When initially planning my season out during Christmas, I had eye'd up racing at Clumber Park. Clumber would fit perfectly in my race prep ahead of the European Duathlon Championships - Kalkar, Germany (16th April). Generally speaking working at a University we don't have to do weekends, however that weekend I did. Therefore I had to change my plans slightly. After a bit of searching I found the City of Durham Duathlon, organised and ran by Durham Triathlon Club. Durham is a good 2-hr drive away so Sally and I drove up the day before and stayed in a local pub/B&B. As we pulled into the car park and started unpacking I bumped into a fellow competitor who was able to pass on some words of advice as he just just got back from a course recce (more on that later).
As is the norm for multi-sport races it was an early start, so working backwards from the race start its pretty easy to plan your breakfast and fuelling strategy out. As the race started at 9am it meant a 6am wake up for breakfast, before ensuring I'm fully hydrated and getting that all important caffeine hit just before kick off!
I like to get to races early so I'm not rushing to get ready, therefore we left the hotel just before 8am to ensure I got to the race HQ (a local leisure centre) with about an hour to spare, allowing me plenty of time to register and set my bike up in transition etc. I was a little taken back by the chilled out, clam nature of all the competitors, which makes a really nice change from the majority of races I do which are high profile and normally a qualifier of some sorts. After registering and racking my bike I still had plenty of time to chat to a few familiar faces and share stories of winter training and to find out what races they've got lined up.
As it approached 8:30am we all made our way into the HQ for the pre-race briefing. This was rather important as the race organisers explained the rules regarding some of the road junctions and what would happen if we were to get caught up by temporary traffic lights. Once the brief was over I had ~15 minutes to start warming up, before heading to the start to wait the klaxon.
The klaxon sounded and we were off! The 5km run was 3-laps of the 1.66km circuit, which looped around the leisure centre playing fields. The terrain was mainly grass with a few tarmac sections and was similar to a X-C route, with a few lumps in it. The pace was fast and I was able to hang in there for the first half a lap before settling into my own rhythm. After the first lap the field had began to string out. I think I ended up in the third group, which I was really happy with as I could feel that my run training over the winter was paying off. During the second and third lap the placings didn't really change that much so I knew that before entering T1 I would be there or there abouts. After the final lap I was quickly into T1, put my helmet on, kicked my trainers off (as neatly as possible as I would need them for the second run), un-racked my bike and headed out onto the bike course.
My group for the first run.
Quickly out of T1.
The bike was a single 25km loop of the local area. It was a little bit tricky in parts as there were a few serious road junctions to negotiate and a couple of temporary traffic lights, all were well marshalled though. Aside from these it was a really nice rolling course with one brutal hill about 15km into the route. From the start of the bike I was able to really get the hammer down and start picking off some of the quicker runners. I kept pushing on as hard as I could but couldn't help but think about what Matt Turnball said to me the night before (the guy I met in the hotel car park), "watch out for the climb its a beast!" The further I raced the more I kept thinking, "whats he on about??" and then probably about 10km from home, it popped up and he was right it was a beast! It was easily a mile long and was certainly steep! I sat up, found a comfortable climbing position on the TT bike and span up the climb passing a few other athletes. As soon as I crested it I was then straight back in the TT position and hammered the final few km's into T2. On the approach to T2 I got my feet out of my tri-shoes, rested them on top, all ready for a quick dismount.
After another slick transition (T2) I was able to quickly settle into my stride for the same final 5km. I kept pushing as hard as I could but this time was beginning to struggle. I think its because I had only raced on water and didn't anticipate how much that climb sent me into the red! In hindsight I would definitely taken some sports drink or a gel on the bike. However, I continued to push as hard as I could. It was halfway through the second lap when I heard Paul Brown (race winner) coming up behind me, I tried to slip stream him when he passed me, but hes an awesome athlete and he was just too quick for me! He was the only athlete to pass me so I don't actually feel that bad! I kept pushing and once getting to the top of that little climb for the final time I knew it was all down hill, so I gritted my teeth and kicked for the final km to the finish!
The final sprint for the finish!
As always a massive thanks to my sponsors Meridian Foods and Coconoil, as well as my coach Ian Mayhew (Gears & Tears). Also thanks to Durham Tri club for organizing such a great event and i'll certainly be back and to Jason Allison for the photos. However, the most important thanks has to go to my darling girlfriend, Sally.
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