European Sprint Duathlon Championships, 18 Mar 2023

On Saturday 18th March I raced my 5th European Sprint Duathlon Championships in Venice-Caorle. It had only been 6 months since the 2022 edition in Bilbao, but I had managed to get myself race ready again and I had high ambitions. Disappointingly, my age group featured an all British field again, however there was good competition amongst the 6 of us! I managed to have a good recce of the bike and run course prior to the race and was excited for a pan-flat speed fest.

The weather conditions were perfect, however a long wait between racking bikes and starting the race (2hrs!) did mean the pre-race nerves were high! I got myself a good place on the start line and off we went. The first run was very fast and I tried my best to hold a good position whilst trying not to knacker the legs. 1st in my age group was in clear sight and I had a few girls hanging on behind. My run felt well controlled and overall I was very pleased. It was quite a technical course with a ramp up to the sea wall to navigate, some twisting through a cobbled town centre and a few roundabout turns. I had a good T1 and found myself in 5th position overall (2nd in AG) heading out on the bike. 

First run -  17:38  (a short 5k!)

Unfortunately, I had just missed out on hanging on to the two girls ahead of me and making a pack, and the group behind were quite far away. I therefore dug in and decided to give it a solo effort and hope for the best. My legs felt good, however on a pan flat course, being caught was inevitable and after 5 miles solo I was swallowed up by a pack of around 10 - including two others in my age group. We worked well together for the first few miles and caught another girl ahead. However, the pace slowed as we went into some technical sections and it was difficult to get a good working rhythm going to try and catch the others ahead. With 2 miles to go, I knew I needed to get myself in to a good position for T2 in such a large group so I headed to the front, upped the pace and came in to T2 strongly - being first of the pack out on to that final run.

Bike- 39:03  (a long 20km)

As I headed out on to the final run my legs were tired. I couldn’t up the pace no matter how hard I tried and I had to really dig deep on what was a long second run course. I was neck and neck with another girl in my age group - fighting it out for 2nd/3rd place. I tried my best to hang on but I couldn’t keep up and she unfortunately kicked on and crossed the line 5 seconds ahead of me. I was gutted but it had been such a good quality race and I couldn’t have done any better. Looking back, my HR was 199bpm for the final few minutes of the race so I really had maxed out!

Run 2- 11:31  (a long 2.5km)

7th Female overall, 3rd in AG. 1 min15 behind age group winner and 2min15 behind overall winner.

In hindsight I wonder if I should have held off much more on the bike and maybe my legs would have been better on that final run. However, you never know how things will pan out and I am proud that I gave it a go. The quality of racing has improved significantly over my 5 European Championships which makes these events very exciting and enjoyable. Whilst the position was not what I came for, it was a cracking race and I had a wonderful trip away. Next up- London Marathon! (slight change of event distance…)

Megan Powell