Newlands Duathlon

On Sunday 18th April I decided to drag a fellow Trismart club member and his wife and the next door neighbour up to the lakes for the Newlands Duathlon.
The event looked superb on paper with an off road run,a challenging road bike with a shorter off road run to finish.
I finished work on the Saturday at about 2pm and left for Keswick at 2.30pm. I arrived some 2hr 50 later in the heart of the beautiful Lake district. Weather was stunning for this time of year,pleasantly warm in the sun with a light slightly cooling North easterly breeze. I booked the clan into the Newlands hostel that was the base for the event and also a venue I had previously stayed.
My preparation for the race was far from ideal and after the "big event" buzz of the previous week in Milton Keynes I stupidly let slip some of the pre race disciplines you need to perform well. Thursday saw me down the local boozer for a mini GB call up celebration which although was hardly a "session" was not exactly ideal prep for a race. My day off was Friday,spent at the coast in Borth,very nice it was too. I didn't get to bed until late on Friday,another no-no. Work on Saturday followed by a long trip up to the lakes which left me feeling absolutely drained. Nothing a good nights sleep on Saturday could have fixed ..... the bed I was issued at the hostel was something I can only imagine you'd get in a Moldovan prison during the Iron curtain years ! The springs were almost visible through the mattress,so needless to say I had a somewhat disturbed sleep.
The morning of the race brought decent weather,an average breakfast and a pair of rather fetching black rings under my eyes !
The race started without any warning at all,and took the whole field by surprise. A simple "Go" was the shout as I was preparing for some final boring instructions,so it came as a pleasant surprise.
The first run was a tough fell run,7.5 km long with a steady climb out that turned pretty steep at the top,just below Catbells in the saddle of the two peaks. A descent followed down a rocky path onto the main footpath above the lane that goes alongside Derwentwater(I think).A final run back past a farm and down the lane back to transition saw me arrive back with a comfortable lead of about a minute. All was going well although I felt pretty leggy on the climb up.
The bike was hilly to say the least. 44km in total going over the two passes of Whinlatter and Honister. The second in particular was a challenge and I was glad of my compact chain set and was certainly not embarrassed to make full use of every last gear(many would have walked at the top as it's 25%). I had no energy whatsoever on the bike and felt like falling asleep at times in the pleasant sunshine. I was soon passed by one guy who was a good climber to be fair but nothing I thought was out of my reach on a good day. The bike route was technical in parts and care was needed especially on the descent off Honister. I was glad I drove around the route the day before as one corner in particular caught a few out as it was blind and tightened significantly as you rounded it. One other rider came up to me at the top of Honister,I managed to pull out 300 yards on him on the descent but he caught up with me on the next section and soon pulled away from me with 3-4 miles of the bike left. Despite riding poorly/tired I enjoyed the route,it was hard not too with such stunning scenery.
So into transition again,in third place this time,and onto the final 5km trail run. I was in "lack of motivation/enthusiasm" mode and was glad to get off the bike and enjoy the run to the finish. To say I dragged my heels on the final run was an understatement,but with a large gap back to 4th and 2nd in sight visually if not mentally I strolled in to the finish in 3rd place overall.
The times were 33min for the first run,1hr 32 on the bike (18mph) and 23min for the final run for a total of 2hr 32 mins. The winner was 5mins quicker.
Club mate Andy finished 9th overall,with his wife finishing in an excellent 3rd female,well done Claire.
In conclusion I struggled to get myself up for the race during the week leading up and during the race itself. I would certainly return to do the race again as the route was stunning and was almost too good to be a race as you don't quite appreciate the location whilst gurning away head down.
3 more races to go this week !

Last chance Saloon

Sunday 11th April was my second and final chance to try and gain a Great Britain spot at the World Duathlon championships in Edinburgh.
This time I was off to Emberton near Milton Keynes to see if I could improve on my National champs position which saw me miss out on a spot by 20 seconds ! This event is actually the 3rd of 4 qualifiers,but this will be my last chance as the final qualifier in Cambridge is already sold out,so the pressure's on !
The course looked decent with a multi lap run and an undulating 2 lap bike. The weather was set fair and quite mild,a god send seeing as the first wave went off at 07.45.
I went in the first wave and got quickly into a good stride on the first run of a pan flat course. Only complaint is the people who insist on pushing themselves to the front only to get overtaken within 100 yards.Why ?
I ran the 10km in 34.13 which was quicker than the nationals but to be expected due the flatter course. The bike again was my downfall,I can't get used to these tri bar things and spent most of the ride on the drops. I must admit mind that the lads coming past me had wheels worth more than my road bike. It's quite easy to ride at 1-2 mph quicker on a proper time trial bike with aero helmet and top of the range wheels. If you take this into account this can mean losing as much as 5-6 mins over an hour. This was to be the case as I came in at 66min for the 40km on the undulating course. Not a disaster but some lads at the front went sub hour !
So after losing up to 20 places on the bike it was time for me to claw some places back on the 5km run. I went well again on the final run and clocked 18.30 which measured slightly long apparently to gain back some places I had lost on the bike.
So where did this get me ?
Well I was about 40th overall out of the 550 starters and more importantly 12th in my age group. This was actually worse than my 10th at the nationals,panic was starting to set in but I soon dismissed this and just accepted that a) It's too late to worry now I've finished,and b)remember how 10th at the nationals gave me 5th of those who registered.
The only thing I could do was study the results when I got home and see who had beaten me..... and the results suggest that despite a 12th in age I was 3rd registered finisher. All those ahead of me had either already qualified at the other qualifying events or had not registered to be considered.
Great news ! There are 4 qualifiers from each race and so a 3rd will be good enough to get me a slot to the Worlds in September. I must add that this has to be confirmed but I'm 99% certain that I'm in and await an e-mail from the selectors.

In the mean time I have a Duathlon in the lakes on Sunday (18th) followed by a fell race wed,a fell race a week sat (24th) and my first road race (bike) on the sunday. That's 4 races in 8 days !! My legs are already screaming.