Brigg Bomber European Championships 2023!
A great day was had by all in Brigg at the World European Championships, we were blessed with warm sunshine though quite a brisk breeze on the bike course. The numbers were on the low side but it was good too see Quadrathletes coming over from Hungary, Spain and Belgium!
Lincsquad organized the race in great style, the course was very well signed, with plenty of encouraging marshals along the way, considering they are a small Club these days they really did us Proud so a big thanks must go to them for hosting the Championships, and giving our Quadrathletes a fabulous day out!
The standard of racing was excellent, and with the Team from Belgium in the mix it made it very exciting to watch. Ferenc Csima(HUN), Nick Verduyckt(B), Team Belgium, Mat Stephenson(GB), William Peters(B) were all fairly close after the swim and bike, with Francisco Jose Lopes Perez(ESP) and our top GB athletes, Nigel Unwin, Oli Fairbairn, Jules Taylor and back after a long break Keith Longney were not far behind. The kayak leg certainly sorted the mix out with Ferenc taking a good lead, the Belgiums were all paddling fast with Francisco catching and Mat going into the run just slightly behind . As they moved onto the run the top 5 had sorted themselves out. But there was a battle further down the field between our other top age groupers, Nigel came in 2nd GB athlete, with Oli in 3rd overtaking Jules in 4th and Keith in 5th. There were plenty of other great results further down the field with our BQA Members certainly doing us proud!
The Belgium Team did the fastest time of the day 02:32:01, but with only 48 seconds to spare … a superb effort from our European Champion Ferenc!
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Sadly there were only 5 ladies racing (injuries had stopped a few of our regular athletes from racing). However Gilian Melia put up a good fight to stay in contention, but Helen was going well and managed to hold her off she had a comfortable win in the end. Liz Dawson worked hard throughout to take 3rd. New to our sport was Grace Bird, she did very well, as she is new to kayaking. Our lovely BQA member Caz Jones certainly had the biggest smile of the day as she came over the finish line. It was the longest race she’d ever done, and a fantastic personnel achievement for her, we were all so proud cheer her over the finish line!
MENS Results (TOP 10)
1st Ferenc Csima(HUN) 02:32:49 1st Masters 50
2nd Nick Verduyckt(B) 02:35:24 1st Elite
3rd Francisco Jose Lopes Perez(ESP) 02:42:12 1st Masters 40
4th Mat Stephenson 02: 44:09 2nd Masters 50
5th William Peters 02:49:01 2nd Elite
6th Nigel Unwin 02:54:08 3rd Masters 50 (BQA)
7th Oli Fairbairn 02:54:27 3rd Elite (BQA)
8th Julian Taylor 02:54:58 1st Masters 60 (BQA)
9th Keith Longney 03:00:29 2nd Masters 60 (BQA)
10th Andrew Phillips 03:00:29 4th Masters 50
FEMALE Results
1st Helen Russell 03:10:05 1st Masters 40 (BQA)
2nd Gillian Mellia 03:18:48 1st Masters 50 (BQA)
3rd Liz Dawson 03:38:27 1st Masters 60 (BQA)
4th Grace Bird 03:46:09 1st Elite
5th Caroline Jones 04:32:06 2nd Masters 50 (BQA)
Well done to everyone that raced and a special ‘Well Done’ to all our BQA members that took part in the European Championships! Nick Farnell, Philippe Jumeau, Lance Ball, Wayne Smith, John McAdam, Peter Chappill, David Browning and John Redmond, thank you for flying the BQA Flag!
There was also a Sprint Quad that took place, so well done and a great effort from those 5 too!
1st Paul Connolly 01:40:04
2nd Ryan Birkitt 02:02:36
3rd Andrew Lawson 02:05:40 (BQA)
1st FEMALE Hermione Ball 02:07:24 (BQA)
4th David Jones 02:24:23 (BQA)
Brigg Bomber RESULTS
National Trophy Points BQA British Trophy 2023. RACE 1
World Cup Results after 2 Races World Cup 2023. RACE 2
Lots of Photos on FB PAGE facebook PHOTOS Lincsquaduk
Thank you to all that made this race happen, it was also great to see some of our ‘top athletes from the past, coming back to race again’ we certainly enjoyed reminiscing about the good old days back in the Czech Republic, the post race parties were wild in those days … though we did enjoyed the banter and celebrating in ‘Wetherspoons’ post race too, once again the Belgium Team were on TOP form, and we had a super evening!
Once again a Huge Thank you must go to the Race organizers ‘Lincsquad’ in particular Team Leaders ‘Jeff and Donna Chappill’ and all the marshals for all their hard work. It’s a big effort to organize races for our small sport and as Quadrathletes we really do appreciate the time that goes into putting on these races … So on behalf the BQA ‘THANK YOU’ See you again soon …
Your ‘Fairy Quadmother’ Jean x
Thank you for this RACE REPORT from Jules Taylor Vet 60 European Champion!
I’d been looking forward to the first race of the season for a long time ….and was incredibly nervous as such, my training in general had been good , but not consistent which had been my own fault.
The swim start did nothing to calm me down and I was really not looking forward to getting in with so many others in close proximity, I do all my swim training in a pool , so I’d not enough experience with cold water and other swimmers .The first 10 minutes was exactly as stressful as I expected, but once we all spread out, it settled down and I had a decent swim after all .
T1 went well, and easing into the bike I started to close in and pass quite a few others. A lot warmer than last year , no issues , and back in for T2 .
Having switched last years surfski for a decent K1, I felt confident and was soon moving well.
