Goodwood Duathlon race report from Rachel Baker
On Sunday morning I travelled down to Goodwood to take part in the Goodwood Duathlon. It was a well organised and small event which featured two races, a short 4k/24k/4k or long 4k/40k/8k race. Both races were limited to 100 entries and I was taking part in the long race.
The race started at 10.00 with the long race competitors going off five minutes before the short race. I had already warmed up with a cycle round the 4k track and there was a cross wind which turned into a head wind as you progressed round the circuit. Having glanced down the start list prior to the race I was expecting to see about 6 girls in the race and was hopeful I might do quite well. Once we were lined up I was surprised that there were so many ladies in my leg and of course they all looked a lot faster than me! Bang on 10.00 the race started and I tried to start at a reasonable speed but without pushing so hard that I was couldn't put in a good effort on the bike. This appeared to be a good tactic, I think I was about the 8th lady into transition and on the first lap round on the bike I had passed several of the faster runners. I kept pushing hard on the bike and even though it was on a closed circuit with 10 laps the small field meant that everyone had plenty of room and it wasn't hard to keep out of the drafting zone.
The first 8 laps went quite quickly then on the ninth lap I was caught by a guy who had lost count of his laps and wanted to know how many I had done. He seemed to think I was one ahead of him. He seemed to want to have a chat but eventually we both got our heads down again and I was on the final lap. I tried not to think my usual thoughts of how difficult it was going to be when I started to run again but visualised myself effortlessly running round the track (twice). Unfortunately, I don't think I quite managed that but I did run at a reasonable pace for the first lap, possibly due to the bottle of water I had in transition-most of which ended up over my head. The second lap I started to slow down a bit and by the time I got half way round I had to make a conscious effort to put some effort in and to keep my average speed up. Then it was a final turn off the track onto the grass run in to the finish.
I decided to wait for the presentations and was very pleased to find out I was the second lady in the race.
I thought that this was a very well organised event. I really enjoyed it and would recommend it to anyone who is happy to do a 10 lap bike. It was nice to put my head down and ride and not have to worry about cars or potholes.