If you are, you’re in the wrong place……’ So much laughing and smiles from everyone and then bang, we’re off. Two laps of a 750 swim for the European Champs race and one lap for the sprint event. As ever, the swim was a fast affair for those at the front, with the top athletes looking to establish an early lead position.
I settle in, concentrate on breathing, find your own rhythm, count the buoy turns and then back to the landing stage, Here, friendly and familiar faces and voices carry you on your way past the boathouse into transition.
Onto the 30k bike stage and the course was just excellent. For me personally, I’d checked out the bike course on the previous Friday, so it was full gas all the way, tuck in, shrug the shoulders narrow and get aero, every second counts. The loop out of Waddingham and through Snitterby was just excellent fun. 49:24 later and I’m rolling back into the sports center, thinking now about the kayak leg.
One thing that is an absolute pleasure about the Brigg quad races is the boat leg on the Ancholme, 7.8k’s to the wooden bridge and back for the middle distance and just short of 5k’s to the red bridge and back for the sprint competitors.
Paddling alongside Oli Fairbairn on the outward leg, a figure was rapidly approaching us and coming into view on their return, pushing their boat at circa 12-13kph. This was Ferenc Csima, at that point around 20 minutes ahead of us, the eventual overall winner and an absolutely phenomenal kayak racer. Next to cross us was Laurent Martinou, eventual 2nd place and around 10 minutes behind Ferenc at that stage. ‘Bravo Laurent! Allez, allez, allez…..’ was the shout out as we crossed.
As a side note, chapeau to Laurent, who drove north from his home south of Paris on the Saturday, raced the event and then drove back to the south coast after the race for the 19:30 Sunday evening ferry, top effort! On the return leg, it was great to see Helen Russell in her GB tri-suit on the outward leg, pushing on in the boat on her way to the overall win.
So here we go, the day’s getting done now, just the run to go, 5k’s for the sprint and 9.8k’s for the middle distance event.
This is the classic time to check in with the body……. ‘legs, how’s it going, are you thinking about cramping? No we’re fine. Achilles, how are you? Any tightness? No, we’re alright just now. Ok lower back how are you after the kayaking? I’m a bit sore, but I think I’m good for 10k’s, lets do it…….’ So check the watch, put it on 4 minute 35 second k’s and tick off the distance.
And just like that, the day is done, off the river path, past the petrol station, over the bridge, careful on the little grassy slope and the finish line is there. This sport is just fantastic and the people are just so lovely. Cross the line, go and hug everybody and then look for family supporters.
OPEN RACE RESULTS : The open race overall was won by Ferenc with a fantastic time of 2:29:29, with Laurent 6 minutes behind in P2 (1st O40 – 2:35:45) and James Block of GBR completing the podium (1st O50 – 2:48:40).
Helen won the female event overall with a time 3:03:33 (1st O50), with Rose Durrant in P2 (1st Elite – 3:08:13) with Orna Otoole completing the podium (2nd O50 – 3:16:50).
AGE GROUP RESULTS: Tora Oetgen was 1st female O40 (4th overall – 3:26:46), Hermione Ball 1st female junior (5th overall – 3:31:25), Oli Fairbairn was 1st Elite (4th Open overall – 2:51:37) Ian Cooke 1st O60 (5th Open overall – 2:54:02), John Macadam 1st O70 (23rd Open overall – 3:29.18)
In the accompanying sprint event Jason Frary was 1st in the Open (1st O50 – 1:39:06), Graeme Tiffany was 2nd (1st O60 – 2:03:07), Dianne Hubber 1st female, 3rd overall in the event and 1st O50 (2:10:35).
In positions 2 to 7 in the female sprint came the fantastic group of friends and constant training partners, Janet Green (2nd 1st O60 – 2:12:31), Geraldine Richards (3rd – 2:23:34), Sue Turner, Sue Pilling, Amanda Lord and Lynn Simpson. These women have inspired each other and trained together so hard all winter and spring in all conditions and weathers, nailing every aspect of this demanding sport. Just brilliant, massive well done and be so proud of what you did, experienced and achieved on that day in Brigg.
As always with these events, nothing would ever happen without the input, leadership and expertise of so many people.
Thank you to Jeff and Donna for making it all happen, along with all those brilliant marshals, timekeepers, transition managers and a million other roles that the team at LincsQuad provided.
Thank you to David, Andy, Evo, Janice and their team in covering all aspects of the swim and kayak management. It makes such a massive difference finishing the boat leg, knowing that it will just get taken care of as you continue to the run.
Finally, thank you so much to Jean Ashley and all at British Quadrathlon Association for providing the overall organisation and everything to make these races and race series possible.
Massive well done to all the competitors in both the middle distance and the sprint event. These events are demanding and take courage to toe that line alongside your mates, putting yourself on a canvas showing who you are and what you can do that day. The results are hard won and accordingly, massively satisfying to get.
That was the Brigg Bomber, now onto the rest of 2025! …… Ian Cooke
Photos of the race – thanks from Trevor
Kassel, a beautiful city in the middle of Germany, is a place of parks, wooded green hills, lakes, a river, health spas, great food, museums, culture and people who are just so friendly. It is home to just over 200,000 people and was where the brothers Grimm spent all of their young adult lives from their early teenage years, gathering up folk tales and publishing them into the world renowned fairy tales that we all know today, such as Cinderella, Snow White, Rapunzel and Little Red Riding Hood. It is also home to the wonderful Bernd Scheller and his fantastic team, who did such a fantastic job of organizing and running a hugely successful European Sprint Distance Quadrathlon Championships.
It consisted of a 500m swim across the river and back on a triangular anti-clockwise course. Next was a short run from the beach leading to the bike transition and then onto the 18k bike course, with 3 laps of a fast and flat course, based upon the Auedamm, the riverside road, lined with boat clubs and restaurants, that was closed off to vehicles, providing a safe course to race along.
The next leg is way more familiar for me personally and the computer reads 39-40kph, six sets of dead turns, one at each end of three laps and then back in, rack the bike and push on again.
The race overall was won by the incredible all round athlete and multi world champion Ferenc Csima of Hungary, with a time of 1:21:28. The women’s race was won by home club athlete Anna-Lena Klee, who put in amazing split times across all events and won with a time of 1:31:13.
On the bike leg I was pleased to put in a 1:00:40 time, so under the hour with the running to and from transition removed.
I finished first in my age category of 1956-1965 birth year (O60’s) with 3:33:30 to get age group World Champion.
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 BQA were so pleased that Dearne Valley and the Team at Manvers Lake took on the task, of hosting the BQA National Championships, and what a fabulous event it turned out to be! They upped the event this year and made it even better, less laps on the swim course and on the kayak course made it much easy for the athletes, and with the use of chip timing for the first time it was so much better for the marshals and organizers! We were also blessed with gorgeous weather for the 2nd Race in the BQA Series, congratulations to everyone who raced and to everyone who gave up their time to help this event run extremely smoothly!
Also huge thanks to ‘David and Caz Jones’ who have been organizing Quad Training Days throughout the year and encouraging newcomers to our sport, they do a fantastic job to introducing people into our sport!
I hadn’t raced at Manvers home ground before, but on arrival I was blown away by the lake and the whole setting . The lake looked really inviting, and was a great for the swim and kayak. With Amelia (13 yr old daughter) as my support crew we pitched up Saturday evening and had a good night’s sleep .
A great day was had by all in Brigg at the World Championships, we were blessed with warm sunshine and blue skies! The numbers were on the low side but it was good too see Quadrathletes coming over from Hungary, CZ Republic and France!
