Wins age class

The Maidstone standard distance duathlon (run, bike, run) was my very first race which I did in March 2012. The report is on the Members' Exploits page here, and despite a long drive and poor weather I really enjoyed that race and finished 15th overall in a time of 2 hrs 17 mins 38 sec and 5th in my age group (45-49). This year I was determined to go back and improve, and though I felt in myself that I had made improvements, I still felt the pressure to prove it because racing does not lie.

The race followed the same format as last year, starting with a 9.5km (6 mile) run, then a 42km bike (26 mile TT) and then a 3.5km (2.1mile) uphill run to the finish, so at least this time I knew what to expect.

A field of about 100 gathered for the first run but this time I had my new Garmin 910xt watch and set the virtual pacer to a run pace of 6.26 min/mile which from training I knew I could maintain and still bike effectively on the TT. The air horn went off and we were away and as usual there was a big initial rush of runners but I kept my pace as I felt sure it would pay off in the long run.

Sure enough about 3 km into the run I started to pick up places of runners that had gone off too hard and looking at my watch I was even a bit up on target time so that gave me a boost though the running was hard. I teamed up with another guy running at a similar pace and we worked hard together to transition 1.

I completed the run in 38:24 which was 4:25 quicker than last year, so a good improvement there and in about 11th place. A quick transition of 20 seconds saw me out on the TT bike (last year I used a road bike with TT bars) and I settled straight into a fast rhythm and felt good. I pushed hard and started to work my way up the field until at the turnaround I realised I was in 3rd place. With 13 miles to go and riding well I felt sure that I wasn't going to get caught from behind, but equally the first two had a fair sized lead, and so Patience and pacing were the order of the day with some distance still to go. However I still pushed on and right at the end caught up with the 2nd place guy.

I completed the bike in 1:7:37 which was 10 minutes quicker than last year and a new duathlon course record (interesting to see the difference between a road bike v TT bike , though the weather was kinder this year). (And you're obviously fitter - Ed)

Anyway still in 3rd place I racked the bike, helmet off and trainers on in 22 seconds and out on the run. My legs felt heavy to begin with but after the first km started to come back to me though I could not stay with the guy in 2nd place and had to run my own pace. I completed the 2nd run in 14:14 which was 2 mins quicker than last year and came through the line in 3rd place overall and 1st place in my age group. I was very pleased and had gone nearly 17 minutes quicker than last year which was a great feeling as it proved the hard work id put in had worked.
 
Handshakes with the top 2 and then as per the previous year we stayed to clap/cheer in all the other finishers, which I have to say is a feature of most tri/duathon races: a great atmosphere that everyone enjoys.
 
Thanks to my wife Judith who got up at 3.30am to drive me 2 hours there and back and cheer me on. The next target will be the Ely monster duathlon with junior St Neots member Tom Stead - a report on that to come soon - thank you and stay safe, Richard H

(Amazing improvement in a year, only part of which can be attributed to better equipment: well done Rich - Ed)