Keith ( Longney ) Vet 60 had swam and biked well and was a minute ahead , and Oli Fairburn got on the water alongside me .
I last raced against Keith at the World Championships in Sedlcany nearly 20 years ago , so it was brilliant to be up against each other again….I had a score to try and settle as twice previously Keith had beaten me!
Within 10 minutes I’d caught and passed Keith, and coming up to the turn point could check accurately where I was, if I could keep Keith at bay I knew was in with a good chance of top V60. Pacing in the kayak went well alongside Oli , we stayed close for the whole discipline and came out with a couple of seconds between us .
T3 went swiftly and out on the run. It was a hot, mentally a hard run out and back , but once legs had recovered from the kayak I started to move well. Oli and I stayed quite close , swapping leads a few times , and in the last kilometer youth won over and Oli eased ahead.
At the turn point I noted the time when Keith passed, he gave me a 4 minute buffer for the last 5km, I felt comfortable and knew I could hold him off . I finished with not very much left in the tank and it was awesome to be V60 European Champion .
A fantastic competitive race which for me got better and better as it went on. Looking at the results it had been a really close one between Nigel, Oli, and myself….only 50 seconds covered us all after close to 3 hours racing, all of us losing and gaining depending on the discipline…..it’s a brilliant sport! Congratulations to everyone who took part, I had beaten Keith at long last, he was GB’s leading Quadrathlete for many years an excellent competitor, and I’m sure he’ll be back to challenge me before too long!
See you all at Manvers …. Jules
Keyo Brigg Bomber Quadrathlon –
Previously the Brigg Bomber has hosted the British Quadrathlon Championships, the European Quadrathlon Championships, World Cup rounds and the 2014 & 2019 World Championships.
Overall Winners Male
Female
Team Event – A great effort from The Fantastic Four 3.52.01
I don’t remember much about the swim, though it wasn’t too cold, desperately trying to find clear water, and to get into a rhythm, it went ok .
Back in for the kayak but couldn’t feel my hands or feet …colder than I thought it had been on the bike. Jumping onto my Carbonology Flash ski, in my comfort zone now, just cruise through the course, again all good except for the tight turn after the first lap. No issues, you could see pretty much the whole course, and all went good! Little commando roll onto the pontoon, and it was back to transition for the run. Arghh….really struggling putting my trainers on with wet feet, but out I went and settled down.
The whole of the Brigg Bomber was a great course, really well organized by Lincsquad, and brilliant supportive Marshalls as always, thank you to you all.
So lets hope your New year has started well and lets hope weve got a great race season to look forward too! Here is a reminder of our BQA races we have in our calender so far, get your entries in and have a reason to start training. Having a goal does wonders for your motivation, kick start your training right now! Once again a BIG THANK-YOU to our Race Organizers who affiliate to the BQA and put these events on for us year in year out, we appreciate your time and commitment and we look forward to racing this year! ‘The Brigg Bomber’ & Bude ‘Awesome Foursome’ will both be World Cup Races. Our National Championship is to be decided soon.
Spectators witnessed Quadrathlon at its best, with the World Middle Distance Championships taking part Brigg on 26th May. A brilliant day with plenty of exciting racing and superb performances from the Europeans to our very own GB Athletes!
Lincsquad and the BQA are so pleased to announce that the ‘Lincsquad Keyo Brigg Bomber 2019’ will be the Quadrathlon Middle Distance World Championships …. This is just fantastic News for British Quadrathlon, and a Big Thanks to Lincsquad for taking on this event, I have no doubt they will do us proud!
A big thanks to Russel Breyer for his detailed race report and his shorter version below! 🙂 Short version:
The swim was a one lap triangle, then off on the bike (briefly, does anyone know why German races tend to be bike, paddle, whilst ours are more often paddle, bike?).
And that was it. The presentations, which included World Cup prizes, were almost longer than the race, and seemed mostly to involve Helen R smiling gamely from a podium whilst various people showered her with more trophies and prizes than she could reasonably be expected to hold on her own. Her second world class performance of the day!
The 20km paddle was up and down a stretch of canal just over a kilometer long, so 18 lengths in total…the scenery gets a bit repetitive, but at least the lengths flash by. Another word on that scenery…the backdrop, right by the canal, is a derelict Contintenal tyre factory which was a concentration camp in WW2, where many (slave) laborers perished. Not making a point here, just paying respect! The weather was beautiful 24 degrees and I was so looking forward to getting back on the river in my kayak, it was quite choppy in parts with over 30 kayaks on the short stretch, 9 laps so you could see everyone paddling. The standard of the paddling was certainly ‘Top of the Quad World’ the main contenders were on fire and they were using wash hanging tactics to pull each other along, and had very slick turns around buoys! Thankfully the ladies were a little bit more sympathetic, though I must say this being my best discipline I did push my boundaries and cut up a few turns rather tight! This was the first time I had seen Russel, he was just short of one lap behind, we encouraged each other at our passing points and kept each other going! On my last few laps I ran out of hydration so I had to get Dave to squirt water in my mouth from the bank … I was quite surprised at what a good aim he had, enough to keep me going until the end of the kayak section!
Russel’s words ‘The distances in this race equate roughly to doing a standard quad three times over. Not being much of a long distance athlete, I found the format really tough…I’d take 3 x Briggs any day!
Jean’s words I enjoyed almost every moment of this day, (it improved dramatically after the swim) It has been a long term goal now ticked, and also part of my 60th Birthday Challenge for #beat charity. 
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