We were promised warm and sunny conditions with only light wind this
morning, so we were all somewhat taken by surprise by the overcast, cold
and very windy conditions that actually met us at Rutland Water for the
Dambuster Duathlon. I had 100mill wheels front and back and Justin had
even borrowed a deep front wheel to go with his disk behind. We were in
for some hairy moments on the exposed bike course! The 10k run is an out
and back, very much into the wind on the way out and a little easer on the
way back. Glad to have that behind me I jumped on the bike in 6th place of
the ladies wave and within 30seconds of the leading lady. I was really
pleased and somewhat surprised to overtake most of the other ladies within
a few k of the 40k bike, but my maths skills failed me and I was unable to
count up to 5, so wasn't sure whether I was in the lead or how many other
ladies were left in front of me. Coming out of transition 2 a helpful
marshall told me I was second, (thanks Sammy), but since no 1 was nowhere
in sight I guessed I wasn't going to catch her and set out to stay in
front of anyone chasing me. The out and back second run course of 5k, run
on someone else's legs as mine had been filled with lead, meant we passed
some of the men finishing, who had started in previous waves - always good
to see a friendly face and cheer each other on. The leading lady came in
under 2mins ahead of me, which always makes me wonder how much more I
could have pushed, but very happy with second in such a good field. Justin
Burrell smashed the bike with a fantastic 1.11.30hrs and Kev Willett was
champion of the run, producing a brilliant 37.32mins 10k. Paula Stuart
completed her first duathlon and I suspect quite enjoyed it. Mel and Sam
both had good races and both finished 8th in their age cats. Always well
organised, with helpful marshalls and straightforward courses the
Dambuster races always deliver and today was no exception. The sun even
came out by lunchtime - a minor miracle!
Gill
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