Chilly Duathlon – castle combe (Chippenham)Posted by didds on November 25th, 2009

With the majority of BCTTT members at the club lash up in manchester it was left to just a very few to fly the club flag racing today, and I did my first road based (castle combe is a closed motor racing circuit) duathlon in this 2 mile/10 mile/2 mile event. The weather was awful as i left home, but by the time I’d driven the not many miles to CC it had cleared though windy. that said, I’ve never been to CC when it hasn’t been windy! Registration was breeze, and racking was open racking by wave and as I was a tad late I got the end of the rack furthest from bike out. Bumped into a guy i’d met at salisbury City 10K last february, Mr Sooooz (tritalk), and Ben from my rugby club who has signed up to do IMUK in honour of his cousin who died last year. Also james from the BCTTT who was also racing today. The opening run went fine… I was soon at the back of the pack of course, and was being steady as i am still gauging what I can do in Duathlons (this is all relative of course – I won;t be challenging anything but the back of the pack whatever i do!). Chatted early doors with Gethyn, in his first race and found his wife is a manager at Newport passport office where i had to go yesterday to get a passport asap for a MOD job application and so had to can my planned aquathlon Sad gethyn and the majority of the field moved away from me though I moved away from a few other BOpers, including a big chap like me, who was wearing a sort of Union jack type tri suit. Wind on the eastern end of the circuit was strong and hard to run into, but its a flat course and was fairly easy going.

Run 1: 18:01.4 ( I clocked 2.75 Km, but I think the calibration on my HRM is out still)

T1: 1:30.1 have done quicker, but then again its my first effort at moving from running shoe to cycle shoe!

Bike leg was fine… 5 circuits of 2 miles each. Wind on that eastern end was sever on the bike with no protection whatsoever; everybody was hauling like made to get through it, even the quick guys. The circuit is wide and there’s plenty of room so people are passing on both sides but comms were always good. the home straight with the wind behind was a different story though… right down into small gears/big rations and 50 kph though the wind was still interesting at times from the side. On my 3rd leg a chap passing me came a cropper – think his chain jumped but as I passed him and checked he said not to worry. Around this time UJ trisuit man passed me on the bike – a bit of competition is always good so I set myself if at possible to haul him back in. No joy on the bike! the last lap was a fairly lonely affair as only us BOPers were left on the circuit… the female wave had started well after us and they had been visible running their first lap… i got chicked by an early rider in their race on my last lap. the view was pretty good though Smile Eventually bike finished and i found i was right behind the chap i’d met at salisbury City 10K last feb…

Bike: 36:14.6

T2: salsibury city 10K man had used all the racking space up where I’d been before but he was still there and moved it along to squeeze me in. He wasn’t using clip ins so as off sharpish and I changed shoes. 1:45.6

Run 2: Leaving T2 I was hailed by Doug hall, pro triathlete with VOTWO, and tri coach. Good to see him. Also a shoutr from Ris from the BCTTTs who lives at chippenham and who had been looking after his daughter this morning, preventing him from racing. Always good to see a friendly face Wink I’d hope to catch up with salisbury City 10K man but n joy… his running has come on leaps and bounds since be and he was pulling away from me constantly. I was convinced I was last – not that this bothers me – so set out to minimise the time difference between me and penultimate place. As i struggled along the eatsern end into the wind, I saw UJ trisuit man ahead and wondered if it I might poull him back, but he was a good couple of hundred metres up on me. Doug cruised past with encourangement as he warmed up for his race later … With just under a mile to go as Doug left me, I yellow running jacketted chap ahead weas walking and I passed him… yea! I wasn’t last! However, ye;llow jacket then ran again and passed me … DOH! I did however continue to gain on UJ trisuit and with about 300m to go passed him in style as i started to push on – and relinquished last place as well Smile Yellow jacket was about 50m in front with 200m to go and I set myself to get him… and really pushed it on. I brought the gap down to maybe 20m but he had plenty more left in his tank I reckon but we both a got a cheer as we raced for the line, Ris cheering me on from the side.

Run2: 17.24.1 (2.83Km on my HRM… a longer run2 than run 1 – slightly different course at start and end, but a negative split run

Total : 1:14:55

Summary : really pleased with my first road duathlon; discipline transitioning went fine, even though my inner thighs ached as i finished the bike but no adverse affects on the run at all. The wind was hard work, and the entire race was quite hard… harder than both the Olympic distance tris I’ve done for example… though I’m not really in trainng yet so that may have a lot to do with that. Oh – and according to Ris i wasn’t last by around 4 or 5 others