Par Duathlon, 29 Mar 2025

This duathlon was local to me and my first race of the season so I was excited to be out and looking forward to seeing what I could do after the winter training.

The run started with two laps of an athletics track, followed by two laps of a trail next to a railway line and around a park. I tried not to run off too fast (which was difficult when we were running with the men as well), I tucked in behind another lady at first. About halfway around the first lap of the track, I overtook her, putting me in first position, where I stayed for the rest of the run, I could see she was staying fairly close behind me though.

I came out of transition ahead of her and made the long run down the athletics track with my bike before mounting on the road in the town, I couldn’t see her behind me for the first few minutes of the bike leg. However, we soon hit a steep hill and she climbed past me. Every time I went around a corner from then on, I could see her in the distance but knew I wouldn’t be able to catch her on this tough, undulating course, so concentrated on getting around safely. It wasn’t a closed road and coming back into the town was difficult as I was held up by a line of six cars and then when I turned off that road, had to follow another car dodging parked cars down one of the streets. I think it was better than the original plan for the bike leg which involved multiple 180 degree turns though!

I came back to transition which involved another run with the bike along a footpath and around the athletics track and I couldn’t see the first lady anywhere but did spot some of my supporters which helped to spur me on a bit!

The final run was another lap of the trail next to the railway and around the park to finish with a lap of the track.

I finished in second place out of twenty women so was pleased with that, especially as it was my first race of the season. It was a tough course but good practice for my next event in 4 weeks time!

Sarah Hunter