Sony Ericsson Run to the Beat half-marathon

I blame it on IMG, organisers of the London triathlon and the London duathlon.......

Days after finishing the London duathlon I was e-mailed by IMG to see if I would like an invitational to the Sony Ericsson Run to the Beat half-marathon. Never one to turn down the opprotunity of both a free race and some exposure for Torq, (the race was broadcast on Channel 4) how could I possibly turn down such an opportunity?

Well I didn't. Of course, it was only the 3rd half I've run in 10 years so it was a case of suck it and see. The weather was tremendous on the day itself and the atmosphere absolutely fantastic. After the gun I decided to stay with the leading lady for a few reasons: 1) My completely unscientific view is that women generally pace better than men, 2) I haven't got a clue how to pace anything longer than a 10k! Anyway, it seemed to be a good strategy with the leading lady (in the shot below) staying in around 15th place for the first 6 miles.

At roughly that stage, GB duathlon team-mate James Buchanan shuffled past and I decided it was time to stop pacing duties for the ladies (!) so I had to say goodbye to the Ethiopian, (she still won the ladies race....of course!)

The last mile was grim but the experience overall was well worth the pain. 14th from 10,000 or so. Ok before breakfast.

In the zone..........I think














At the finish. That's a long way to run.........

London Duathlon (Elite race)

4th...................sounds pretty good after 5th. It ain't the podium though. Oh well, it's still my best finish to date at London. After a crazy first kilometre, the elite field settled down into a somewhat more sensible pace and by 2k a core group of 6 formed.

A swift transition by all ensued and I found myself briefly leading the elite race of the world's largest duathlon on my bike. I was happy to call it a day there and then (!) but the superb biking strength of Tarik Djeddour and Julien Lhomme*, (both fellow GB duathletes and silver and gold medalists at the European championships respectively) kept the pack working and in pain for the whole lap of Richmond park though we only lost one of the original 6. For me at least, the bike felt tough and I only just managed to hang on all the way round. I knew the 2nd run would be a struggle with comparatively little left in the tank and so it proved. I still managed to get past the 5th placed man but you can only be so happy with 4th.

So close, yet so far.

Anyway, congratulations to my mate Phil Holland who finished first with a superb tactical race and an exceptional tasty last run.

* Shasha, Lhomme and Djeddour = all good English names!!!

The elite field of the 2009 London duathlon

Coming out of T1, closely chased by Tarik

The first 5 Come into T2 after 18 minutes of attacks and pain

Starting the final 5k, ouch