Sika Duathlon Report and Full Adult Results.

The Sun was out for the first Tripurbeck Duathlon races based at the Sika Trail in Wareham Forest. We had great support from www.actionpic.co.uk doing event photography, Triuk and Ride Bike supplying the prizes, Wurth running an on site bike maintenance area and staff from Budmouth College running the refreshments stand in aid of charities sponsored by the Budmouth End to End Challenge.

First up, in the relative cool of the morning, were the tristarts (7-8yr olds) The boys race was very close with Lennon and Tom trading first place throughout. But it was Tom who showed he is strong on the second run, coming through to win by a few seconds. Lennon took second with Dan H and Callum M getting joint 3rd after Callum accidentally took a bit of a short cut! In the girls race  Annie B produced a trademark slow first run before overtaking everyone on the bike to take first place. Jade M came through for second in her first race and Ella M took third. Charlotte, Connor and Max also got prizes, competing despite not being quite old enough and all finishing within a few seconds of each other.

In the tristar 1 race (9-10 yr olds), National Biathlon Champion Jed S showed his pedigree with a convincing win, posting the fastest run 1 and bike splits. Joe T came through to hold off Jack M in a great battle for 2nd that saw Jack post the fastest 2nd run split of the day.  In the girls race, Jodie S came through to win with Beth E taking 2nd.

The last junior race if the day was the Tristar 2 race. Fresh from success at the Southwest Junior Championships, Henry M was looking to add a race win to his record but this time it was Jack B who came through to win after a stunning bike section that overhauled Henry’s faster run times. Harry G racing as a Tristar 3 pipped them both with Sam Watts taking third in the Tristar 2 race. National standard biathlete Mikayla C took the girls race.

And finally, it was the turn of the adults. by the time they started it was hot . David Wilkinson was first back off the 3.8mile run with Tripurbeck athletes Neil McDermot, Justin Matthews and Roddy Cooper not far behind. With Fran ‘helping out’ in the pack not wearing a number, it was Kathryn Doris who came through first off the run for the ladies with Tripurbeck’s Gail Tipper and Kat Ashley in hot pursuit – these 3 were never far apart for the whole race. Starting the 4 lap bike course 4 minutes down it was soon fairly clear that Adam Buckland had saved something up for the bike! He came storming through the field to enter transition alongside David Wilkinson with just the 2 mile (ish) run to go. David’s running speed kicked in again to take him clear and win in 1:28:05. Ex mountain bike racer Justin Matthews posted a second run of 14:17 to take second with Adam holding on to 3rd with a solid 2nd run. Roddy Cooper looked strong finishing 4th and first vet. Meanwhile, the fastest ladies were trading places but Kathryn Doris was never headed and came home in 1:49:16. Kat just pipped Gail on the bike by enough to stay ahead and take 2nd with Gail 3rd but first vet and Sarah Wise took the 3rd senior female slot. We had a few juniors racing as well and Tom Lewis raced to first place in a great time that placed him 7th overall. James Betts came in second.

 Adam Buckland on his bike (www.actionpic.co.uk).

In the inter Budmouth staff race, all the money was on Andy Clark and he didn’t disappoint in the first run, clocking 27:35 and looking strong. But Andy Gill had polished off his S Works (kept that quiet) bike, a full body licra outfit and a winners cap and sauntered the first run in the knowledge that he was a bit quicker than he had let on on the bike!! In fact he posted the 4th fastest bike split of the day and none of the others could live with that.

Overall we had a great day and I hope everyone enjoyed it. thank you to all the marshalls and helpers with special mention to Kerry, Jane, Emma, Clare, Roddy, Guy, Brian, John, Sarah, Mark T, Mark C, Jo, John, Liz,  the water supplying kiddies and George and Jed on the hill!

Fran’s in race report appears here: In_race_report_sika_wood_duathlon[1]

And full adult results including bike splits appear here: Full_adult_results_Sika_Trail_2011