Cross Duathlon World Championships, 3 May 2023

This race was one of my main goals for this season and I was really looking forward to it. I arrived in Ibiza Sunday evening and on Monday got signed on and headed over to the race venue to have a look at the run courses. The first run was easy to follow and was well marked. It was a lumpy run with some very rocky technical sections towards the end, something I really enjoy as it slows the race down a bit. The second run was much harder to follow so decided to leave it till later. On the Tuesday I headed back to the venue to recce the bike loop. I loved the bike course right from the get-go - there was a good mix of technical single track and wide fast sections for overtaking. 

My race was a really late start and was at the hottest part of the day so before the race I tried to stay as cool as possible by warming up in the shade. The race got underway, and the start was very fast - everyone wanted to be positioned well as roughly 300m in it went uphill on a single track where there was no space for overtaking. I chose to push on a little later than most people and it paid off as I was positioned well coming into the first tight section, just a few people behind the leader in my age cat. I felt really good on the climbs and was even managing to pass people where it was possible. It all soon caught up with me when I reached the top and I started to overheat but luckily there was an aid station just ahead. At the half way point I was surprised to see the leader of my age group still in sight. On the technical part of the run, she opened up a bit more of a gap, but I managed to keep it to one minute.

I had a really good transition and got chasing on the bike. After the first section of single track the course went up a technical climb and I could see my age group leader struggling slightly. I managed to ride this section clean and be on her back wheel at the top. I had to follow her for a bit as it went back into some single track but as soon as the course widened again, I put an effort in to get past. She wasn’t able to follow, and the gap continued to grow for the remainder of the bike lap despite me getting caught behind people in really inconvenient places.

I ended the bike leg leading my age group and third overall. At the time I wasn’t sure of the time gaps to behind so tried to get off on the run as quick as possible and push on as much as I could. The first section of the run was smooth and flat, but it soon got really technical and rather slow. I manged to hold onto third overall and my age group win.

Kim Baptista