We drove up the night before and stayed with a friend who was conveniently only a couple of kilometers from the race start. This meant sleeping in for once before a race.
For a first year event in the middle of summer there was 39 starters (I think more may have signed up). The race was held on very good quality and incredibly car free secondary roads with the run being on a dirt road. The distances were 5km, 22km, 2.5km.
After sign in and set up I did a little run warm up, took on a gel and headed to the start line. The Race Director and Head Official gave us some instructions and soon we were off.
I started up front and went off at what felt like a comfy pace. Soon I was all alone, which surprised me as there were a few fast runners in the crowd. In fact I thought I must have gone way too fast or somehow took a wrong turn. But no, I was just comfortably leading. Then I went around a corner and started to run up a hill. And up. And up. The first kilometer was up, and it was steep. Still, I held my ground and pace and kept going. At the top was rollers but mostly more up. Finally at the 2.5km mark I hit the turn around and held a small lead. Now to go back down! Unfortunately with the pot holes and loose gravel the going down didn't quite make up for the going up. As I approached the transition to the bike I had a decent lead of about 15 second and finished with a time of 18:32. I am really happy with that as it is better than my last duathlon start this year and a much harder run.
I was on the bike quickly and started out in the lead. I didn't imagine that would last long as there were some bike demons in the group. Still, it took about 7 kilometers to lose the lead, then by 9 kilometers I fell to third.
I figured I would push the bike hard on the race. The course was very smooth pavement, but quite hilly with 238 meters of climbing. There was also a few one way bridges to contend with, but volunteers were there to help out. I passed the first 2 bridges without issue but at the third I had to slow as a car was approaching from the other side. The volunteers did get it stopped so I didn't have to wait long, but it did let Kevin catch me a little faster than I hoped. I had held him off for 16 kilometers but soon fell to fourth place.
I kept Kevin in sight for quite awhile only losing him in the final couple of kilometers. I hit the second transition with a bike time of 40:26 for an average speed of 32.6 km/hr. More importantly Kevin was only starting the second run as I was putting my bike away.
It quickly got my helmet off and my running shoes on (the fabulous New Balance 1400's) and off i went in pursuit. Soon I found Kevin running up the hill and was reeling him in. By 800m I caught him and passed him and made it to the turn around in third place. No rest though as I didn't know what sort of speed Kevin might be able to get out of the downhill. Push push push. But as I closed in on the finish I was clear and crossed the line in 1:09. Third overall, second age group and totally happy.
This was a great race, followed by BBQ and pasta salad, a great bit of ART from Seaside Chiropractic to help speed the recovery and a great bit of draw prizing. And the area allowed for some great sight seeing afterward. I will be back!
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