I’m glad the rain and poor weather held off to start my triathlon/multisport season as I raced at Xterra UK’s Matterely Duathlon. Xterra are a cross-triathlon global company, so it was great to have Xterra and TrailXUK organise a cross-duathlon for the first time here.
This was my first cross-duathlon and after quite a few years of off road racing and triathlon it was good to be able to combine the two the weekend before last.
I was racing in the sprint race – 2.5km trail run at the beginning and end with a two lap 10km mountain bike leg in the middle. Setting of on the same course a few minutes after the full distance race, I was racing with all the other categories combined, and after making my way through some of the race ahead, and creating a gap after a strong first leg I started the mountain bike leg.
After a clean T1 (transition 1) I started the bike leg with a clear run through the first lap, beginning before the full distance race, then through the second lap was making my way through and round quite a few more people. The course was getting quite muddy in places but with a longer section of gravel it balanced it out nicely. The bike lap had a couple steep down and up sections in the valley but was enough to carry most of your speed up and over, with some power towards the top. Coming up to towards transition at the end of each lap was a long gradual climb, along a kind of dirt track and with the gravel section earlier, which had a fair part downhill, it was a good chance to spin the legs out a bit.
Starting the final run was a lot harder than usual, my legs felt really heavy and it was hard to get much of a stride going at first, especially the fact we went straight into an uphill out of transition. Cross tri/duathlon’s a lot different to the road ones I’ve raced because on the bike, if you’re in a pack you get quite a lot of opportunity to spin out, depending on where you are, plus most runs are relatively flat. Anyway after winding my way back up I had a solid finish downhill to the line, in just under 55 minutes of racing with a 10 minute lead overall. I really enjoyed my first taste of cross duathlon after not too many being around and now being old enough as well, but thanks to Xterra UK and TrailXUk for a great event.
Next weekend I should hopefully be travelling up to Shropshire to race the English National Cross Country Championships, so I’m looking forward to the first of several Uk/national cross countries I’ve qualified for/will be racing at the end of this month and in next.
Training
Also some pictures from run training at Camber Sands last weekend:
My Triathlon Journey 
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