Mersey Tri Duathlon - Race 1

Saturday 19^th February was race 1 of the Mersey Tri Club Duathlon.  The rain passed and, despite the forecasts, we had near perfect race conditions … well if you turned up the heat a bit and turned down the head wind slightly…

15 enthusiastic triathletes gave the residents of Crosby and Waterloo a Saturday morning surprise by competing in the first race of the duathlon series, thoroughly enjoying themselves in the process.  The race times were fast, despite the wet roads and muddy off-road section of the run! 

A fast start to the run got the race off to a flyer, with what seemed like a bunch sprint for the first 2k of the race!  I ran a 19:25 for the first 5k of the race (a 5k PB!), and not too far behind some proper runners. 

I raced the bike leg using my new road bike, despite the wet roads and the potholes.  The addition of tri-bars / use of TT bike in future races should take some time off the bike leg.  Those people expecting the uphill part of the bike leg to be compensated for with an easier return downhill were left disappointed, turning at the halfway point to face a headwind all the way back to transition.  I was passed early on during the bike leg, but managed to pass two people myself, gaining a place in the process.  I averaged 34kph on the bike which, given I’d PB’d the 5k, there was a decent headwind, the course and my bike position, I was quite pleased with.

During transition I lost a place again, which I subsequently made up during the last kilometre of the 3k run.  I was pleased with this run for two reasons (1) I ran at the same average speed as I did on the opening 5k (3:53 per k) and (2) I dug deep towards the end to pass another competitor.

The race was expertly run by six keen marshals, who gave up their time to help run the event, making sure we all stayed on track and followed the correct route, even managing the traffic for us.

In the end there could only be one winner and it was Tim Anthony, who led the field home in a fantastic time of 54:40, closely followed by Daniel Clarke and Peter Roome.  I came in 22 seconds behind Peter in 4^th place, 3 seconds under the magic hour mark (59:57).

Overall, the race (including the post-race tea and muffins) was a big success!  The next races are:

Race 1          -        19th Feb (Done)

Race 2          -        12th March

Race 3          -        2nd April

Race 4          -        23rd April

Grand Final   -           14th May