Race Reports

In the end 9 hardy souls took part, 2 for the short course and 7 for the long.  At the off, Phil Couch was initially quickest, but Neil then reeled him in and went on to run 38.17 for the 10k, which was very impressive as it was quite wet and slippery and muddy in places. Jim Graham was next through in 40.56.

Phil was doing the short course as he is just getting fit again and completed 5k in 19.24. Rachel and Lucy were running at the same pace, but Lucy was doing 5k (23.26) and Rachel 10k (47.12).  It was great to see Jeff back racing again. 47.38 for 10k may have been the slowest on the day, but is still a respectable stand alone time for this sort of course.

The times will show that Jim had the fastest T1, but it was one of the most bizarre transitions ever. He reached the mount point still wearing his trainers then proceeded to change into his bike shoes and dumping the trainers with Helen who was marshaling there. Phil is the man to watch in T1, because he is so quick you might miss him - very slick!
John MacTear learnt from last year's error and got out of T1 without a hitch this time. Lucy took the most leisurely approach but getting the right number of layers on for a cold bike leg was the key to survival.

The bike course was modified from last year due to roadworks. However it is much easier to navigate and nobody went wrong, although the excellent marshaling form Helen, Gordon and Andy as well as Sharon on the run course guaranteed it. Neil is clearly on top form at the moment because sub 64 minutes on a cold wet and windy day was awesome. Most people were slower than their usual but the weather did get worse once the rain
started and the wind picked up, especially on the return leg of the lap. If you look at the results you will see that there were no bad times - everyone did so well in the conditions.

T2 is always interesting.    Phil again showed what is possible, with an astonishing 20 second split. Ant looked like he had a good T2, but not before he came in the out way, and then had to go back out and round to the proper dismount at the car park entrance. Luckily we weren't penalising anyone for transition aberrations. Rob took both his transitions (and most of the race) at a laid back pace, he always looked like he had loads left in the tank.

Most people ran the last 5k at a slightly slower pace than the first 10k, but Neil still managed sub 20 minutes and it was Rob with the second fastest time in 21.30, although again no-one was slow. Phil managed 10.15 for his last 2.5k for a very fast overall performance in the sprint race, and Lucy again ran strongly with a 12.06 lap.

Prize for the most cheerful athlete must go to John for insisting on enjoying himself all the way round whilst still making a huge effort and racing extremely well.

Thank you again to all the marshals, Sharon Chladek, Helen Graham, Gordon Skeats, Andy Jenkins and Hazel Tuppen. Everyone appreciated all of your efforts and support. Special thanks go to Hazel for bringing her homemade chocolate covered flapjacks - they were absolutely delicious!!

It was also nice to Mike and Emma Jaffe coming out of their way on a long run to cheer everybody on.

 

LONG MEN

Neil Giles        38.17   1.20   1.03.58   0.53   19.40   2.04.08  10pts       0%
Jim Graham    40.56   0.56   1.09.53   0.57   22.51   2.15.33    9         9.2
Rob Hoodless  42.30   2.22   1.12.11   1.52   21.33   2.20.28    8        13.16
Ant Grey         44.43   1.23   1.13.54   0.53   24.09   2.25.02    7        16.84
John MacTear  43.56   1.23   1.16.44   1.04   23.57   2.27.04    6        18.48
Jeff Woodall    47.38   2.02   1.16.53   0.59   25.36   2.33.08    5        23.36

Women
Rachel Baker   47.12   2.20   1.15.23   0.59   26.44   2.30.43   10        0%

SHORT MEN
Phil Couch     19.24   1.00   0.35.45   0.20   10.15   1.06.41   4pts

Women
Lucy Williams  23.26   2.52   0.44.53   1.23   12.06   1.24.40   9pts

 

Wednesday evening found me looking at the BBC weather forecast for Sunday, trying to decide whether to do the Castle Coombe Chilly Duathlon as a season opener. The weather looked cold, dry, and windy, but no rain was forecast in the meantime so that was good. Then I checked the list of entries to date, and there was the name of the guy who beat me by 6 seconds on my first race, and whom I beat by 2 seconds last time. Decision made - I had to race and beat him properly. 

