Clumber Classic - Clumber Park

The first national ranking race of the year and it's back to the exhausting 10k/40k/5k format. As well as being part of the national ranking series this race was also a qualifier for the World championships later this year in North Carolina. I'll be focusing solely on the Europeans instead this year so this race was just about improving upon last year and getting some good points in the bag for my national ranking.

Anyway, I managed 22nd and 5th in age group. A notable improvement on last years 48th though I should have been stronger on the bike but the first Olympic of the year is.....probably the hardest. I came into T1 in 6th after a strong first run, muffed up getting my bike out of transition and took the first lap in around 33 minutes. Unfortunately I suffered somewhat on the 2nd lap and had real problems coming back into T2 with cramp. The last run was slower than I would have hoped but I was reasonably happy with 22nd.

Next up - the national championships in 4 weeks time

Aim: a much quicker bike.

T1 and Finish line.....at last

SUUNTO Winter duathlon no1

VICTORY is sweet

I'm not exactly sure how it happened and given that we are only 2 weeks away from the national ranking series I was hoping to crack the top 5 on this one. But I figured I may as well take it out on the first run and I managed to pull away straight from the gun only to be pulled back almost immediately by a strong contender from Thames Turbo.

After the first 2.5k, I eased into a slight lead and took a 10-15 second lead into T1 over Thames Turbo and perhaps as much as a minute on the rest of the pack. Transition went smoothly and I was expecting the rest of the gang to come flying past with the chilling sound of a disc wheel the usual forewarning.

But guess what? It didn't happen. Well, not until about half way through the 3rd of 5 laps and then not again until almost the end of the 5 lap course. Coming out of T2, I think I had about a 45-50 second deficit on Scott Cousins and I could just about make him out in the distance and he seemed to be running very smoothly so I settled into a rhythm and was expecting 2nd overall, maybe being 15 seconds behind first by the time we finished but gradually my run rate picked up and I could tell it was going to be close half way through the run. With just under a kilometre to go I managed to go past Scott and then put the hammer down. Coming through the line was a strange mixture of emotions. This one was special!

Sometimes I run also..................

Dorney Lake, boating lake of Eton College, Slough I believe. Tiny really.

Nessy was there all along and I didn't even notice.........

The podium. Podium girls just out of shot........