BUCS Duathlon, 18 Nov 2023

I hadn’t raced for a few months before this event, but a cross country race last weekend brought me confidence in my training & potential for this race. With about 15 other athletes from Durham University, I travelled to Leicestershire for a 5km run, 20km bike & 2.5km run. The route was around a lake for the run (4, then 2 laps) and around a race car circuit for the bike (7 laps).

For run 1, I aimed to go at 70-80%, thinking this would make a 20-minute 5km. Setting off near the back of my wave, I soon found I could actually carry a 3:50/km pace, but got stuck behind a fair few people. The support from my university & Tim was fantastic & wherever they stationed themselves probably shows up on my Strava charts as bursts of speed. Toward the end of the race, I picked up speed, chased down a few more people and entered transition. I took the transitions less rushed than normal & I think this paid off in the lack of mistakes that occurred.

The bike was better than expected - successfully counting 7 laps was my biggest worry but ended up not being an issue. There was a small hill, which I found was the optimum place for me to make up ground as I stayed on the aerobars whilst others slowed down & stood up. Hopefully that’s all the Durham hill training [and Tim’s VO2max sessions] coming through! I really enjoyed the format & towards the end re-caught some people that had earlier dropped me.

At the start of run 2, I could see the only other Durham girl ahead of me about 300m away. It seemed futile, but I set out to chase her down. With a very deep dig into my mental & physical capabilities, I caught her with about 500m to go & then let loose for the finish. I came 185/465 overall & 22/174 female, an improvement from 242 & 38 last year respectively.

Ophelia Vesely