Wadenhoe Winter Challenge Race 2
Wadenhoe Winter Challenge Race 2
Great Turnout for Duathlon
Race Report – Wadenhoe Winter Challenge Race 2 – 17th January.
After a long cold snap we were pleased to have been able to put a race on at all. After a fairly rapid thaw and heavy rain the day before, the River Nene burst it’s banks and the Environment Agency ‘closed the river’ to navigation so at the last minute we had to cancel the quad. With everyone transfering over to the run/bike/run this gave us our largest entry yet.
Race day dawned, bright, sunny and calm (very unusual for our Wadenhoe races!)
The race 2 course was, in many ways more challenging than the average. Mainly because of the saturated ground and normally dry stream close to the start flowing quite nicely and spilling over further down. The revamped course which has cut down the cycle laps from 8 to 6 now takes the competitors through this stream 4 times on each lap.
The run start was, as usual pretty frantic as competitors jostled for position before the first style. Colin Peck was already building a good lead ahead of Troy Garrity with Wadenhoe regulars Steve Giles and Patrick Schalbetter biding their time in the pack a few places behind. On the second run lap Colin had maintained his lead but he was anxiously looking behind as perhaps he knew his bike leg might not be so strong. Indeed the gap was gradually whittled down and Troy clawed his way past Colin. Also on the bike leg, Patrick and Steve were working their way through the field passing Marcus Shields who also put in an quick first run lap of under 6 minutes.
In fact the 2nd run lap had already taken its toll on all the runners, most posting around 40 -60 seconds slower on that 2nd lap.
The fasted bike lap of the day was posted by Patrick Schlabetter again in under 6 minutes and Patrick went on to claim the first MV40 position.
Troy finished in 1.04.01, Colin in 1.04.55 with Steve and Patrick next in 1.06.39 and 1.06.45 respectively.
The ladies race was also closely contested between Roz Giles and Naomi Brewer, Naomi taking just 17 seconds out of Roz on the first run leg. Roz proved too strong on the bike however and even a good second run leg by Naomi wasnt enough and Roz finished over a minute ahead.
Ist vet 50 was Richard Stagg in an excellent 1.19.01 Other notable performances were from our under 18s – Sam Blakerman (a Wadenhoe stalwart already!) finishing in 1 21.24 and Rachel Borrows in 1.46.06. A fantastic first time achievement.
Last but by no means least congratulations to Ann Gales who finished this gruelling course and raised a fantastic sum of £2500 for charity.
Hope to see you all again on the 7th Feb!!
