BUCS Duathlon, 20 Nov 2022

This was my first ever afternoon race which I was quite happy about as it gave my body time to completely wake up before starting! It had rained quite a bit before my wave went off which was a bit frightening as I didn’t know whether to put a base layer on or not - I braved it and opted not to which was the right idea as it got very sunny!

I decided to start at the back for the first run as I didn’t want to get caught up in everyone speeding off at the start. So instead I just picked people off as the run went on and I felt really strong!

Then onto the bike leg, which I was a bit worried about leading up to the race as I’d been struggling with illness quite a bit over the last couple of months and my bike training has taken a bit of a hit. I didn’t need to worry though as it was a great bike leg! Such a smooth course and so many people to catch on the way round which was fun.

I felt strong for the last run and knew that once I’d run the jelly legs off it would be a quick run home - my body had other ideas though and I got a stitch which meant I had to stop a couple of times! I was still happy with the last run as it was a good pace.

All in all it was probably my favorite race to date and I’ve had significant improvement from last year in both my cycling and running so I was very happy!

Jess Barratt-Drylie