Sika Duathlon 25th March 2012 – Results and Race Report

The third edition of the Sika Duathlon saw some great racing from both juniors and adults today in the now apparently customary mid-summer climate that appears to accompany this race whenever we run it  (that’s torn it for the November race now hasn’t it….). Surprisingly few racers were put off by the bright idea of running a race on the day the clocks go forward and  at 9am an extraordinary field of 24 tristart athletes were ready to kick off the procedings. Just over 8 minutes of furious racing later we had Ryan S crossing the line first followed by Max D and Thomas from TriPurbeck. In the girls race, Agnes stormed the bike to take the lead and won, closely followed by what can only be described as a blanket finish. Jade managed to sneek through under the radar followed by the other two prize winners Charlotte and Alyssia. A special mention to Maecee who raced brilliantly and finished with a big smile on her face in her first ever race.

A strong girls field in the tristar 1 race meant close racing all the way with Georgia, Megan and Jodie never more than a few seconds apart.  Georgia secured her second win of the winter with an excellent performance and Megan showed great form in her first multisport race to finish 2nd. In the boys race, Archie led from start to finish and looked very strong with Marcus and Samuel in 2nd and 3rd respectively.

 Close racing in the T1 girls race www.rightplacerighttime.co.uk

In the combined tristar 2 and 3 race, Lucy led the field out to take first place in the race and the tristar 3 category with Madeleine snapping at her heels all the way. Jack McD stormed through to win the tristar 2 boys race with some great run splits, Joe took 2nd and Ethan 3rd. Lily won the tristar 2 girls event having stepped up from tristar 1 and Beth completed the junior prize winners with a strong race to finish 2nd.  

And so, with the temperature soaring into the mid 90s (or was that the music?) it was the turn of the adults to have a go. The obvious benefit of the warm weather is the propensity of licra on show (?!?), but it was the Cambridge University running vest of Ben Davis that led the field out on the run, clocking 21mins for the 3.8 miles. Double age group world duathlon champion Ian Cardy came through into transition 2nd with TriPurbeck athletes Justin Matthews and Neil McDermott together in 3rd.  Graham Bungay (my uncle) and Mick Waker were also to the fore as it became quickly apparent that this was a strong field of athletes. First female through transition was Liz Gilmore and the Ride Bike sponsored Gorrick Mountain Bike Series racer looked fairly pleased to be starting her favoured discipline. Georgie Roberts came through next and Eluned David in 3rd. With Ben laying down 11 minute bike laps Ian was starting to regret the £100 second hand mountain bike purchase, not managing to make any inroads. Justin held 3rd all the way despite Mark Fagg putting in a very strong bike that saw him move up to 4th, leaving Neil to eye Ian’s bike with some envy…… Liz extended her lead on the bike with Georgie safe in 2nd, while Gail Tipper made up the time on Eluned to move into 3rd place.

 Ladies winner Liz Gilmore www.rightplacerighttime.co.uk 

Despite a healthy lead out of transition, Ben Davis still recorded the fastest 2nd run split of the day to win in a stunning new course record of 1:21:34. Ian Cardy (DBMax) also beat the old mark to finish 2nd just over 3 minutes behind and Justin Matthews (TriPurbeck) dipped under 1:30 to take 3rd. Liz Gilmore led from start to finish in the ladies race followed by Georgie Roberts and Gail Tipper (TriPurbeck). The final prizes of the day went to Jordan Symmington who won the youth race, clocking 1:36:24 and Cameron Thorpe who took a spot prize for stunt riding, showing off his head first dismount.

Great to see everyone racing – thank you to all the marshalls and helpers – we hope you all enjoyed it – we loved it!

(Please feel free to leave comments)

Find your photos at www.rightplacerighttime.co.uk there are some amazing shots.

Full junior and adult results appear below:

Adult results here.