Ian Gilham was the only one of us to race this weekend as the rest of us chomped happily away on Easter eggs. It was the very muddy Beaconsfield 5 mile cross country on Monday – fuelled by chocolate Ian popped a speedy 35:12on the wet and windy course and came 1st in his age group (55+) and 33rd overall (407 finishers). The course sounds a little like the Grand National with fallen trees and ankle deep water but all good training for Ian’s next race at the Windsor Duathlon next weekend where he is hoping to qualify for the world championships.
Really wish you luck Ian and hope for warmer weather for you!
I was in a small panic earlier – all had been quiet on the Matt Hallam front this weekend and then news pops through the letterbox that indeed he has been out annihilating the field yet again! Matt raced at the Derwent Duathlon held in the Peak District. There are two different runs, ie a 4.25km fell run up to the top of Derwent Edge and back and then a 7km out and back road run, however the athlete needs to choose which run to do first. The bike section in the middle is an undulation 29km around the reservoir. Matt chose the fell run first and won – AGAIN! – beating his own time by 2 minutes and beating the course record (also held by Matt!). Tremendous racing again!
Gold for Matt!
Up to the Lakes and Tom Linton-Neal at the Grizedale Duathlon – Tom took 7th overall after finishing the bike section in joint 2nd/3rd with the second fastest bike of the day! A hard fall on the second run meant that Tom lost a few places and was knocked back to 7th. Further news this evening tells us that Tom’s big toe is broken 🙁 we really wish you a very speedy recovery Tom…
Tom’s big toe
Lastly, Neil Midgley took to the Hardmoors 55 – a run race over 55 miles from Helmsley to Guisborough. We know he completed it…we have seen photos…just awaiting results 🙂
Saturday saw some fine racing from our athletes down at the Clumber Park Duathlon which was a qualifier for the World Champs in Spain in June for the standard distance and a qualifier for the Europeans for the standard and sprint distances for 2017.
Dry but cold conditions saw Claire Pickersgill out the blocks first over the sprint distance. Claire shot off in bullet style fashion over the 5k run into an enormously quick transition (something you could teach your team mate Jenni about!) before heading out onto the bike course. This was Claire’s 3rd outing on a brand new bike after snapping the frame of her beautiful now broken bike from throttling too much power through it up a hill on a recent training ride. Disappointed with her bike section, Claire had two fantastic runs which should give her great confidence for Kalkar next month. She finished 3rd in age group and 24th overall 🙂
Onto the standard. Jenni Muston had a great race, finishing 9th after the 1st run, 5th after the bike, 3rd for half of the last run then PIPPED into 4th lady overall by 8 seconds finishing in 2:16:14. Jen was 1st in age group, won a case of the Erdinger beer and ate coffee and walnut cake as therapy for missing out on 3rd as team mate Claire had so well put it.
It was Craig Boggon’s first race back in the UK after spending many months in Australasia. Welcome back Craig! Craig finished in a splendid time of 2:04:03, 34th overall and 2nd in a very tough and fast age group.
Jen – collapsing under the weight of the trophy
Back up to Yorkshire and Richard Knell-Moore and Ady Stott went head to head, near enough, at the Harrogate Nova 24. Rich popped a 1:01:02 and Ady a 1:01:08! Fast as!
One of our Jackpotters, Ian Gilham, I hope he does not mind being named (! too late now!) had an unfortunate mishap at the Bedford Duathlon at the weekend. There is a smile to this story. Bear in mind that this was World ITU qualifying event…which resulted in a DNF. It was Ian’s first draft legal race in what he describes as pea-souper fog. Smashing out a sub 20 minute 5k run, a decent T1, Ian bombed it onto the Forumla 1 race track to burn some rubber. Ian was caught by a faster group of riders and he hung on to them for a couple of laps until he lost them – probably in the thick fog! Ian found another rider, drafted behind him and in his disoriented state, hung onto his wheel for grim death and followed him into transition….. 1 lap too early…..resulted in the letters which no one wants to hear, a DNF….. a lesson learnt….. Windsor next up…… onwards and upwards….
Really bad luck Ian but good luck at Windsor.
p.s. Ian also raced at Dambuster Duathlon a week ago and finished 7th in Age Group 🙂 The weather was not it’s greatest in 1 degree and sleet but it allowed Ian to defrost during the 1st 5k run but still needing a jacket in T1 for the bike section. Many riders DNFd during the brutal bike because of wind, sleet and the cold (reminds me of Alcobendas since nicknamed Alcohorrendous last year). Ian was warm enough for the 2nd run and was so close on the tails of his AG rivals, just missing out on automatic qualification for the World Champs in Aviles.
Sunday saw some fine racing from our athletes in different areas of the country.
Jonny McLean had a fantastic race at the Trafford 10k, finishing in a time of 35:11 (5.41 minute miling) – absolutely fantastic racing Jonny!
Further down south and from what we understand in very foggy conditions the Bedford Autodrome Sprint Duathlon took place in 1 degree (!) and 25m visibility. Competition was high for Ryan Parry and Dave Morley, who both had excellent races over the 5k – 20k – 2.5k course. Ryan finished 23rd overall in a time of 57:01 (that includes a 16:31 5k) and 6th in age group (25-29) and Dave finished in 1:02:16, 103 overall and 11th in age group – cracking races!
Ryan + Dave – Bedford Duathlon
A little further North and Matt Hallam raced again! For the third weekend in a row! This time at the Seagrave Charity Duathlon – a 5k run, 23k bike and 5k run. Matt was crowned king with yet another 1st and three and a half minutes ahead of the next competitor.
Matt Hallam racing to victory!
Finally, and from the ladies camp, Jenni Muston raced at the Spen 20, a notoriously tough running road race over 20 miles in Yorkshire. Quite a bit warmer than Bedford and with the sun beaming down, Jen was able to pick up a bit of a tan. A hard race, Jen finished as 9th lady, on track for a good London Marathon once she has full use of her legs again!
