Kielder Off-Road Duathlon, 8 Jan 2023

First race of 2023! From looking at the pre race information and the startlist I knew it was going to be a tough one. Both of the runs were longer than they usually are for an off-road duathlon and both had some long steep ascents. I'd also never seen a UK cross duathlon with so many women on the start sheet! It was great.  

The first run went straight uphill and was uphill for around 3.5km so pacing would be key. As the race started I had to be disciplined and run at my own pace to avoid getting sucked into running faster. This paid off as I neared the top of the ascent and I began passing people. I entered first transition as 3rd woman - although this was a little confusing as there was some competing in pairs.

The bike leg began up the same hill as the run did so I knew how hard I could push up there. Unfortunately for me the bike was mainly on fire roads meaning there were very few technical sections. I just tried to make the most of them when they came around. The leading women had separated on the bike - I caught one of them and then a while later the other. I knew from the first run the woman now in second place was a really strong runner and that I'd have to make the most out of the remaining 7/8 km of the bike.

The last run went out the same way the bike came in so this was a good chance to see how much of a gap I had over second place. I saw it was a decent sized gap but I wasn't certain it would be enough. My legs didn't feel too great getting off the bike - they were quite fatigued and I had got quite cold on the fast final section of the bike. Luckily the run started off being downhill which gave my legs some time to come around. As I came to the final climb to the finish, second place still wasn't in sight so I knew I was safe. I crossed the line to take the win in 02:21:19, just under a minute ahead of second place.  

Looking at the results afterwards it was nice to see the brick sessions I had been doing with some transition practice had paid off as I had the fastest female transition times in T1 and T2, something that I've never done before.

Kim Baptista