Shrewsbury Sprint Quad

It was another great day and the rain held off for the Shrewsbury Quadrathlon. This year it was our National Championships and the 3rd Race in our National Trophy Series. Big Thanks to ‘SYTri’, Phil Holden and his ‘Team’ of helpers who made this quad possible. Lots a BQA Members and top athletes were racing, plus it was great to see newcomers to our sport all enjoying this very friendly and welcoming event. Huge Congratulations to all the Quadrathletes out there today, looks like you’ve all had a fabulous day! Well Done to all the Prize winners and a huge thank you to everyone for sharing the Quadrathlon in Passion in fine form! #smallsportbigheart

Congratulations to our National Champions Oliver Fairbairn and Helen Russell and to all the prize winners too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Male
1st Oliver Fairbairn Senior – 1.34.29
2nd Nigel Unwin Vet 50 – 1.34.34
3rd Jules Taylor Vet 60 – 1.37.50

Female

1st Helen Russell Vet 40 – 1.40.17
2nd Nicola Hamerton Vet 60 -1.49.32
3rd Adele Blakeborough Vet 50 – 1.49.48

There was a notable performance from young athlete Gemma Block from Shrewsbury Canoe Club, who was racing in the Junior Category. She certainly looks like one to watch out for in the future. She finished 8th overall and is not only the Junior Champion but also won the prize for the best placed local athlete.

Here are the Full Results Shrewsbury 2022 results

 

 

 

 

The Team Prize must go to MADCC who were out in full force, as always very enthusiastic and supporting our races throughout the season! Well Done Team Macclesfield Canoe Club!

SHREWSBURY RACE REPORTS

Thanks to our BQA Members Jules Taylor, and Helen Russell for their Race Reports. Jules is making a long awaited comeback and Helen is a regular athlete on our Quadrathlon circuit. The BQA really appreciate input from our members, its always good to hear their side of the story, so thanks for these great reports!

I first met Jules in 2000 when I was fairly new to the sport of Quadrathlon, over the next 5 years we had many a great trip to Europe competing in World Championship Events. Other commitments took over Jules life and he moved on to other challenges. I am so pleased Jules has made a come back after a long break, he’ll be a great asset to our Quad family,  enthuiastic, fun and as I remember always smiling!

JULES REPORT

What a fantastic event this was, Shrewsbury Quadrathlon , running alongside a few other races on the day at a great venue, at the Shrewsbury Show ground. It was a 4:30am start from Bristol with my youngest daughter as support and the best driving conditions ever on the M5. Arrived safely, registration was slick at the BQA tent , gear sorted , and I even had time to chill before the swim .
The Brigg Bomber was my first event this year and 5 months later , this would be my second….but with the benefit of a few months good training between…let’s see what I could do!

It was a deep water start , in the second wave , and it felt cold ! On time we were off, and within a few strokes one guy was ahead , and looking behind I was comfortable building gap from the rest . This was really reassuring as I settled into a good rhythm, I hadn’t swum open water since Brigg so
I was happy with the pool training I’d done . Exiting in second place , I had trouble with a really cold head and my balance ….need to so i do need to practice open water swimming more!

Transition was fast and onto the kayak, and into the water. I just couldn’t find my balance , four
capsizes later I was off and now in first out of Wave 2. Shocking as it was well over a minute wasted , but I was paddling strongly I felt good after a couple of minutes. I Soon picked up on the first wave paddlers , around the turn bouy , and back upstream . Not long before the rest of my wave were on the turn around , so upped the effort and by the end of the kayak couldn’t see the others so happy with a bit of a gap .

Hugely improved transition from 5 months ago , and off on the bike . Still not comfortable with tri bars on this bike, very short wheelbase making it feel twitchy down
on them , so I was still riding without. Rode hard to the turn around then started a timer to see what gap I had on the others…it was 2:30 minutes before we passed each other so that was a 5 minute cushion to the run transition. My Competitive streak had certainly kicked in!

