Well done to all 33 athletes who took part in today's
event. This is a big record turnout, and could have been higher but
for a couple of injuries. We had fantastic weather and I think the
vast majority really enjoyed the day even though that flat run is
much more challenging than it looks, and the bike is fairly
tough!
This time it was deliberately minimally marshalled, so we
could test out a whole bunch of new signs, which of course, allows
more people to race and because it was all low key, it allowed
everyone to test kit and fitness and strategy.
A big thank you to our two timekeepers, Debbie and Roger,
without whom we would not get any results, and also a big thank you
to Martin and Lara Shoesmith for their huge effort in getting all
the extra signs out and collecting them again
afterwards.
The men's sprint race was dominated from the off by Phil
Couch, but the women's race looked very exciting, with nothing to
choose between the first five out of T2. Clio Lawrence kept
something back for the second run though, to eventually win by
nearly 2 minutes from Sarah Hinton who had posted the fastest bike
split.
The men's standard race was comfortably won by Neil Giles,
but the next 3 had a fairly tight battle throughout with only 3
minutes separating them at the end.
Lara Shoesmith moved up to the longer distance this year and
did exceptionally well to win.
This race is not only about the winners though, and a few
performances are worthy of mention. It was so good to see Del back
racing again, and completing the sprint course was a great effort.
Last year Rebecca Moore just did the 5k run, but this year
completed her first duathlon, and has clearly progressed hugely
over the last year. Emma Smith did her first standard distance
Duathlon, but she had plenty of strength for the second run, and
finished really strongly. All three of them clearly have a lot more
to come.
We also had two relay teams, and several stand alone
efforts. It was also great to see a couple of husbands taking part
- they both look like potential future members of the
club!!
The race results are available on the Duathlon event page and the BAR standings on the BAR event page.