Now I have nothing against the chap - I barely know him - but I needed to get my season off to a good start, and beating a "rival" seemed like a good idea. There were a couple of minor flaws in my plan, including the fact I had not prepared specifically for the race, the bike was still on the turbo trainer, I hadn't practiced transitions since September, on-line entries were closed, the race is four days away and I am not at home for three of them. Minor details. 

Saturday comes and I decided I had better get the bike ready and do a quick run. The bike prep was fairly simple, and I even managed to change the tyre without puncturing the inner tube (a rare success). My run however had felt a bit slow and sluggish recently so off I went to put in a quick couple of miles to prove I still had it. A short while later (and a new mile PB to give me hope) I felt ready - I had even managed to come up with the innovation of using elastic bands to stop the icy cold wind whistling up my non elasticated sleeves. Genius 

Sunday morning comes with a civilised 10:30am registration. Bike racked, multiple pit stops (too much hydration), race briefing, say hello to the rival, and it's off to the start line. Off goes the gun, and unlike last year I set off at my pace - not that of the racing snakes near the front. Halfway through the first lap the girl next to me started beeping and confirmed that we had reached one mile in a respectable 7:10. My rival had dropped back at the 1km mark so I knew all was going well. 

Into T1 at 14:25 and what followed can only be described as a case study in why you should practice your transition - I did not and 1:25 later I finally emerged on my bike, Doh. 

Five laps of Castle Coombe racetrack follow without incident, but I was now frozen due to the 0 deg 13mph wind. Into the final straight heading towards T2 and I managed to get my feet on top of my shoes for a fast exit off the bike - that at least worked and we quickly rack the bike and get the trainers back on. It rapidly became apparent that I need to do more bike-run transitions as "gazelle" was the antithesis of my running style at that point. 

My wife was by the T2 exit and I shouted a query about my rival - "he's right behind you, cane it" she yells - off I went like a startled sloth. My wife's yell started to haunt me and I got my legs going a bit faster. 

I noticed a few runners a couple of hundred yards ahead of me, and having ignored the two runners zipping past, I realised that I was actually catching them. At the 1.5mile mark I caught them, and at a useful hairpin on the run course I looked back to see where my rival was. He was nowhere to be seen and my wife was confirmed as being a lying toe-rag who should not be trusted for race advice. 

The final half mile passed without drama and a quick sprint took me to the finish line. 

Negative split on Run 2 v Run 1, all bike laps within 3 seconds of each other, 87^th overall compared to 164^th last year, a new PB of 58:25 for the race, and more importantly I beat my rival by 6 minutes (!!!). Happy, happy days. 

My wife pleaded guilty to perverting the course of injustice, and was sentenced to an afternoon of repeated second by second analysis of the race without chance of parole.

 

Andrew Lennox

 

There were more than a dozen GB age groupers and we forged a pretty good team spirit. We met up for the race briefing and enjoyed the pasta party together. Most of us warmed up together at race start and spent the event giving each other high-fives plus cheers of encouragement.

Great award ceremony and dinner on race night. British girl narrowly beaten into second place in the professional category. A few podium finishes for GB age groupers, including Coventry triathlon legend Steve Howes (4 times Kona qualifier plus channel swimming buddy with Steve Mac and Jamie Goodhead).

Summary
Very Scenic tough hilly run/bike/run 10k/150k/30k.
This is THE Long Course Duathlon. Highly recommended. Terrific organisation (imagine Challenge Roth without the swim or the flat bits). As difficult as running/cycling Ditchling Beacon constantly for 8 hours or so.

Location
Easy 1 hour train journey from Zurich airpost. My hotel in Old Town Zofingen was 5 mins walk from train station and 5 mins walk from race start. Beautiful cobbled streets and pretty Swiss buildings like in a fairy story.Didn't have to cycle on the cobbled streets, fortunately.

Race
Gorgeous cycle up and down big hills with cows grazing beside Alpine Chalets. Some challenging sharp turns 30+mph but well marshalled and no traffic to speak of. Some flat-out TT aero sections for good measure. Insanely steep for running. Walked up and sprinted down every hill. Lots of people burned out running up the hills and were spent by the end, but I kept to HR zones and finished nice and strong.

