BUCS Duathlon, 14 Nov 2021

This was my second time competing in the BUCS duathlon; my first time was in 2018, which was also my very first time in cleats! So I was excited to see how much I had improved. 

The race started very quickly, and I got swept up by the crowd. However, I felt good throughout the four laps and had only marginally slowed down by the last lap. 

Then I was onto the bike after a smooth T1. It was a technical course, which used to scare me, but I had been practicing cornering, so it did not feel so bad. My teammates were also positioned in different places along the course, which spurred me on. It was a six-lap course and as the laps went by, I managed to pass a few girls. It was difficult to determine my race position though because there were so many competitors on the course. 

Finally I was onto the last run. My legs were in pain, but I reminded myself it was just two laps and then it was over. The crowd was really good at this point and seemed to get louder as I got closer to finishing. I crossed the line in 12th place - I was very happy as I had been 87th in 2018! I also won silver medal as part of the Leeds University team, which was a nice surprise. I look forward to the BUCS sprint and standard triathlons 2022, where hopefully I can improve further. 

Fiona German