Box End World Cup … A scorcher, heat and race alike!
The Box End Quadrathlon was always going hot, with the high temperatures we’d been having, but the racing too was certainly a scorcher too! Ettiene Stott, the 2012 Olympic Gold Medalist in C2 Slalom was going to be competing along with current WQF Champion leader, Ferenc Csima from Hungary. With World and British Trophy series points up for grabs we had a lot of top class athletes racing, plus plenty of newcomers and as ever our strong back bone of committed Quadrathletes flying the BQA Flag!
On the morning of the race the water temperature was over 28ºC and heading to 29, so it was definitely a non-wetsuit swim, this made a few athletes worry about their buoyancy but on the whole I think everyone enjoyed it, it certainly felt very warm we we got moving! We had a couple of nervous swimmers who wanted to use wetsuits, so in true ‘Quadrathlon inclusivity’ we said they could race but they wouldn’t get any trophy points. Speaking to them after the race, they were both extremely pleased and very proud they had finished their first Open Water Quadrathlon!
We all headed into the lake, the first ever compulsory non wetsuit swim in I can remember, we waited for the Quadkids to walk up the lake to get at their start positions, and at 8.00am we were off! Ferenc Csima and Alan Cole moved into the lead a good minute ahead of the next group, Alan pushed hard and came out in first place 11.19 with Ferenc just 10 seconds behind. Michael Mason, Steve Rust, Alasdair Bruce and Helen Russell all came in around the 12.30 – 12.45, with Bryce Dyer in 13.16 & Etienne Stott 14.01.
Four laps of the lake for the 4.8km kayak, Ferenc soon showed he was a world class paddler and went into the lead producing the fastest kayak split 24.39, Michael passed Alan on the second lap and went on to put in a very impressive time of 25.06. Ettiene in his best discipline produced the 3rd fastest split 27.42, with Ewan Cox, and Chris Carter just 10 seconds behind. However Alan 29.31 and Bryce 29.53 held onto 3rd and 4th place going onto the bike leg.
By now it was getting very hot, the grass was parched and the course hard a quite bumpy, no wind and 15km of 3 hard laps ahead. Michael started to chase Ferenc down and moved into 1st place having a solid ride in 36.37. Alan was riding well and held onto 3rd place 37.22, but with Bryce’s fastest split of the day 35.20 he was literally seconds behind Alan as they came into T3. Special mention to U23 Billy Fadden who also had an amazing bike in 35.21! Etienne was still going well, with Nigel Unwin and Nigel Leeson moving up the field.
The run was 5km following the exact same route as the bike with little shade and getting hotter! Extra water had been put out, by this time everyone was digging deep. There was no stopping Michael he went onto win after an amazing run split of 19.49, taking 1st place in a total of 1.35.36. Ferenc held 2nd place with comfortably and finished in 1.40.39. Alan pulled away from Bryce with a good run split of 22.16 and finished 3rd 1.41.56. Bryce held onto 4th place 1.44.00, Etienne was catching producing the 2nd fastest run split of the day 22.13, finishing 5th 1.44.38.
In the Ladies race, Helen Russell was 1st out of the swim 12.47, with Gill Melia 13.38 and Jac Davies 13.29 a good 1min 30sec ahead of Jean Ashley. Helen maintained her lead in the kayak 31.31, with Jac moving into 2nd place 32.25. Jean moved into 3rd with a kayak leg of 31.16.
Helen kept her lead on the bike 43.34, with Jac in 2nd 44.28, Jean flew out of transition on a mission to catch Jac who was about 30 seconds ahead. However things didn’t go quite to plan, when she hit the first bump her seat slipped and jammed completely backwards, this plagued her for the rest of the bike leg, she still managed to hold onto 3rd but had got a lot of making up to do! At this point I must mention the fastest ladies bike split … the forever young Mary White put in an amazing 42.26 … faster than a lot of the men too!
Helen went on to take the win 1.54.32, showing her consistency her 3rd win of the season. Jac stayed strong and focused on her run to maintain 2nd 2.03.17. Jean tried to close the gap but it wasn’t going to happen and finished 3rd 2.04.43. In only her 2nd ever Quad Gill Melia finished a very creditable 4th 2.07.18, with Mary White looking as strong as ever in 5th 2.08.47.
Special mention to our 2 Olympians that raced, it was great to see Ettiene racing with us all and enjoying his first Quad challenge, he also presented our Trophies, and big thanks to him for bringing his 2012 London Olympic Gold medal to share with us all! But there’s also a lot of respect for John MacLeod (Vet 70) finishing in a creditable 2.40, also a GB Slalom Paddler at the 1972 Olympics in Munich. A successful coach junior & senior GB kayak teams from 1979-1981 working through to the Barcelona Olympic Games and beyond. In 2009 he was appointed as Canoe Manager for the London 2012 Olympic Games, where he was know doubt very proud to see Ettiene Stott and his C2 partner Tim Baillie win the Gold Medal!
There were some excellent results from the age groupers too, showing just how strong the field was, Im sure everyone was pleased with their achievements … coping with the extremely hot temperatures and making history in GB’s first ever non wetsuit quad swim, it will certainly be remembered, lets hope the sunshine lasts until the end of our season!