Finished about 20-30 mins quicker than I predicted and came 6th in my ITU Age Group category. If I had been 3 months older, I would have taken bronze!!!!!!!

Results
I am delighted with my 8:06 and being top GBR athlete in my category on the day.
However, if Loz Wintergold had not pulled out with a knee injury then he would have finished some way in front no doubt.

See video clip
http://www.videoportal.sf.tv/video?id=adab32e3-97e9-414e-950b-4ff87ac19784

 

The male professional winner's speech got a bit awkward when he revealed the depth of his rivalry with the third place man. Throws darts at a picture of his rival to motivate in training. Read out a spiteful Tweet where the third place man falsely accused him of doping. The organisers cut his speech short when the world number one duathlete revealed he was learning to swim and intended competing in triathlon.

Lucy Gossage won silver as she represented the GE Great Britain Team at the prestigious Zofingen ITU Powerman Long Distance Duathlon World Championships in Switzerland  https://www.britishtriathlon.org/news/silver-success-for-gossage-at-european-championships_2259
 
Gossage said: "I'm very pleased to finish second on what is definitely the hardest course I have raced. I was certainly not prepared for the true brutality of the runs! Eva had an incredible race and thoroughly deserved the win. I'm sure I'll go back one day now that I know what to expect!"
 
The men's race was won by Joerie Vansteelant of Belgium. Britain's Matt Moorhouse was 21st in a time of 7:47.26.
 
The GE Great Britain Age-Group Team celebrated more medals with Dominic Rohan-Gates (M25-29) and Nikalas Cook (M35-39) winning gold and Steven Howes (M50-54) adding a silver medal.

by Jim Graham

 

Due to the water below being 11C and an air temp hovering around 6/7C the triathlon has been changed to a duathlon on safety grounds - BTF rules say that below 11C, then the swim should not go ahead and so it ended up being a 5.3km run a 56 mile bike and the full half marathon.

 

 

Instead of combining the reports into one I have left them separate as the opinions on the race vary.

 

 

Training aside, it seemed like I had done no preparation for the race itself as it was only on the Saturday afternoon that I worked out what time I'd have to leave on the Sunday that I decided it would be best to stay over somewhere. After a lot of panicked calls I managed to get a place quite close, it appears that there had been some cancellations due to the water temperature reports. The organiser had informed that the water temperature had reached a balmy 15 degrees, one of the lads at the place I stayed at said that there was a thermometer at the venue when they registered earlier on the Saturday and it indicated a very frosty 10 degrees. Brrr! 

 

Needless to say the swim was cancelled on the day, but in typical disorganised fashion it was only at the last minute. This was changed to a 5.3Km run, much to Steve's disgust! This threw all my clothing preparations and in my panic I forgot my timing chip. A couple of minutes before my wave started I made a mad dash for the car to get it. I returned clutching the device only to find the rest of my wave disappearing into the distance. I quickly caught up with the tail enders only to find Kay running her own race. I managed to work through about half of the wave before a very pedestrian T1.

 

Unfortunately I got stuck behind a car that was trying to overtake some of the other cyclists at the beginning of the bike leg.. It took about half a mile of shouting to get around the car before I could start to get motoring. The bike course wasn't quite as bad as I was expecting, fairly flat with a couple of hills. It was wet and a bit blowy so I was glad I had my thermal cycle gear on. I started to get a bit saddle sore after nearly 50 miles and struggled to maintain an aero position after that. It was at this point of the bike course that we started to head back to Camber Sands and Lydd, directly into a strong headwind :-(

 

Getting off the bike at T2 felt strange as I had no feeling in my feet! I hobbled over to my transition area and changed quickly (too quickly as it turned out) before heading back out on the run. It was at this point that I realised that wearing a soggy thermal bike top on the run was not such a good idea, as was wearing an extra pair of cycle shorts with a super thick pad. Despite this I managed to set off at a fairly quick pace of about 7:40 mins per mile which I managed to keep going for over half the distance of the run course before starting to tire. By mile 9 I was starting to slow down a lot and walk through the aid stations, by mile 10 this started to manifest into the odd 'walk of shame'. What I did like about the run was that the organisers had printed our names on the race number which the few hardy souls that were out supporting used to cheer us on.. That felt good.

