ITU Long Distance Duathlon World Championships
Powerman Zofingen

8th September
2013

 

Official Results

  Run 10k Bike 150k Run 30k Total  
Gill Fullen   38.39 4.54.10 2.16.58 7.53.28 1st in Age Category, 1st Lady Age Group

 

Wow, what a race!

Zofingen (Switzerland) is not in the Alps, but you would be hard pressed to find better run or bike climbs even there. If you don't like hills, don't even consider it. The first 10k run starts uphill and climbs straight up for 2k on road then gravel and rocky tracks into the forested hills above the town. After about 1k undulating at the top, you descend into the stadium surrounding transition in order to go round the same loop for a second time.

Transition is well laid out and a straight in/out onto the 3 lap, 150k bike course, riding out of the town and into quintessentially Swiss countryside. Luckily I had ridden round the course in super weather when I arrived and admired the views, so the dull, rainy weather on race day wasn't as disappointing as it would otherwise have been. The first 25k is more or less all up-hill, with two major climbs, which in themselves aren't killers, but over time wear you down. This means of course that the second half of the course is mainly downhill and is a great tt stretch with only one notable climb nearing the town again. The main descent is short and sharp and not overly technical, but proved the scene of a couple of crashes this year because the rain had made the road so slippery and caution was definitely the sensible order of the day.

Having whizzed round the bike course, there just remains a 2 lap 30k of ridiculously hilly running to go. On a different course to the first the run is again uphill, but this time for nearer 3k before leveling out somewhat, then dropping down sharply towards the 7.5k turn around point, with which you are taunted by running straight towards it, only to veer away for another hilly 3k before finally dropping down to it and retracing the whole course back to the stadium. Arriving back at the start, turn around and repeat, probably somewhat slower and almost certainly quite painfully. I was so looking forward to the final 3k descent to the finish, but by then my legs were clearly objecting to running downhill, so it wasn't as much of a pleasure as I had anticipated, however, arriving back in the stadium, with crowds of cheering spectators all round and actually getting to the elusive finish line was just amazing.

This is a super well-organised race, deserving lots of respect for the course and which this year was celebrating its 25th anniversary. The ITU categories do not tend to have that many entries, so it's not as difficult to get placed as elsewhere - assuming you make it to the finish line that is. However, it does attract some serious competitors and I was lucky enough to be staying in the same hotel as the eventual winner's (Rob Woestenborghs) family, so got loads of fantastic Belgian support around the course and sat with them and the new world champion at the awards ceremony.

I had no clue how this race would pan out for me and was so nervous before the start that I was almost completely unable to warm up in case I was sick. The first run went far quicker than I had planned, despite feeling quite comfortable, however the bike laps took longer than I had hoped, even though I managed to keep them all within a few minutes of each other. Luckily the second run also took less time than I expected, so I managed to stay ahead of all my competition and finish with only 10 elite ladies in front of me and comfortably ahead of the next lady in my age group.

So having won my third world champs gold medal this year, I have to say things couldn't have gone much better. Slightly hooked now, I did notice that Powerman also have a race in Florida ........

Gill

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