QE2 Duathlon (6k run – 24k bike – 3k run)

End of season for some, start of winter training for others, either way it would be an interesting race as it was to be the inaugural QE2 Duathlon, near Ashington

The day started with two laps (6k) around the QE2 lake. Ed Cooper, to much of the amusement of everyone behind shot off in the first half mile after ‘The Gazelle’ he was soon to be overtaken by Stephen McKenna (stn 44) who cemented his 2nd place into transition. Eddie was 5th into transition closely followed by Daryl Oguona with Simon Forster, Alan Heatley still chasing for the top 10-15 positions. Mark Kirkbride who was doing his first ever race was also doing well just behind the top twenty.

Onto the 24k loop and McKenna would prove to be hard to chase down. He quickly overtook ‘The Gazelle’ to take the lead on the road, Daryl quickly moved up the field into 2nd place to try and claw back the two minutes lost on the first run. Eddie managed to consolidate his 5th place on the road and started to put some time over the chasing pack, proving that anyone if they try hard enough can get back into some sort of decent shape.

Into transition and Oguona had just caught Mckenna but on the day McKenna was running to form and pushed on to take another minute out of Oguona to take the overall win comfortably with an outstanding time of 1h 12min 30 sec. The new slimline Cooper held on to take 5th overall 1h 17min 40sec, whilst the ever improving Alan Heatley finished 11th. Kirkbride finished strongly on the 2nd run to finish in a very respectable 40th place, having only mounted a bike that week for the first time I’m sure this will not be the last we see of him.

Unfortunately due to a problem with the timing chips we were unable to get some accurate splits or finish times.