Sika Duathlon Results and Race Report

Great racing today in the Autumn version of the Sika Trail Duathlon – the weather was kind to us, there was some serious mountain bike gear on show and Roddy […]

Great racing today in the Autumn version of the Sika Trail Duathlon – the weather was kind to us, there was some serious mountain bike gear on show and Roddy demonstrated what a good summer of ‘resting’ can do to your form! Photos from the event are available at www.actionpic.co.uk

Not surprisingly, the runners came to the fore in first run with TriPurbeck’s own Justin Matthews leading it out, closely followed by Neil McDermott – both breaking 24 minutes for the 3.8miles run – pretty quick on the terrain.  Rob Lee came in 3rd followed by a big group of guys that would stay together for most of the race trading places. Also in amongst the leaders was Helen Dyke who led the ladies race from start to finish.

As the bike section got going, it quickly became clear that two men in particular were making inroads into the rest of the field. Rob Lee took the lead by the end of the first lap – including an entertaining detour through the Wurth bike stand and local mountain biker Adam White was moving through into the top places. Pippa Alford, 2nd in the ladies race, couldn’t make any ground on Helen, but stayed clear of Jane King in 3rd.

A spot prize went to Jerry Apetino for sheer ingenuity and perseverance!  A puncture on the second lap of the bike was no issue for Jerry who ran back into transition before chatting to random young ladies to try and charm a replacement bike out of them. Perhaps slightly surprisingly the tactic worked. Exactly where we stand with regard to bike exchange according to the BTF is unclear but it was funny so who cares. Just when we thought we had seen the day’s most entertaining approach to bicycle maintenance, Al Gain turned up in T2, riding at pace with sparks flying out behind him. Turns out he had ridden the last 2 miles of the bike on a rim after a rear wheel puncture. Shame as his bike splits for the laps were looking very quick but awesome that he carried on to finish the race well.

 Al Gain minus rear tyre ‘grinding it out’ on the last lap of the bike

(Photo www.actionpic.co.uk)

Rob Lee had  built up enough of a lead to exit T2 before anyone else arrived and ran solidly to come through and win the event in just under 1hr30min. After posting the fastest bike split, Adam White entered T2 in second with Justin Matthews just over a minute behind followed by a whole group of athletes including Jonathan Rich, Dan Emery, Ben MacWilliam and Culvin Milmer. Adam ran well to hold on to second with Justin Matthews coming through into 3rd on the last run. The vets prize went to Neil McDermott, finishing 6th overall. Meanwhile, in the ladies event, Helen Dyke won by a clear margin from Pippa Alford with Jane King 3rd overall taking the female vets prize, leaving Gail Tipper to pick up 3rd place. Finally, a great performance from James Betts who was the first Junior and 9th overall, including the 4th fastest bike split.

So apart from Justin, Neil and Gail who have already had a mention, what of the remaining TriPurbeck athletes? Well Carl and Guy showed Roddy what a summer of decent training can lead to, both showing how much they have improved, in Guy’s case despite a knee injury hampering his running. John just seemed to have a big grin on his face for the whole race and posted a good time and Roddy was in board shots mode – I refer you back to the report on the swanage swim – with the usual associated outcome. Baz put in a great performance to finish 14th overall and Dave was Mr consistency on the bike and ran well to come in 25th. Possible club performance of the day though goes to Sharon – who posted a great time and looked strong throughout what was her longest event to date.  

Pictures are available now at www.actionpic.co.uk – there’s loads of great shots to look at!

Provisional results appear below – hope you enjoyed the event – please feel free to post comments.

http://www.tripurbeck.com/wp-content/uploads/13th_November_Sika_Trail_results.pdf

About Ade

What ever your goals in life may be, there is always time to achieve them. You might want to lose weight, run your first 5k, or improve your personal best, whatever your specific goals are you can achieve them with structure, time management and determination!