2006 Ballbuster Duathlon - 11th November
Well, I did it. Was fairly pleased with my performance too. Up until two days before hand I thought that the cold I'd had for a couple of weeks was going to cause me to scratch from the race. Have not scratched from an event in a long time. The route was every bit as hilly as the organisers promised, though I'm not sure it was as tough as a marathon, which is how they billed it. The race involved 5 laps of a hilly 8 mile circuit. The first 6.5 miles are mostly down hill, with some up and a bit of undulation but no reall flat sections. The final 1.5 miles is all up hill through 3 switchback turns. The course is all on road but Saturday morning was cold, wet and the road covered with leaves.
The first run was fine. If anything unnervingly fine. Legs felt good but pulse was high and went round in 62 mins. Which is 7.51mpm pace that I'm pleased with. Then 3 laps on the bike. Again not too much trouble, cautious on the descents, reserved on the big climb. Comfortably through the first four laps ahead of the cut off time of 2h45m. Transitioning from the bike to the run wasn't fun. My calfs locked solid as I went to remove cycling shoes - led to a scream of pain and a swear word (I do hope the officials didn't hear me - some triathlon events disqualify competitors for swearing). But out on the run only to have all the runners that I'd got past on the bike come back past me. The race really is stacked in favour of the runners. The final 8 miles on foot were slow. 71mins this time round and the final ascent of Box Hill was very painful. Completed in a time of 3h39m. If I could do a marathon in this time I'd be thrilled (Russell Clarke a sub 3hr marathon man from WAC completed in 3h24m). My placing was 190th out of 360 finishers with 50 or so failing to make the 4th lap cut off time. Fastest time was in the region of 2h47m (with a 47m run lap) the slowest 4hr52m.
Abridged Results
| Pos | # | Name | Sex | Cat | Club | Run 1 | Bike | Run 2 | Total Time | Comments |
| 1 | 148 | Stenning, Mark | M | U40 | Swindon TC | 0:51:50 | 1:06:45 | 0:49:02 | 2:47:37 | Overall Victor |
| 37 | 465 | Barron, Nicki | F | 40-49 | Ashford TC | 0:50:23 | 1:19:13 | 0:58:54 | 3:08:30 | Winning Lady |
| 82 | 516 | Edye, Simon | M | 50-59 | Tri Anglia | 0:55:47 | 1:21:54 | 1:01:03 | 3:18:44 | |
| 107 | 370 | Clarke, Russell | M | 40-49 | Tri Anglia | 0:54:28 | 1:26:00 | 1:03:40 | 3:24:08 | |
| 132 | 430 | Edwards, Penny | F | 50-59 | Tri Anglia | 0:57:11 | 1:32:35 | 0:59:11 | 3:28:57 | |
| 198 | 228 | Lines, Rob | M | U40 | Tri Anglia | 1:02:45 | 1:24:28 | 1:11:58 | 3:39:11 | |
| 335 | 246 | McCaffrey, Declan | M | U40 | 1:04:49 | 1:43:31 | 1:28:05 | 4:16:25 | A friend from AMR's L2P 2006 | |
| 342 | 507 | Ingram, Stewart | M | 50-59 | Tri Anglia | 1:08:40 | 1:51:48 | 1:25:17 | 4:25:45 |