Goodwood Duathlon race report from Rachel Baker
On Sunday morning I travelled down to Goodwood to take part in the Goodwood Duathlon. It was a well organised and small event which featured two races, a short 4k/24k/4k or long 4k/40k/8k race. Both races were limited to 100 entries and I was taking part in the long race.
The race started at 10.00 with the long race competitors going off five minutes before the short race. I had already warmed up with a cycle round the 4k track and there was a cross wind which turned into a head wind as you progressed round the circuit. Having glanced down the start list prior to the race I was expecting to see about 6 girls in the race and was hopeful I might do quite well. Once we were lined up I was surprised that there were so many ladies in my leg and of course they all looked a lot faster than me! Bang on 10.00 the race started and I tried to start at a reasonable speed but without pushing so hard that I was couldn't put in a good effort on the bike. This appeared to be a good tactic, I think I was about the 8th lady into transition and on the first lap round on the bike I had passed several of the faster runners. I kept pushing hard on the bike and even though it was on a closed circuit with 10 laps the small field meant that everyone had plenty of room and it wasn't hard to keep out of the drafting zone.
The first 8 laps went quite quickly then on the ninth lap I was caught by a guy who had lost count of his laps and wanted to know how many I had done. He seemed to think I was one ahead of him. He seemed to want to have a chat but eventually we both got our heads down again and I was on the final lap. I tried not to think my usual thoughts of how difficult it was going to be when I started to run again but visualised myself effortlessly running round the track (twice). Unfortunately, I don't think I quite managed that but I did run at a reasonable pace for the first lap, possibly due to the bottle of water I had in transition-most of which ended up over my head. The second lap I started to slow down a bit and by the time I got half way round I had to make a conscious effort to put some effort in and to keep my average speed up. Then it was a final turn off the track onto the grass run in to the finish.
I decided to wait for the presentations and was very pleased to find out I was the second lady in the race.
I thought that this was a very well organised event. I really enjoyed it and would recommend it to anyone who is happy to do a 10 lap bike. It was nice to put my head down and ride and not have to worry about cars or potholes.
Mid Sussex Triathlon
Club president Mark Jordan is attempting to complete the
equivalent of two full ironman events in the space of two weeks to
help raise money for the Multiple Sclerosis Society.
