Hever Castle Long Distance Duathlon, 4 Jul 2021

21.5km run, 90km bike, 10.5km run. I set myself this slightly bonkers challenge last year as a “fun way” to end medical school. Racing at Hever Castle is tough. Kent is not as flat as you think it is. The bike course racks up 5000ft of elevation and the run course is off-road and undulating. I have raced a standard distance duathlon here before and had ridden the longer bike course the weekend ahead of the race so I knew what was in store for me! 

On arrival the weather was looking grey and gloomy. As I went into transition to prep for the race, the heavens opened and it was extremely wet. This was going to be a very long and soggy day out! I was feeling good, excited and nervous for the challenge ahead. I had put in some good hours of training for the event, lots of off-road runs and hilly bike rides to prep and did a great taper in the build up. The hardest thing for me in this race was going to be pacing!

The first half marathon run was fantastic. I felt really relaxed, comfortable and ensured I kept to my target pacing. The terrain was extremely muddy and in parts cross-country spikes may have come in handy! However, trying to stay upright added to the “fun” and I got myself round without ending up on my arse! I finished the run in 1hr 42 and felt energised ahead of a tricky bike leg.

The run out of transition was pure mud and my bike and cleats were covered by the mount line. I struggled to clip in initially as there was so much mud clogging up my pedals! I eventually got clipped in and set off. I felt good for a mile and then disaster struck. I got really bad cramp in both of my calves- so bad that I had to get off my bike! I really thought this would be the end of my race as each time I got back on the bike, the cramp came back. I persevered and eventually it faded and I was able to carry on as long as I wasn’t pushing too hard a gear. Once I was more confident that the cramp had subsided I was able to put more force through the pedals and I found my bike legs again. On the course you were either cycling uphill or downhill, there was no flat! I found confidence (and adrenaline!) to descend with speed which was great and I spun past several men up the hills- fantastic! I stayed well hydrated and ensured to regularly eat and keep those energy levels up! Once I survived the first lap I was excited to feel that finishing this race was actually quite achievable! The second lap was good, however my legs started to feel it and in the last 15k I was so excited to say goodbye to the hills! My final bike time was 3hrs 30. I would have liked to have gone faster, however considering how close I was to DNF’ing I was proud to have persevered and managed it! 

I saw my mum whilst running in to T2 which gave me a huge rush of excitement - 10.5km run between me and crossing that finish line! I went on to the run with very tired legs, however I managed to keep them turning over at a pretty consistent pace. I had a good rhythm, did not stop at all and had no GI issues - success! The last 2km wiggles around the castle - at many points you think you are nearly finished but then it continued to wiggle! It was tough mentally but by the time I finally got to the finishing straight, I had a huge smile on my face! My final run took 55mins giving me an overall finishing time of 6hrs 20 - my longest race ever!!

I was beyond proud to have finished this extremely tough course. I was covered in mud from head to toe but had really enjoyed the whole thing! I was shocked to find that I was first lady by 46mins! (and 5th person overall!) The result was very much a bonus.

Megan Powell