All went well , slickly through transition , and out on the run . After half a lap moving strongly , no sight of anyone from my wave , so tried to maintain pace with not blowing up. I knew I was right on my current top effort so it was constant monitoring how I felt to stay safe. I really enjoyed the lapped run, 3 laps which I broke down into 3 little goals, I crossed the finish line , and I’d run my fastest 5km for some years . It was a great result ….V60 first place , and a real surprise was I was 3rd overall .

It was an excellent course ….absolutely no worries about route finding , top organisation , solid
marshaling , and good weather. Many thanks for a brilliant day to Shrewsbury Triathlon , Phil Holden , and everyone who helped make it a top event.Thank you!

With Bude cancelled , I had felt a bit deflated as that had been my last race this year , and it
would have been my third towards National BQA Trophy Rankings , so had lost a bit of momentum with only 2 races done. Amazingly someone at work has agreed to swap shifts so I can have the 25th September off , and now have 3 weeks before Lincsquads Sprint Quadrathlon , and a chance at a third event !
Woohoo…..excited , and I’m looking forward to seeing you all again soon! Jules Taylor

HELEN’S REPORT

The third race in the 2022 British Trophy Series took place on 4th September at Shrewsbury Quadrathlon, which was also this year’s National Championship race, so there were national titles up for grabs. The national championship race took place at the West Midlands Showground and saw competitors swim 500m and kayak 4.2km in the River Severn, cycle 23km out to Baschurch and back, before finally running 5km in the showground.

Unfortunately there were temporary traffic lights on the route. Athletes who had to stop had their stop times calculated via their chips but this could mean that the order people finished in was not their actual results position as the results would only become clear once all times had been calculated.

There was a great atmosphere at the start with many seeing each other for the first time again since the pandemic hit. The river was a refreshing 17 degrees and slightly flowing, although the recent lack of rain meant that it didn’t feel as fast flowing as in previous years.

Liz Dawson from Macclesfield and District Canoe Club excited the swim leg in first place with Helen Russell, racing for Fladbury Paddle Club just eight seconds behind and Adele Blakeborough, from Chester Canoe Club in third. However, a swift transition meant that Helen entered the kayak leg in first place. She then went on to build on her lead throughout the race, posting the fastest times in the kayak, bike and run legs and crossed the finish line as the first overall female and National Champion in a time of 1.40.17.

Adele moved into second place on the kayak leg, posting the second fastest kayak leg of the day. However, Nicola Hamerton, from Macclesfield and District Canoe Club was chasing hard and posted the second fastest bike leg and third fastest run leg, which meant that she finished in second place in 1.49.32. Adele was close behind finishing in in 1.49.48. Unfortunately, the aforementioned traffic lights on route meant that neither Adele nor Nicola knew how close their times were and whilst Adele crossed the finish line second the stopped time calculations meant that Nicola was actually the second placed athlete. As well as being on the podium both Nicola and Adele won their respective age group titles.

The race which took place alongside a triathlon, aquabike and aquathlon, was as usual, excellently run and the marshals and organisers did a fantastic job giving encouragement all along the route. It was great to be able to socialise and have presentations again this year, which gave everyone a chance to chat and share their race experiences with each other. Helen Russell

Latest National Trophy Results after 3 Races – BQA Trophy 2022

TROPHY REPORT – After 3 Races John McAdam is in the lead, but it will depend on who is racing at Brigg. Wayne Smith and Jules Taylor could challenge John the last race of the season. In the Ladies event Helen Adams is winning after 3 races, but Liz Dawson could challenge her if she races at Brigg also.

Not all the Age Group Categories will be awarded, as its 3 races to count. But if BQA members race at Brigg we will hopefully present BQA Vouchers to – Senior Women, Vet 50 Male and Female, Vet 60 Male and Vet 70 Male. Remember the Winners of the Overall Winners Male and Female will not win Age Group Prizes it will role down to the next person.

So lots of prizes up for grabs, make sure you enter and get those BQA points at The Brigg Sprint on 25th September! Lincsquad.co events Brigg-sprint-Tri Quad