With the cycling season finished, Matthew Bottrill (drag2zero) took part in the 1485 No Frills Duathlon at the weekend.
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Hundred competitors were down on the start list for the 5km Run-21km bike-5km run.
The event took place at Market Bosworth, with the run section taking place around Bosworth Water park, around 2 laps of the two lakes. The riders then made the transition onto the cycle, taking in the undulating roads of Market Bosworth- Fenny Drayton-before heading back through the Market square of Bosworth and then back to the final transition at the water park for the final 5km run. With high winds on the day, and the resent down poor of rain, the condition for the athletes would be hard!
Seventy nine riders signed on out of the 100 competitors and when the flag went down at 10:30am, the pace was hot from the gun and Anthony Harper, was soon making a break out of the pack, and was flying round the circuit. Within the first lap, he soon opened a gap on the chasing pack, lifting the pace. He crossed the line in 17:54, to put him well clear of the rest.
Bottrill meanwhile, knowing he would be the strongest cyclist, crossed the line in 12th place and after, changing from trainers to cycling shoes, Bottrill was two minutes in arrears. But doing what he does best, Bottrill, charged through the pack on his Giant Trinity SL Advanced time trail machine with Smart Enve 8:9’s taking on the task in hand.
But there was shock for Bottrill. Despite being on the rivet, the numbers displaying from the power meter were well down. So knowing this, Bottrill optimized his position and was soon into his stride catching Anthony Harper at six miles. Knowing he would have to get everything out on the bike, Bottrill smashed the bike course record by 1:14 and was first back to the transition where Bottrill lead by 1:40.
But his running legs seem to disappear and he struggled to get back into his stride. Meanwhile Harper was running like a man on a mission and after just 1 mile he had over taken Bottrill to take the lead. Flying to the finish he stopped the clock in a time of 1:10:20, With Bottrill was just two minutes off the pace in 1:12:26.
It was not just Bottrill, who was competing in his first duathlon. Jason Lavine of Hermitage Harriers, a good runner and one of Bottrills best friend’s, did an incredible time of 1:16:55 for 4th place. It was Lavine that placed a bet with Bottrill to see if the runner could beat the cyclist. This time Bottrill took the lead, but Lavine said he will be back to try again next year.
Also competing was Giant’s UK’s Simon Jenkinson, who did a very respectable 1:33:26 for 37th place. Asked about the event, Bottrill replied “I really enjoyed today’s event. The atmosphere out on the course was great. I could not get over the amount of support I was given on the course.
“Doing this event started off has a bet between myself and Jason Lavine, but once I stared doing a bit of running, I started to get really keen and wanted to see how hard I could push myself.”
“I’ve had to take some time off the bike to get ready for winter training but running seem’s to have kept me fit. Breaking the course record for the bike was sort of expected, but I was more pleased with doing 19:37 for the 5km. I’ve never done a running race before and in training my best 5km was 20:58. It’s a great way to have started my winter training, and Im now ready for a hard winter!”
Result
1 Anthony Harper Snr 1 male 00:17:54 1 00:33:56 2 00:18:30 1 01:10:20
2 Matthew Bottrill Snr 2 male 00:19:37 12 00:31:30 1 00:21:19 15 01:12:26
3 Nathan Veall Snr 3 male 00:18:24 2 00:36:24 3 00:19:20 2 01:14:08
4 Jason Lavine Snr 4 male 00:18:52 3 00:38:13 8 00:19:50 4 01:16:55
5 Steven Baggot Snr 5 male 00:19:19 6 00:37:40 7 00:20:25 11 01:17:24
6 Peter Buckley Vet 1 male 00:20:01 15 00:37:28 6 00:20:05 5 01:17:34
7 Carl Bromley Vet 2 male 00:20:02 16 00:37:04 5 00:20:35 12 01:17:41
8 Jon Hartley Vet 3 male 00:19:30 10 00:38:58 10 00:20:20 9 01:18:48
9 Jon Griffiths Snr 6 male 00:19:03 5 00:40:27 13 00:20:12 7 01:19:42
10 Kurt Hatwell Snr 7 male 00:20:28 20 00:38:44 9 00:21:28 17 01:20:40
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