ASTLEY & TYLDESLEY RR: Ian Hesketh Duathlon

About Us

Established in 2001 with over 120 members the club competes in various road, fell and x-country races during the year.
The club is affiliated to the British Triathlon Federation and have a ever increasing group of members interested in duathlon, triathlons, open water swimming and even Ironman!
We also have a thriving social scene and hold various social events through out the year.

If you would like to join Astley & Tyldesley you can do so online.
See "online membership" option on the right hand side of the blog.

If any member would not like their picture submitted to this blog in a report then please email me, occasionally random pictures maybe added without the persons permission.

Sunday, 30 May 2010

Ian Hesketh Duathlon - by Gary Stevens

The day had arrived for my duathlon debut at the Ian Hesketh Memorial race at Rivington which was a 5km run / 22 km bike and 5km run.

I had already checked the bike route out last Saturday in blazing sunshine well over 30 degree’s and what a contrast with today’s weather which was wet and windy which made the roads very slippy.

I knew from my visit last week that the bike course was tricky with a number of very tight bends. When i signed in John Schofield and Vince Ashton was telling people that you should take it very easy as last year in dry conditions a Radcliffe athlete came off the bike, just what i wanted to hear!

As i parked Bianca in the racking area it was like a showroom from the Tour De France, i thought Bianca was a bit up market but she just looked average compared to some of these machines, literally thousands of pounds worth of bikes.

As the run started it was clear from the outset that this was not going to be easy and was very similar to the Chorley on the Park 5km course. I started steady before picking people off in the final couple of miles. I made T1 in 18.44 which was pleasing but i knew there was at least 20 who had ran quicker.

The transition was trouble free, i had to run 50 yards uphill in cycling shoes before mounting the bike for the 22km ride. I picked 2 off on the first hill but was overtaken myself by 3 or 4 on the first lap. I stuck to the task and took another couple of scalps before getting to T2. I heard that the first female cyclist had fallen off on the 1st lap and was in floods of tears so i was just happy to finish incident free.

During the transition i got cramp whilst putting on my trainers but carried on regardless into the final 5km run. The final run was really tough as my legs by this point had given up but i was pleased not to be passed by anyone to finish 21st overall.