Cholmondeley Castle Middle Distance Duathlon race report

This race was a qualifier for the 2023 European Middle Distance Duathlon Champs for which I luckily pre- qualified for at this years event in Alsdorf. I had two mates, Dave & Ian at the event, DAve looking to qualify, and Ian testing himself at the distance for the first time. The weather was reasonable, no rain, and breezy I'd say.  After a pasta party at the oddly named pesto at Cabbage Hall the night before, we were to meet up bright and breezy ahead of a 9am start for the event. Castle Race Series operate differently to most other organisers, sign on was same morning and was a slick operation of moving the athletes through zones. At 9am we were ready ! 

Run 1 - 6.53 miles - 47.29 

I wore the Alphaflys as I plan to use them in Zofingen and I have been over thinking shoe choice for a while. This event simulates a lot of the climb and tracks that I'll run over there and today the Alphaflys performed well. The race started in grass, before heading onto concrete paths, before climbing up and around the picture perfect castle in Woodland, before heading back over the lawn and back around for another lap. In total 419 feet of climb in the 10k and I ran it to RPE, respecting the difficulty of the course. 

Bike - 39.19 - 1.52.46

New TT bike in it's first event, bought from Facebook Market place with a 53/39 option, which means my TT bike can remain single ring for super fast flat TT courses. The course for this Duathlon is held on quiet Cheshire roads and is a ride of two halves. It is also two laps and 39 miles in total.  The first half of each lap is relatively flat and fast whilst the second half has all of the climb, about three leg burners that are not overly long, but are to be paced, especially as they have to be tackled a second time and after that, you need to be in a condition to race. 1864 ft of climb in total. No idea of watts, so RPE again. All felt OK, I guessed the position and it wasn't uncomfortable. I encountered three horses and had to slow to 5mph, which is the right thing to do, and stopped at a right turn. There's work to do, but as a starter that was a competent first outing.

Run 2 - 6.43 miles - 49.28

Second run is fast becoming an obsession of finding a pace and effort that is as close to the first run as possible. After the climb on the bike there was always going to be some fatique in the legs but still, the aim was to get as close to the first run pace as possible. First lap OK, I had feared that the run up and around the Castle would be a step too far, but I held that together well (for me), and then knew that I had just a Parkrun left to complete.  At this point the overall winner came tearing past, underlining the gulf in class between the very top, and your average Duathlete.  Last lap, tried not to lose any positions which I didn't, and finished strongly for an 8th place on the day. Pleased with the two runs, and the performance of the shoe, and I suppose the bike leg, but like I said, it does need more work. 

What of Dave and Ian ? Ian smashed a great time for 14th on his debut, and Dave 24th and more importantly should at time of writing bagged a qualifying spot for next year.  The next qualifying race is Castle Howard Duathlon in late July.