Cowman Sprint Duathlon, 18 Oct 2020

What a whirlwind of emotions! I entered this race on a whim after my last race, still high off the adrenaline. This was my first ever duathlon, and because I have always considered running my weakest aspect of triathlon, I was absolutely dreading it! In fact, I had originally entered the standard distance (10k run, 45k bike, 5k run) but I chickened out the day before and changed to the sprint (5k, 20k, 5k).

I felt like such a failure as I drove to the event bright and early on Sunday morning, Why have I entered? Why have I only entered the sprint?  Should I be doing the standard race because it is “harder” ? Should I just pull out entirely and go back to bed? I just couldn’t make my mind up about how I felt.

When I went to registration and said my name I was greeted with “OH, SO YOU’RE EMILY VARLEY!” Clearly my swapping into a different race had caused a bit of a faff for the Big Cow Team, although they kindly insisted that it was absolutely fine! My number, the colour of my number, and my area in the transition zone were out of sync with the sprint race that I was taking part in, and this did cause a bit of confusion later…

The race, as with all races this year, was in a TT format, which I personally really liked. The run was brilliant – 1 mile through the park on tracks, then 1 mile up and down a muddy field, and then 1 mile sprint through the town back to the entrance of the park. I felt comfortable doing the 5k, and even got the QOM I found out later! There were lots of other morning joggers and dog walkers cheering people on, and the team placed around the course were all very friendly. 

Then into transition, usually my weakest part is getting out of the wetsuit, but without this it was so much easier! One of the best parts of this event was the “dead zone” between transition and the ride start. Here people took their time to do up their shoes, have a drink, and form an orderly queue to start the bike TT. Alas, when I turned up in the queue, I managed to break the visor off my helmet and lose the tiny button that clips it back on. Absolute disaster; I was left ferreting around in the grass looking for it but to no avail. The button was gone, and the visor was no longer useable. Amazingly a very kind man (number 342? Nick? I sadly cannot remember this saints name) lent me his glasses. What a hero!

The bike course itself went well, even in October in 8 degrees I was proud to be a northerner and just wear my sleeveless tri suit. The course was gorgeous, lots of lovely houses to look at and lots of long straight sections to really dig into. I got a real kick out of overtaking people even on my trusty road bike (I promise I will learn to ride a TT bike….). My different coloured number caused confusion for the marshals at the various route splits where I went down the sprint routes, rather than the standard routes which my number indicated I was doing.

The second run was great again, I had taken 2 pairs of trainers meaning I had done the first run in my normal trainers, and then for the second lap, knowing it was muddy, I wore my trail running shoes. It was a great race and I managed to keep up a nice pace right until the end.

I was the first woman in the Sprint which I was really pleased about! It is a shame this was the last race of the season but I am glad I gave duathlon a try and I will definitely be doing it again!

Emily Varley