 

Ant

 

 

Gutted that the swim was cancelled due to water being too cold. Have to respect the officials that enforce these rules for our well-being, however, 30-mins in 11 degree lake wearing a wet-suit would have been ok by me.

 

Had been looking forward to a decent dress rehearsal with Roth just a couple of months away. However, this race was therefore turned into a duathlon.

Well organised event and the marshals were extremely friendly, despite the horrid weather they had to put up with.

 

Jamie and Ant produced excellent performances and are looking good for 10 hour finish times at Roth, if all goes well for them in July.

 

Steve and Jim suffered set-backs with muscle strain and puncture respectively. Nice fast cycle course that is predominantly flat and reasonably free of traffic.

Would do the event another year despite it being a little disappointing this time around. Good value, good half-ironman on a good course with good organisation.

 

Jim

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately with Ironman training as this was for all of us there was no taper for this race and after a hard week training the half marathon was a step too far for my legs.

 

I'm still not sure if I am happy about not swimming or not, the first run was all about getting warm, control and taking it easy so had a fairly lesurly jog round once in T1 I had to change into cycle kit decisions to be made and I went with the wrap up warm one instead of the get out quick. As you can tell I decided to ignore my times in transition (11 mins in total) and make sure I was properly clothed and could walk.

 

Out on the bike and it was not too bad if you like the cold, wind, wet and lots of drafters this all paled into insignificance when my hamstrings started to play up. The bike took us through Camber sands I had never been there before and was looking forward to seeing it, I think I smelt it first which confused me as the smell was old oil in deep fat fryers, not nice when you are putting that much effort in, I went past the source. Pontins, well made me go a little faster to get out of there, very dull uneventful bike so into T2.

 

Bike dismount is on a serious downhill and quite a few guys landed quite hard. This is where my troubles really began as when I got of my bike I could not move my legs and had to lean on the bike to move around transition quite strange, racked the bike and got out of my warm bike gear and into my trainers. Tried to move and could only manage a poor hobble, hamstrings, hips everything was screaming to DNF, bollox I said so I zipped up the man suit and moved slowly out to the run. Said hello to Kay, Emma Goodhead and kids and moved slowly off into my own personal hell.

 

The run started bad and just kept getting worse, my hamstrings/legs just kept getting tighter and tighter and after mile 7 or 8 I had to keep stopping every mile or so to stretch them

 

The day started bad and just kept getting worse in fact I don't think I smiled once well not until 400m from the finish line when Hannah and Sam Goodhead joined me to run to the finish line then I had a smile. Finished 25mins longer than I had planned but glad to have finished.

 

Would I recommend it. No not even if it was sunny.

 

 

Steve Mac

 

 

 

One of the marshals told me after that he had not seen so many DNFs after a bike leg - many were just too cold and/or cramped up to continue and a few who did go on the run, canned it after a few km.

 

351 on the start list for Marshman - 211 finishers given that there were probably quite a few no shows/DNS then I would suggest around 100 DNFs  that is quite a lot for any race.

 

 

Position                     Age group
Overall      Name         Position   Run 1      T1        Bike           T2         Run 2       Total
33       Jamie Goodhead    8      22:23     1:50     2:43:32     2:03     1:47:23     4:57:13
62       Ant Grey              13      26:41     0:00     2:49:26     2:38     1:52:27     5:11:12
96       Jim Graham         10      25:25     2:16     3:07:02     4:05     1:50:38     5:29:27
131      Steve Mac           17      26:54     4:33     3:01:46     6:13     2:10:41     5:50:09
 

 

In the past we have never had more than 6 athletes racing a Duathlon. This time we had 18 starters, and had it not been for the clashes with Marshman and Steyning Triathlons it would have been quite a few more! Mind you - the Marshman turned out to be a duathlon because the water was too cold!

The weather was the main talking point before the start. Cold and wet and with increasing wind, but compared to the conditions the weekend before it was something of an improvement.

