45 aspiring duathletes gathered at the startline today in excellent racing conditions. Winds were light enough for a few at the sharp end of the race to sport full disk wheels, while other athletes took on the challenge with mountain bikes & tourers. Unfortunately, roadworks in the first couple of KMs of the bike course meant we had to contend with a set of traffic lights (next to Duckingham Palace, for those who know the route) and this brought a large element of luck into the equation - some breezed through on green while others had to stick a foot down and wait for a minute for the lights to change. Times were still impressive with Chris Mills winning once again in 39.31 and 2nd and 3rd places going to Wayne Williams (40.44) and Robert Sims (41.27). The women's race was won by Sarah Gillies (48.30) ahead of Sally Sims (49.17) and Emma Ulmann (49.27). The attached full results are provisional so please get in touch if you notice any errors or omissions. Photos are at https://ukgallery.srichinmoyraces.org/Bristol/2019/GO-TRI-Duathlon-September-2019/ . Thanks to Tockington Manor School for hosting our race series in 2019 - see you all next year for more of the same!
With a stiff breeze blowing over the levels we weren't expecting super-fast times at today's GO TRI but all our participants were on good form, with quick finishes right through the field and our first finisher only a few seconds off the course record. We don't have many athletes going under 40 minutes on this course but today Wayne Williams (39.51), Alex Tedd (39.21) and overall winner Joe Prichard (37.19) all broke through that barrier, with Joe narrowly missing out on Matt Fratesi's record of 37.15. In the women's race less than 2 minutes separated the top 3, with Katie Jones finishing in 49.49, second place Lucy Gardner in 48.52 and overall winner Sarah Gillies in 48.05. Lucia Gaetani came in with an overall time of 79 minutes but don't be fooled - she did some serious extra mileage on the bike course!
Thanks to everyone who took part and to our team of only 6 marshals who made the whole event happen. Our next events are a 2 mile race this coming Tuesday (Eastville Park, Bristol, arrive by 7pm for 7.30 start) and our famous 3 x 1 mile relay two weeks later at the same venue. The relay has categories for clubs, unaffiliated runners (not club members), veteran teams (all 50+) and family teams (all 3 must be related) so if you can muster 3 runners to do one mile each, why not make up a team? There's a free ice cream for all finishers in that race too.
Our last GO TRI event is another Tockington Duathlon in September and there are still a handful of places available for online signup via the British Triathlon website.
We had no less than 45 starters at today's GO TRI event. I'm pleased to say that despite the cold and the headwinds we saw all 45 make it to the finish line! Wayne Williams and Dan Wixey battled it out for top spot in the men's race with Wayne eventually winning out to claim victory in 41.17. In the women's race Renske Bouwens overcame her late arrival at the race and zero warmup to finish first in 48.07 with Angela Young second and Anna Kusuak a close third. There were strong performances all the way through the field, with many athletes hitting their personal targets despite the conditions and several finishing their first ever multi-sport event. For a few, it was their first race of any description. Congratulations to all 45 athletes and we hope to welcome you back at our Aquathlon in April, our Triathlon in May or our future Tockington duathlons.