On a cool Saturday morning and despite early morning rain 14 duathletes lined up for the 3rd leg in the Dickie’s Duo duathlon series. Veteran running champion Adrian Dale noted that “the 4k run, 8k bike and 6k run favoured a good runner, but there were a number of people I haven’t completed against so I had to wait for the gun to see who was setting the pace”.
Katrina Crumpler led from the start with Dale, John Argyros, Daniel Mitchell and Adam D’Monte hot on her heels in the lead pack. Crumpler maintained a 20 second lead into T1 but staying with a running shoe gave D’Monte and Mitchell a 30 second headstart out of the transition.
Dale recorded the fastest bike time to enter T2 with a 45 second lead over Argyros. Despite the veteran’s running prowess Argyros dug into the chase reeling him in with 1k to go, Dale was unable to respond at the line with Argyros taking the tape in 59 minutes and 57 seconds. Argros noted that “as we came into T1 I was behind Katrina, Adam and Adrian and they all looked really strong. Once we got back onto the bike I just tried to stick with Adrian as I know we are of similar strengths on the cycle but coming into the second transition I was 45 seconds behind Adrian. I know he is a strong runner and honestly did not believe I would catch him but I felt good on the second run though and as I ran I felt better and better and finally caught Adrian with about a km to go and went on to push for the win. I wanted to do the race in under an hour so when I crossed the line in 59 minutes and 57 seconds I was delighted.” Despite fast running legs D’Monte lost time competing on a borrowed mountain bike and was edged out by Mitchell for third place. in the mens’ race (fourth overall).
After an hour of racing, under a minute separated the first three finishers. Katrina Crumpler was the fastest runner in both legs pulling back time lost on the bike and in transition but ran out of road to finish with Dale coming in second behind Argyros. A leading mid distance runner Crumpler won the ladies’ race with a huge margin of six and a half minutes ahead of Kay Reddy in second and Tia Beckmann in third. Having led for the first leg and almost taking down the men’s field Krumpler said “Another great race, I really enjoyed both running legs and need to work on my transition times.”
Particular congratulations go to Jim Cullimore; in the wet conditions a crazy driver spun out of control down the dual carriageway causing the athlete who was running on pavement to leap for safety. The resulting blockage also effected the bike leg. Despite concern from passing motorists, Cullimore kept going to finish the race. All the entrants having experienced some driving insanity send a heartfelt plea for road awareness especially of other users and reduced speed in poor conditions.
Special recognition goes to 11 year old Stefano Tasking, already known as a promising mid distance runner, Stefano completed the 11 mile course, also on a mountain bike, finishing in 6th place. This gave Stefano enough points to lead the mens’ series over all the adults going into the 4th leg. Natasha Ruscheinsk leads the women and being faster than a missile in water, is a firm favourite to hoist the ladies’ cup.
Organiser’s Richard and Nellie Morgan were delighted with the turnout and results. Nellie noted that “transition times have also been recorded as transition times certainly affected positions”. Richard was delighted to announce that KPMG have kindly agreed to sponsor the series ensuring entrants a series T-shirts and some overall awards (which are rumored to be large). The remaining races in the series are aquathons (swim-run) to be held on February 16th and March 9th. The next race (16 February 2013) starts from Baughers Bay at 7.00am. Morgan also noted that the TSC triathlon will be held on February 9th. The TSC tri is the largest triathlon event of the year in terms of participants and we hope that the increased participation in multi-sport, new faces, corporate cup and teams will mean that it is bigger and more competitive than ever.
RESULTS:
MEN
1. John Argyros, 59:57 2. Adrian Dale, 1:00.22 3. Dan Mitchell, 1:04.26 4. Adam D’Monte,1.07.35 5. Thomas Parish, 1:12.54 6. Stefano Tasking, 1.16.48 7. Jim Cullimore, 1.34.50
WOMEN
1. Katrina Crumpler, 1.00.50 2. Kay Reddy, 1:07.22 3. Tia Beckmann, 1.13.45 4. Natasha Ruscheinsk,1:15.21 5. Jenny McLeary, 1:42.07