STAMINA III: Mud, Markers and Marshals
/Sunday 10th January hosted the long-awaited, off-season favourite: STAMINA. In it's 3rd year, the duathlon was designed and co-ordinated by Chris Foxon and his team. Despite the wet conditions, STAMINA was full of fantastic energy. With 5 adult teams and 7 Tri-stars, the muddy competition was rife.
STAMINA Event Director Chris Foxon, rounds-up the days events.
Sunday was very muddy! Rick and I had been out he day before, in order to put the markers out for both the adult and kid routes. The marshals all arrived early, and were a great help pitching the tent and setting up.
We had 5 adult teams and 7 Tri-stars, with 27 STAMINA-competitors in total. The Tri-stars were in teams of two or three with an adult chaperon to prevent them from going too off-piste!
Following the safety briefing, we started both the adults and the kids with a 2.5km run. Just as they were setting it off, it started raining and everyone got soaked! It didn't dampen their spirits though and once back, they were on to the bike section.
The bike section was a timed, MTB orienteering challenge - with some bonus-point technical timed sections. The adults took their points from the master map in the HQ tent, and the kids were given a map with points in closer range. Each marker out on the course was an anagram - just to add to the challenge! Like previous years, there was a penalty for anyone later than 2 hours.
The time penalty caught out Matt H as he had a split tyre all the way out in Black Cap and had to run all the way back. With true grit, Matt was still trying to find the markers and wanted to attempt the timed section at Log Roll but Rick had already started to head back to HQ. Poor Rick had been there for two hours and only seen one team!
We saw the competitive drive in the Tri-stars as they completed the final 2.5k run. Some of them carried on running even after they had turned blue!
We had a great team at HQ. Isobel was the Time Lord master of the spreadsheet. Johnny and Guy were the hot drink maestros. Kev was King of Events, with his car full of tents, signs, kids and stoves etc.
In the end I was really happy with the turn out after the terrible weather in the run up... Plus it was awesome to see so many kids competing (more than adults)!
We also had cameo appearances from The Onions out trail running and Marie and her sister after having bought a wedding dress! Sue P arrived just at the right moment for the bikers returning with still warm flapjack. Can't beat it.
Well done to everyone who took part, and a huge thank you to all the volunteers including the HQ team plus the marshals: Rachel, Rose, Rick, Sam - and her son!
Congratulations to STAMINA III Winners
Adults
Team 2: Paul, Judith and Grace
Tri-stars
Team 18: Johnny, Guy and Ferdie (Jez)
List of STAMINA III teams:
The Adult competitors were:
1. Dave Liddle and Laura Campbell
2. Paul Farrant, Judith and Grace Hancock
3. Gemma Lewis and Damien
4. Zak and Cathy Kwan
5. Matt Honey and David Bailey
Tristar teams
16. Freddie, Ethan and Harry (Adam)
17. Polly and Edie Hancock (Zeina)
18. Johnny Hancock, Guy Honey and Ferdie (Jez)
19. Alfred and Charlie (Toby)
20. Amy and Charlotte (Ali)
21. Ella Honey and Jessica (no adult)
22. Jasmin and Owen (Caroline)