Full Results Box End Quadrathlon July 2018
MALE Overall
1st Michael Mason (vet40) 1.35.36
2nd Ferenc Csima (vet40) 1.40.39
3rd Alan Cole (vet40) 1.41.56
Vet 40 (roledown) Bryce Dyer 1.44.00
Vet 50 Nigel Unwin 1.50.18
Vet 60 Michael Toomy 2.03.09
Vet 70 John MacLeod 2.40.07
U23 Billy Fadden 2:06.21
FEMALE Overall
1st Helen Russell (vet40) 1.54.32
2nd Jacqueline Davies (vet50) 2.03.17
3rd Jean Ashley (vet60) 2.04.43
Vet 40 (roledown) Gillian Melia 2.07.18
Vet 50 (roledown) Ali Pendle 2.09.26
Vet 60 (roledown) Mary White 2.08.47
It was the final of the QuadKidz Trophy and big Congratulations to our 2018 National Champions, with Max Underwood Frost and Hermione Ball taking the Boys and Girls Titles, both doing all 3 races in the Series. I am hoping for a race report from them shortly! Well done to all those QuadKidz who have taken part in the series, we hope to see you and your friends next year!
Quadkidz Box End Results and Series Results quadkidz 2018.2
Age 13- 15 Max Underwood Frost 50.12
Age 9-12 Hermione Ball 52.17
Age 13-15 Fran Ball 1.12.03
Well done to all 3 of you that raced on such a hot day, be proud of your achievements!
A Big Thank-you to organizer Mark Pryor and his excellent group of marshals for putting on this race, a superb venue and excellent course all within the confines of Box End Park! Also Thanks to all the competitors for supporting our WQF/BQA trophy race, again we have had lots of great feedback and plenty of passion shared for our Small Sport!
Check out your BQA Trophy Rankings and WQF Rankings below.
Race day was forecast to be an absolute scorcher (we weren’t disappointed!) and 43 intrepid quad ladies turned up with a plethora of gear, racked their bikes and paddles and put their kayaks in number order, helped by the wonderful kayak boys Dave, Cliff, Mark and Simon. After a very entertaining race briefing from Colin Wilson (it is worth entering the race just for this bit alone!) and group warm up for all the quadrathletes and triathletes, we walked together to the swim start upstream. At 08:20, after a quick rendition of Oggy Oggy Oggy, the foghorn blew and we were off.
Finally onto the run section where the positions would change once again. Jac and Adele were the first ones out, but Jenny I, posting the fastest run split of the day (22:09) romped home and was the only Quad lady to finish in under 2 hours (1:58:31). Much to her amazement, Jac finished second (2:00:38) but as in the previous year was being chased down by Adele (2:01:22). Louise, with the 2nd fastest run (22:45) of the day moved back up into 4th (2:04:16) with Gill finishing in 5th (2:05:09). Ali was 6th (2:05:42), Mary (2:07:04) and Jenny S was 8th (2:07:08).
On Behalf of the BQA I Just wanted to say a Huge Thank You ‘Chester Tri’ for an amazing ‘Deva Divas Quadrathlon! We certainly shared ‘The Quad Passion’ we had 43 ladies on the start line, at least 30 of them first timmers! The atmosphere was brilliant the camaraderie and racing superb, these girls just had the Best day Ever!
The 2nd Deva Divas Quadrathlon’ is almost here ….. another special day for ‘British Quadrathlon’ as this year we have 50 Ladies take to the water for the ‘Only Ladies Quadrathlon in the World’ This race also has the backing of the WQF (World Quadrathlon Association) the BQA and ‘British Canoeing’ they wish you all a great and enjoyable race!
DEAR DEVA DEVAS
Our 2017 QuadKidz Champions at the Prize Giving at Box End in 2017! Could it be you in 2018? Check out the Quadkidz Rankings with just 1 final race to go! 
The Quadkidz Barnton Training Weekend, has proved to be a great success with so many positive comments coming in. A big thanks to Lance and Hermione for this report!
Race day.
After 2 laps Holly approached the transition and dismounted very professionally putting any of my dismounts to complete shame.
Hermione had a good run and had closed down the gap to 40 seconds. If only there had been a second run lap! Meanwhile Izzy had the fastest run of all, so finished in a close third. If only there had been 3 laps for the run!
We also had great support from a local citizen radio team which help communicate to the turn marshals where the athletes were and when to expect them at the turns. They also assisted is getting help to a young lady who tapped wheels with another competitor and fell off her bike. They communicate the issue to their base station and moments later a ambulance squad was dispatched to help her. She was badly bruised and fractured her arm.
Thank-you Len on behalf of the World Quadrathlon Federation for putting the USA on the World Quad Map, keep sharing the passion and spreading the word!
Thank-You to Lincsquad Youth Committee for putting together this great weekend of training and racing for our QuadKidz. The weather was certainly windy which made conditions in the water challenging all weekend but at least it was dry. As ever plenty of smiles, supportive coaches and helpers encouraging the youngsters all weekend! The training day, worked on all aspects of the event – swim, bike , kayak, run, transitions and also a nutrition talk, so all aspects covered really well.
QuadKidz Results Race 2 
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. 
