Northumberland Duathlon, 22 Mar 2026

My first race of 2026, and unfortunately I wasn’t as prepared as I’d had liked. The family picked up a bad sickness and diarrhoea bug leading to 5 days mostly struggling to move, and a bit of an MCL knee niggle picked up skiing. But I was determined to start, finish, and qualify for the world champs next year!

The last time I raced this event was 2023 where I won and that started a very good 2023 year results-wise. So I was also feeling the pressure (from myself) to win again.

The first run had been slightly shortened compared with 2023, but it was also the opposite way around the lake which definitely felt ‘harder’. At 8am precisely we were set off and I got into quite a nice rhythm with some men. I knew I had to go hard (or as hard as possible) in the first run because there were some super speedy ladies on the bike racing. The four laps dragged but I was pretty pleased overall with my time, and lead, going into T1.

I could tell I was out of practice because I forgot to stop my watch at every transition and even the finish line!

The bike, an ok route along a busy-ish A-road which allowed you to get to some good top-speed. However the condition of the road surface had a lot to answer for.

I rode hard, probably harder than I’ve ridden for a while, to try and stay ahead of the ladies and not be caught. I was caught just as we rode down the hill into T2, but I’ll take that as a massive victory. A speedy dismount and transition and I was 1st lady out onto the second run.

As always the 2nd run hurt, but I extended my lead and regained the victory from 2023! Hopefully now the same success will follow for 2026.

Sarah Harding