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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

It was certainly a challenging start to the 2012 Quadmire Series with temperatures hovering around zero and lashings of the wet stuff, it was not for the faint-hearted. This was probably reflected in our low turnout for both events, only the toughest survived.
At 10:30am the inclement weather-reduced field set off on what was to be a gruelling test of stamina and mind over hyperthermia. From the start a breakaway group of three people made their presence known by taking an early lead in the first two-lap run stage. Leading them out young Tom Stead was hotly pursued by Jez Cox and Troy Garrity. All three arriving in T1 within 5 seconds of each other but all equally covered in mud and filth. Despite the constant torrential rain, at least whilst running most people managed to stay relatively warm.
Over in the quad, only four people were brave enough to enter this longer event on this day. Their first run being two and a half slippery laps before they reached the kayak start point. Ben Wynn was the first to arrive at the kayaks after a run split of 16:10 closely followed by Steve Saunders 30 seconds later. Both set off into the quickly rising and fast flowing current on the River Nene (which had drastically increased in volume since the race and the rain had started). A few minutes later Sonja (our only lady Quad entry) arrived and set out followed by Glynn Mayley. It was to be a challenging two-mile paddle for all against strong flows and blustery conditions, however the biggest challenge was to be the wet and cold with everyone returning from the paddle shaking but not stirred.
Returning to the Duathlon the entrants were slipping and sliding their way around the course. The fields had been in pristine, virgin condition before the start of the race as it was the first race of the Season; however it didn’t take long for the racing line to become a slippery mayhem of chaos with plenty of thrills and spills. This is more like the Wadenhoe Series that we are used to, unlike last
years’ unseasonably dry conditions. The majority of people had to push their bikes at some stage up the steep but short slippery slopes; it certainly wasn’t going to be a record-breaking course today. Young Tom still managed to maintain his lead by posting a bike split one minute faster than his nearest rival (Jez Cox). Everyone was doing their best to stay on their bike and in control but the ground conditions and prevailing weather was doing their best to hinder all efforts.
After the cold gruelling bike stage most people were glad to be able to leave their bikes behind and start to warm up on the final two laps of the run. By now the Quadmire section down by the river was well and truly on form with mud-sucking puddles up to knees and almost becoming man-eaters. However, all prevailed and fought their way through with young Tom crossing the line first in a time of 1:08:06 followed less than a minute later by Jez Cox and Matthew Wootton coming in a commendable third. Unfortunately, there were no ladies brave enough to take on the challenge today.
Back to the Quad and all the Quad athletes were certainly glad to be back on dry land and running up to T2 to find their bikes, however, they were probably were not looking forward to more wet and cold conditions. Ben and Steve both battled through to complete the bike section. Unfortunately Sonja had a mechanical and was unable to complete the course. Ben was the first to finish the Quad in a very respectable time (considering the appalling conditions) of 2:08:23.
After finishing, most athletes took no time to change into some warm dry clothes before heading home or down to the Village Hall for some well-earned warm refreshments.
I would like to say a big thanks to all the marshals who braved the appalling conditions for a lot of hours during the race. Their efforts made the race possible. We look forward to seeing everyone at our second race on 2.12.12 and hopefully the weather conditions will be kinder and entry levels will be up.

Race Results Race 1
Mark Pryor Quadrac Racing