BUCS Duathlon, 11 Apr 2021

On Sunday 11th April, I headed to Castle Combe Race circuit for my 5th and final BUCS duathlon. The race was a 2 mile run, 10 mile bike, 2 mile run event on a beautiful traffic free racing track. COVID restrictions meant there were a few changes to the event- a much smaller start list than usual, 2 minute neutralised transitions and waves of 6 to start. Despite it not being quite the same atmosphere as usual, the event was still great and DB Max did an excellent job of getting us all racing safely.

My first run was really good. It felt controlled, I had a nice rhythm going and I felt confident. The first mile of the run had a tail wind and was on the flat, the second half was into the wind and on grass! My pace therefore dropped off a little, but my perceived intensity stayed the same which was great! Run 1 (11:56)

As transitions were neutralised I made the most of the 2 mins! I made sure I ran hard into the first timing mat and then slowly jogged/walked to my bike. It was very strange doing such slow transitions but I was trying to gear my legs up as best as I could for the bike! Positions of the mount line and timing mat meant I didn’t have to attempt a flying mount (yay) and I powered hard out on to the bike course. My power sadly wasn’t quite where I wanted it to be for the first 3 laps. Then my “bike legs” started properly working again! Sadly a little too late but my last lap was my fastest by far! The best part of my bike leg was my aero position which I held really well and it was probably the best bike handling I’ve done on that course too! My previous weekends practising on the TT bike had paid off!  Bike (25:02)

Again, T2 was neutralised so a lot of walking was done before heading onto the second run. Sadly, the power I had put down on my final bike lap had resulted in me starting to get cramp in my legs as I started the run- drat! I slowed my pace and tried to shake it out starting to panic a little. I remained calm and within a minute my legs felt fine again and I upped the pace! I ran away from another girl I was with and tried my best to narrow the gaps with athletes ahead. In the final 750m it started snowing/hailing which was an extremely bizarre experience. I was running into a solid headwind on the grass, determined just to get myself over the finish line! Run 2 (12:27)

The finishing straight was on beautiful tarmac and I put in a sprint to get to the line- last BUCS done! At first I was disappointed as the race hadn’t gone as well as I had wanted. There were good points but also not so good points. Once I collected my bike I went to look at the results and was shocked to find I had come 4th female overall! Consistent performances over all 3 disciplines (with a particularly good bike) had meant that I had got my best ever BUCS positioning and earned some points for the uni! 

Final Result (49:27) 4th female overall (out of 42)

I felt very grateful that this postponed event (it’s usually in November!) could take place. A wonderful end to 8 years of university competitions.

Megan Powell