No Quest-ion, Quest was the best!

**Report written by our brilliant Quest Quizmaster James Lovell:

Well done to everyone who took part in the Mad March Quest, and especially to the amazing eight people who got all the questions, Juli, Sophie, Claire, Michelle, Matt, Tara, Amy and Jess!

Looking back on it all now, what an exciting month it was. Juli leapt into an early lead with a stonking 10 on the first day, a lead that she would never relinquish for too long. Jason put up a strong challenge early in the month keeping Juli on her toes. Meanwhile Sophie and Claire gradually accumulated away. At the end of the first week the most popular question was about a pub – perhaps we were all dreaming that they were open!

At the half way mark, Juli, Sophie and Claire were all within 10 of the end, but the clues were getting trickier to get to. Sophie and Claire ticked them off one by one, edging towards the finish over a couple of days. Juli on the other hand went on one long run, smashing the last few clues to jump to the top of the leaderboard and be the first to finish. Sophie followed within hours to claim silver, and Claire a few days later for bronze. Juli’s effort was particularly impressive, not only did she finish first, but she also completed all of it on foot – 160Km in 18 days. A special mention also to Matt who started late, but completed it quicker than anyone else, in just 15 days.

One of the main challenges for the Maidenhead-based people was how to get the Windsor questions. Sophie and Claire, and Paul and Tara, went on epic bike rides to achieve this – Sophie in particular complaining of a sore rear for days afterwards! Paul and Tara were on a birthday outing and racked up a massive 32 answers, the most in a single outing! What a way to celebrate! On a separate occasion, Tara demonstrated her route planning ability, plotting a route in the shape of a large…finger.

There were interesting scenes in Littlewick Green where they were filming a Midsummer Murder about scarecrows, and a couple of people reported asking bemused film crew members to go and get the answer for them. From scarecrows to scary, Jess and Sophie terrified themselves on a ghostly night run in the woods looking for a memorial to a crashed WW2 plane.

Some incredible distances were covered in pursuit of the truth. Jess completed her first half marathon by accident, just going for one more clue a few times too many. Clare had an amazing 30km walk/run adventure around Cookham and Hurley, fuelled by ice cream delivered to her on route by her husband.

But for me the highlight of the month long quest was Sophie and Jess, at dusk by the river, having to ask two men smoking ‘special’ cigarettes to move off the bench they were sitting on to see which organisation had donated the bench. Well done ladies!

Congratulations to everyone who took part, here is a links to the finishing leaderboard and answers.