Sussex Seven See Sun Shine

REPORT ON THE NATIONAL DUATHLON CHAMPIONSHIPS

RACE 2 National Duathlon Championships

MILTON KEYNES 5th April 2009

This was a seriously good event. Thoroughly enjoyed by all 7 MSTC members. It looked dodgy at the start however, with temperatures virtually at freezing point, after most of us had got up at 4am. Credit to Andy Heath who only got home from work after midnight but still made it!
Racing against the very best in the country makes you realize just how good they are. Because the first 10K was a staggered start with 4 laps, most of us experienced the leading men and women overtaking us at a frightening pace. By the time we were on the bike the sun had come out and from then on it was near perfect race conditions.
The fact that James Dear had the second fastest bike split in the whole race underlines what a quality cyclist he is, especially after running the first 10K in 37minutes just a shade outside his PB. The run was completely flat but unlike the Brighton 10K was quite scenic, running round the lake.
The undisputed king of the transition was Steve Alden, with T1 being 16s faster than anyone else, although James matched his T2 time of 42s.
Rob Hoodless put in his usual consistent performance, and finished with the fastest 5K out of all of us by a clear half minute.
Rachel Baker was only a few seconds outside her Brighton time for 10K and put in a blistering bike leg on her super-bling bike and finished 9th in her age group, which was the best age group position. Lucy Williams was just aiming not to finish last, but did rather better than that, and was 10th in her age group.
Callum Murray pushed very hard – especially on the first 10K, and found the undulating bike course tough, but still finished 20th in his age group.
Andy Heath realized his rear tub was a bit worn before the start, so was not entirely surprised to puncture on the second lap as it was a very poor road surface for about half of each lap. Nevertheless he worked very hard and we all welcome his progressive return to fitness.

RESULTS
Men Overall winner 1h51m12s
1st James DEAR 2h1m22s 9.15% (8.22%) 10pts
2nd Robert HOODLESS 2h13m44s 20.26%(13.49%) 9pts
3rd Steve ALDEN 2h18m33s 24.60%(17.58%) 8pts
4th Callum MURRAY 2h40m06s 43.97%(33.00%) 7pts
5th Andy HEATH DNF puncture 6pts

Figures in brackets are the more realistic age group percentages

Women Overall winner 2h05m10s
1st Rachel BAKER 2h31m30s 21.05%(10.92%) 10pts
2nd Lucy WILLIAMS 2h42m14s 29.62%(29.62%) 9pts

Standings after 2 events

Men
1st Rob Hoodless 19pts
2nd Steve Alden 17pts
3rd James Dear 10pts
4th Matt Record 8pts
5th Callum Murray 7pts
6th Andy Heath 6pts

Women
1st Rachel Baker 20pts
2nd Clare Cresswell 9pts
= Lucy Williams 9pts

Windy Winter Watford Winners

Only 5 athletes braved the freezing temperatures to compete at Watford. Not only was it cold, but a freezing wind made it a lot worse. Numbers were depleted due to several injuries. Rob Hoodless and Rachel Baker took the honours virtually unchallenged. Rob was a clear 6 minutes ahead in the mens race and Rachel was well ahead of Claire. Steve Alden took second but was below par with a probable virus, and Matt Record was less than a minute behind him, probably not realising just how close he was! Claire Cresswell took second place in the girls race, with another gritty performance in demanding conditions.

Men (Overall winner 68.18, V40 70.48)
Robert Hoodless 1h30m26s – 32.40%(V27.73%) 10pts
Steve Alden 1h36m39s – 41.51%(V36.51%) 9pts
Matt Record 1h37m27s – 42.68% 8pts

Women (Overall winner 77.09)
1.Rachel Baker 1h45m35s – 36.85% 10pts
2.Claire Cresswell 2h26m15s – 89.57% 9pts

8 PBs at Battle of Hastings

9 hardy athletes braved the cold morning start at the Hastings Centenary Marathon. James and Loz flew off at the start with 'push it till I die' race strategies. Judging by their inability to walk afterwards they squeezed every ounce of performance out of tired muscles to finish in 3h10m and 3h13m respectively - both PBs.
There were 2 other mini-races going on. Jon, Rob and Steve have always been quite evenly matched. Steve is well known for his late pace in marathons so the race strategy for Jon was to break him if he could, while Rob held on for as long as possible. I can vouch for the fact that Jon gave it everything, pulling away at 17miles, being caught and passed by 20miles, but popping up again on Steve's shoulder at 22miles, before Steve's marginally less tired legs gave him a 40 second edge by the finish. Steve finished in 3h19m, Jon 3h20m (PB) and Rob 3h26m (PB).
The other mini-race was Rachel and Tamsin, who finished 2 minutes apart without realising how close the other was. Final times were Tamsin 3h49m (PB) and Rachel 3h51m (PB), both real quality times, only just outside the automatic qualifying times for London but on a significantly hilly course. Lucy also gained a PB with a time just outside 4hrs, and then tried to convince us all that she hadn't really trained for the race. What could she do if she did train ??
The special mention of the day has to go to Dave Lashbrook. After giving exclusive TV interviews - bigging up the club! - he started the race with a dodgy knee, which gave up on him at about 15miles. This left just a modest 11 mile stroll back to the finish, after his support team provided a change of clothes. He still finished comfortably under 5 hours, without any fuss. And a PB. What a legend!!!

