London Duathlon

9th September 2007

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Steve's Report

Chiltern Harriers had some very good age group performances at Sunday's London Duathlon staged at Richmond Park.

All five Harriers started in the same wave at 9am but already temperatures were quite high which made for a challenging race on the undulating courses.

The race comprised a 9K run, followed by a 21.5K road bike stage, and then a 4.7K run to finish.

Mel Folkard was first home in 1 hour 49 minutes 19 seconds (445th out of 1627 overall and 4th in the Vet 50-54 men's age group). Close behind was Graham Palser in 1:53:19 (7th Vet 55+). The ladies also had good results - Beky Hughes 21st in the ladies' 25-29 group in 1:56:19, Claire Stubbings 13th in the Vet 40-44 group in 2:02:22, and Heidi Folkard 14th in the Vet 40-44 group in 2:02:35 despite a broken bike pedal. All bar Graham were rookies to the event and thoroughly enjoyed the challenge.

Full results on duathlon.triathlonresults.co.uk

Mel's Report

The day was great fun... As you know, there were 5 Harriers; me, Heidi, Graham, Claire and Becky. Thanks to a few phone calls from Graham to the organisers, we were all in the same wave (9.05 a.m. start). Even at that time, it was quite warm. On the 9km run leg, we started together; after a few minutes, I was the lead harrier, followed by Graham, I maintained my lead, so soon after the start I lost sight of the others. I had a good first run (39:16 for 9Km) and was soon on the 20km bike leg. I suspected I would be faster than Graham on the run, but I felt he had the edge on the bike, so every time a bike overtook I was fully expecting it to be Graham. The bike course was surprisingly hilly; a steep hill 1 mile into the 2 lap course had us all in our bottom gears and the thought of having to do it again wasn't good for morale! Despite cramping badly on the bike, I never got overtaken by Graham and got to transition 2 after a satisfying 45:22 bike leg. Only a 4.7km run left, but my legs were shot by then.
Still, time to dig deep and just keep running. By now, we were in bright sunshine and toasting! I did the 2nd run leg in 21:04 to finish in a time of 1:49:19 overall (445th out of 1627 runners). I recovered in time to see Graham finish in 1:52:19, then Becky in 1:56:19. Heidi and Clare were still out there. We didn't have long to wait; Claire finished in 2:02:22, with Heidi just behind in 2:02:35. Heidi's time was remarkable, considering that she had suffered a 'mechanical' on the bike leg. It turned out that after the first bike lap, her right pedal stripped a thread and came loose from the crank. She did the entire second lap (i.e. 10km) with only one working pedal! As she got to transition the pedal fell off completely!! At the end, we were all smiling; our first 'proper' duathlon (except for Graham who had done last year's). Graham was pleased as he had improved on last year's time. After a coffee and bacon sarnie, we were all discussing how we were going to do even better next year!