The race briefing does not usually provide any interesting material for reports, but James was so focused on the forthcoming race that he could not get his head around the idea of a circuit of the car park for T1 and had to have it explained in words of one syllable. However, he had written the risk assessment for transition himself!

The first 10k at least got everyone warmed up.  Neil and James set off at a blistering pace. Whilst this would be a quick course in the dry, the wet conditions were totally different. There was mud, standing water, some technical turns where it was slippery underfoot and one dead turn to be negotiated every lap, but it is a great scenic route and an accurate 10k measured with a wheel. Neil (37.29) had the edge over James (38.37) and it would have been more but for a small error on the first lap which cost him 10 seconds. Rob, Steve and Mike were much closer together with only 24 seconds separating them at T1 - all about 41minutes. Rachel (46.44) led Hazel (47.42) in the ladies race. In the short Duathlon Fiona had a very fast 5k in 20.38, well ahead of Callum and Jade.

There were no great issues for anyone in T1 in the end but John MacTear became completely disorientated once he got out on the road. He first tried to cycle in completely the opposite way to that which he was supposed to. Fortunately David Ricketts was on hand to scream at him to go the other way - which he duly did - straight down the muddy Downslink path! David shouted at him again, and by process of elimination (he had now gone down every incorrect route he possibly could) John did a muddy U-turn and finally went the right way.

The bike route featured a patented, height co-ordinated marshal system to make sure everyone turned at the correct roundabout. The short course featured a short marshal, and the long course a tall marshal at the respective turn points. It clearly works as no-one went wrong on the bike circuit, and the only challenge was the weather. It was very windy and whichever course was being ridden it was into the headwind for the entire first half. Of course this made for a much quicker second half. It was also now steadily raining, just to make sure everyone got extremely cold, especially hands and feet.

James overhauled Neil on the bike as expected, with a 61m05s transitions and bike split time, and gained 3 minutes in total, to exit T2 2m23s ahead. Rachel overtook Martin, and Hazel overtook John on the bike leg, and Del had the vision of Trevor overtaking him like he was part of the Tour de France! Both Trevor and Del overtook Kate, but she did not have any aero bars which would have made a huge difference. Callum had the fastest Short course bike split with 41.48, which was not quite enough to catch Fiona, who left T2 34seconds ahead. Jade(49.07), Jean(49.42) and Julie (50.51) all completed the bike leg in the same order as they had left T1. Rose had a very steady ride and having been round the course 2 weeks earlier was much more confident with her riding and did 57.36.

T2 caused many more problems, mainly for the long course athletes because with frozen fingers and blocks of ice for feet it was very difficult to do anything. Rob was so cold he needed a hand with his helmet. Pete was happy to oblige! Hazel nearly resorted to doing the second run with her hat on. It was difficult to get shoes on with such cold hands, but eventually everyone was out running again.

Fiona easily pulled clear of Callum to do her last 2.5k in 10.43, Callum finished second with a 12.18 split and Jade made up some time with a 12.03. The long course race was proving quite a spectacle. It was clear that Neil was not giving up and ran an incredible 19.08, gaining on James all the way round. James had paced it well however and had 69seconds spare at the finish. Rob ran an impressive 20.38 to finish 3rd and was always pulling away from Steve who lost a minute over the 5k, finishing 4th and maintaining a 3 minute advantage over Mike.  The next fastest 5k was run by Kate in 24.15, making up a lot of time, comfortably faster than Rachel and Martin and much faster than the others and clearly enjoying it in spite of the conditions. Alan commented on her big smile as she was running round (and honourable mentions went to Julie, Fiona and Mike for being especially cheerful in the conditions). Apparently Rob looked as frozen as he felt, and Trevor looked positively pale by the finish.

The marshals enjoyed the race and several have told me how fired up they now feel about getting race fit. It was great watching the tussle between James and Neil - hopefully the first of many. As is now typical of out own races, all the earlier finishers cheered in the later ones and both Del and Kate had huge cheers when they finished. Several people have commented on how good the camaraderie is within the club - and the fact that everyone feels like this after a race in difficult conditions is great testament to what is now being achieved. For many of the athletes this was their first Duathlon. Well Done to all of you.

 

 

 

 

Author Steve Alden