Mallory Park Sprint Duathlon, 19 Apr 2025

I knew Mallory Park Sprint Duathlon was going to be a good race as it was a qualifier for the 2026 European Champs. I was excited and a bit nervous as I stood on the start line ready to run the 5k run followed by 20k on the bike and finishing with a 2.5k run.

I settled into the first run - there were some really fast woman (first place ran a sub 17min 5k!) and after overtaking one person I settled into 5th place. I couldn't close the gap on 4th and the athletes behind didn't seem to be getting much closer to me. Into transition, I had decided against doing a 'flying mount' as practice the day before was a bit sketchy! One girl overtook me on the bike - I couldn't keep up with her so I thought that put me into 6th overall, all bar one of the women in front looked really young(!!) so I was hopeful I could finish in the top 4 for my age group and get a qualifying spot. There was no-one else around me to draft from or work with so I completed the rest of the bike leg on my own. As it turned out, there was a group behind me, slowly but surely reeling me in! This meant I came out of transition 2 with about 4 or 5 other women around me. Luckily my run, although ragged, was consistent and I managed to stay ahead of them.

I finished 5th overall (it turns out I 'overtook' someone in T1) and 1st Vet 40. I was very surprised and pleased to finish so far up in a competitive field with the added bonus of getting my qualifying spot secured nice and early.

Laura Allen