A beautiful crisp day at the Bowhill Country Estate in Selkirk saw race 1 of the Durty Events Winter Duathlons. For the first time it saw me ditching the Harriers and teaming up with my wonderful fiance Jamie who would be my mountain biking relay partner.
Our job was to transport our “baton” which was really a timing chip on a lanyard round the trail run course followed by the mountain bike course. In actual fact, both parts turned into a bit of a fight to stay upright on the hilly tarmac sections in the most lethal ice. Had this been the Penicuik 10K, Susie would’ve hatched a master plan to grit the entire course before the race started – but sadly there was no Susie in sight. Being reduced to a teeter on the tarmac sections was not what I needed, tarmac is my surface – thick mud on a steep hillside is definitely not! Needless to say my lack of XC this season showed and my legs felt like lead as soon as the mud section kicked in. Somehow I managed to keep on my feet and finished in 22.13. No idea what the distance was, I don’t even think the organisers did!
So, after “dibbing” my timing chip I then passed it to Jamie who was waiting in the transition area and cheered him off. The mountain bike course was a mix of single track, forest roads and tarmac (again which was like an ice rink on a hill)! He too managed to stay upright and finished his first ever bike race (woop woop!) in a time of 27.59.
Overall we finished 57th from 132 finishers. A lot of these finishers were solo athletes – personally I think it was a wise decision to half the task and avoid a trip to the Borders General by recruiting a biker!
Next race (the medium length race) is on 27th January. Think we’ve both got a fair bit training to do…anyone fancy joining in the “fun”??
Susan
Well done you guys, I was thinking of you and how slippy it would be! Very sweet doing the duatholon together and I agree a much better idea than doing the 2 disciplines. Peebles xc was rock hard underfoot too, was glad of a wee bit of mud when we got it! 🙂