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