When two-time Olympic triathlon champion Alistair Brownlee announced his retirement from the sport late last year, he promised: “There’s an exciting array of events, challenges, and adventures awaiting me – things I’ve always wanted to have a crack at but haven’t had the chance to pursue.”
And he was good to his word when he took part in the intriguingly-named Quid Games ‘The Dark Edition’ in Skipton, North Yorkshire at the weekend.
How did Alistair get on?
Billed as “a race with equal parts of thrill, strategy, and mystery”, The Dark Edition challenged athletes to think on their feet and outpace the competition whilst navigating the stunning Broughton Hall Estate through an unpredictable series of checkpoints and surprises.
With just 60 minutes on the clock, there were 10 secret checkpoints to find in the quickest time possible. Each control was worth 10 points and they could be visited in any order, so it meant planning a race strategy the moment you were given a map.
Up against Brownlee were plenty of the Great Britain orienteering team as well as many of the country’s best fell, trail and road runners in a quality field of over 100.
And he went close to winning too, achieving the maximum score of 100 in a time of 26 minutes and 18 seconds to take seventh place, with less than a minute separating the top nine men.
The winner was GB orienteer and HOKA athlete Kris Jones, who powered clear late on to stop the clock in 25:53, the only person to dip under 26 minutes.
What next?
“It was good, I just feel like I’ve sprinted around in the dark – it was a combination of a quick look at the map but mostly following other people to be honest!” Alistair told Ben Mounsey of race organisers SportsShoes afterwards. “But it was great, I really, really enjoyed it.”
SportsShoes created the event in partnership with British Orienteering, explaining: “The aim of the games is to inspire and encourage athletes of every age and ability to try something new and really put Orienteering on the map, excuse the intentional pun!”
It was certainly a Saturday night hit with Brownlee who later posted on his Instagram account: “Had a blast taking part in @quidgames_ this weekend! A proper change from the usual – starting the year with a night orienteering/trail race 🔦
“Excited for more fun and adventurous events to come this year!”
It remains to be seen which challenges Brownlee will tackle in 2025 and beyond but he’s already shown a massive interest in gravel biking while a professional athlete.
In 2021 he was seventh in the iconic Badlands gravel race in Spain, which covers 746km of rugged terrain, and in the last couple of years he’s taken part in the UK’s biggest event, the Gralloch in the south west of Scotland.
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