And finally - the mens team (First 4 scoring) came 5th out of 57 teams - a remarkable achievement.

BAR scores after 11 events

MEN

1st James DEAR 97pts
2nd Rob HOODLESS 78
Dave JONES 78
4th Steve ALDEN 58
5th Dave LASHBROOK 53
6th Stu NISBETT 51
Jon WEBSTER 51
8th Lawrence WINTERGOLD 37
9th Callum MURRAY 12
10th Andy HEATH 10
11th Mike McLoughlin 9
Steve McMenamin 9
13th Howard PICKETT 8
14th Phil COUCH 6
15th David RICKETTS 4
16th Matt RECORD 3
17th Chris DURRANT 1
John LARDNER 1


WOMEN

1st Rachel BAKER 85pts
2nd Claire CRESSWELL 57
3rd Lucy WILLIAMS 36
4th Margaret HOLLAMBY 30
5th Tamsin DOUGLAS-SMITH 29
6th Debbie NISBETT 16
7th Katherine PREEDY 8
8th Emma ALDEN 7
Kay McMENAMIN 7
10th Julie WILLIAMS 6
Alice WINTERGOLD 6

Dave Jones makes it two in a row at Brighton

16 MSTC athletes completed the Brooks Brighton 10K last Sunday. First 4 home were in the same order as at Barns Green, with Phil Couch getting 5th spot ahead of Steve Alden. Phil is getting back into it after the twins so probably has a lot more to come next year. Callum was next home again showing how well he is running and cruising away from Dave Lashbrook in the closing stages. Our first 8 athletes were all inside 42m03s, which shows how good our thursday night running sessions really are as so many have improved. Steve Mac coped will with his leg problems to stay inside 50 minutes.

Rachel led the girls home, overhauling Lucy late on. It was good to see Debbie Nisbett out running again, and not far of her PB and under 50 minutes. Alice was also out running again, clocking 56.55, but well beaten by a competitive first run by Kay McMenamin. Claire kept under 61mins for a creditable performance again.

It was nice to see some old friends in the field with Jamie Goodhead and Paul Hedger both spotted.

MEN

Dave Jones 54th 35.47 10pts
James Dear 82nd 36.53 9
Rob Hoodless 182nd 39.28 8
Jon Webster 234th 40.21 7
Phil Couch 257th 40.26 6
Steve Alden 275th 41.17 5
Callum Murray 303rd 41.31 4
Dave Lashbrook 338th 42.03 3
Steve McMenamin 1121st 49.43 2
Lawrence Wintergold Time not available 1

WOMEN

Rachel Baker 592nd 45.28 10pts
Lucy Williams 601st 45.39 9
Debbie Nisbett 1136th 49.51 8
Kay McMenamin 1528th 54.48 7
Alice Wintergold 1678th 56.55 6
Claire Cresswell 1971st 60.59 5

Dave Jones gets top 20 at Barns Green

13 athletes took part in the Barns Green Half Marathon. Dreadful weather the day before put some people off, but those who raced had virtually perfect conditions - except for the unexpected cross country section at 5 miles!!

Dave Jones blitzed the field finishing in 17th out of 1283 finishers. The top 3 men finished as 8th team (of 41) with strong back up performances from James Dear and Rob Hoodless. The girls came 18th team of 23.

Dave Lashbrook and Callum Murray can now be considered as 'out of the closet' as far as running goes, with PBs both well under 1h40m.

One or two runners were overheard suggesting they could have run faster if they hadn't run a 20 mile road run the previous weekend, and others were bemoaning poor choice of 'gel strategy' - clearly the excuses were coming thick and fast from some quarters.

No excuses from the girls. PB for Rachel - again, as the girls were headed home by Margaret in an impressive 1h41m53s

RESULTS

MEN
Dave Jones 17th 1h20m56s 10pts
James Dear 39th 1h23m48s 9
Rob Hoodless 115th 1h31m13s 8
Jon Webster 125th 1h31m30s 7
Steve Alden 147th 1h33m18s 6
Dave Lashbrook 243rd 1h37m50s 5
Callum Murray 283rd 1h39m14s 4
Lawrence Wintergold 1h45m33s 3
Howard Pickett 2h00m21s 2

WOMEN
Margaret Hollamby 347th 1h41m53s 10pts
Rachel Baker 451st 1h46m04s 9
Katherine Preedy 970th 2h03m59s 8
Claire Cresswell 1186th 2h21m27s 7

BAR POSITIONS AFTER 10 RACES

MEN

1st James DEAR 88pts
2nd Rob HOODLESS 70
3rd Dave JONES 68
4th Steve ALDEN 53
5th Stuart NISBETT 51
6th Dave LASHBROOK 50
7th Jon WEBSTER 44
8th Loz WINTERGOLD 36
9th Andy HEATH 10
10th Mike McLOUGHLIN 9
11th Howard Pickett 8
Callum MURRAY 8
13th Steve MacMENEMIN 7
David RICKETTS 4
15th Mat RECORD 3
16th Chris DURRANT 1
John LARDNER 1

WOMEN

1st Rachel BAKER 75pts
2nd Claire CRESSWELL 52
3rd Margaret HOLLAMBY 30
4th Tamsin DOUGLAS-SMITH 29
5th Lucy WILLIAMS 27
6th Debbie NISBETT 8
7th Katherine PREEDY 8
8th Emma ALDEN 7
9th Julie WILLIAMS 6