Team Quantum Controls Win Race The Sun Mixed

Phil Black - PII Editor 05/09/2012

124 4 minutes read

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We are extremely proud to announce that Team Quantum won the mixed team category for the epic Race the Sun charity event.

3 of Team Quantum – Kevin, Catherine and Billy left their families sleeping at 5.20hrs to go to the start of Race the Sun in the Lake District. Their plans for bulking up on a steady breakfast were put on the side line as the clock was already ticking.

We met up with Dave Mercer, a ‘cycling monster’ from Chester who had joined the team in the last 10 days due to an injury of the original team member.

Where is the sun??? It was dark when we set off 2 minutes before sunrise at 6.20hrs for the first stretch of the race. We began with 22 miles on the bike – destination to Thirlmere from Penrith. 22 miles may not sound too bad of a distance, however 5 miles was on ‘the old coach road’ which is an off road section which links Dock Ray with St John in the Vales. The reviews of the route speak for themselves stating ‘an exciting, high level mountain bike route and moderate technical challenge’. It has to be said that Billy and the cycling monster Dave met this challenge with exhilaration. This review however was an understatement for Catherine with no previous technical mountain bike exposure before and proved to be her biggest challenge on this hell defying route. At the brief, the evening before the marshal had suggested that people push their bikes at this point of the route – pah, not for team Quantum.

The Team arrived in 2.5 hours to the bottom of Hellvelyn ready for the summit to the mountain range. With 9.3 miles climbing to face, the team were quickly encouraged to change and re-charge fluids etc. and commence the 2nd stage of the race. At first sight the western side of the Hellvellyn range on the eastern side lacks the immediate ‘in your face’ drama which is offered from the western side. The initial 40 minutes of the stage is a steep climb, and it was at this point that Billy shared with the team that he was worried about the gradient being so hard all the way up the mountain and how he would manage. As Catherine and Kevin had climbed this route before up the mountain they spurred Billy and Dave up with – ‘it’s just round the corner’. The team successful spurred Billy on and after the initial pain of hitting a hard gradient he was soon rewarded as he was able to savour the fantastic view down to the edges of the summit.

The Team faced a steep stony hillside, summit ridge, tarn and steep narrow Gill. Facing strong winds and low cloud the team didn’t hesitate in putting on their waterproofs and Billy of course donned his corporate Quantum Controls woolly hat. Within 2 hours we had reached the summit and were given a boost as the Marshalls placed across the range informed the team that we were the first mixed team through as Catherine was the first woman to the summit. This gave Kevin more fuel for his competitive edge with the thought that we could win the Mixed Team award. Cold, tired but spurred on with the natural beauty of our surroundings, Kevin was keen for us to get off the mountain.

Kevin became frustrated that the rest of the team were nursing a few old injuries and had to be more cautious on the sloppy treacherous descent as wanted to run down. He became particularly annoyed when a team of older guys marched on past: “move faster, we have been taken over by dads army’ he chunted. Funnily enough though Dads Army only completed their time in 7.30 hrs which we found highly amusing after. 3.5 hours we were off – lessons learnt from the first leg, we ditched carrying anything. After hydrating, refuelling and a quick kit changed, we had a mad cycle for 5 miles to Lake Thirlmere where we then faced a 3 km canoe round an island

With Billy and Catherine in one boat and Dave and Kevin in the other, the team set off. Cheering us on was Billy’s partner Rachel (who also works for Quantum Controls) and her son as well as Catherine and Kevin’s family who were also there supporting us which was a huge boost for the team, not to mention that there had been no other women on the lake either except for Catherine. The team completed the canoe in 23 minutes enjoying the phase and the opportunity of giving the legs a breather.

The team left the lake and continued the home leg 30 miles back to the campus. The race was on with no other mixed teams in sight to our knowledge the team was keen to work through the pain of endless, relentless country lanes and tracks.

After blood (literally), much sweat and few tears the whole team made it back to start with an overall time of 9 hours 46 minutes, placing us 18th overall for the event and 1st place for the mixed team category in which there was 24 other teams. It has been an amazing achievement for Team Quantum, and while doing the Race the Sun, we managed to raise an amazing £2,000 for Medical Research

Team Quantum will be back even stronger next year to defend our title.