Jun
20
2010

Christchurch Duathlon – Ruapuna Speedway Race 1

An article by Debi Hazelden

Yesterday was a perfect day for a winter duathlon in Christchurch. It was 20 degrees which is pretty amazing. I was just hoping for no rain. But no rain and 20 degrees! Great day.

The speedway is an excellent place to have a duathlon. The race was 2.4km run / 16.5km bike / 2.4km run. The run was 3 laps of an 800m loop, and the bike was 5 laps of a 3.3km loop. It was pretty fun riding around the speedway track with no cars and loads of corners. Great for spectators as the entire course could be seen from every spot, and it was a pretty fast course.

You don’t have to turn up so early to a duathlon as a triathlon and there is so much less gear to bring since you don’t need a wetsuit, goggles or a swim cap. So less stress all round. It was pretty casual turning up to this race which started at 2pm. Although it did seem like a bit of a waste of a day starting so late.

The first run was pretty hard, it was only 2.5km which meant we had to go pretty fast. Running isn’t my best discipline so I was coming about 5th girl as I came into transition and onto the bike leg.

The bike was great and the 5 laps went pretty quickly. I could see I was gaining on 2 of the girls in front of me. I knew if I was going to catch any of them I’d have to do it on the bike leg. All the girls in front had pretty amazing bikes – jealous! If only there was another lap on the bike course. I could see I was gaining on 1 of the girls and was pretty close. By the time I got off the bike one of the girls was 200m ahead and one was 400m ahead that I could see.

I was cramping up a bit and didn’t lose any ground on the girls ahead – but didn’t make any either. I finished in 49:19. The 4 girls ahead in my age group are pretty amazing athletes. Gina Crawford won the race (check out her blog post from this race) with the second and third placings going to members of the Triathlon NZ Junior team. Those juniors are fast! Gayle from Christchurch came 4th. She is an amazing triathlete I’m striving to be as good as. She’s been to many World Champs races – specialising in long distance races since she is so good on the bike. It’s so good to have such great competition in Christchurch races. Makes the events so much better and more challenging.

Race organisation was also amazing, a race I’d definitely do again. There are 2 more in the series so will be doing those:

Race 2 “The Equaliser” – July 25th
Race 3 “The Enduro” – August 29th

Check out www.jdevents.co.nz if you want to join in. There are loads of novices and juniors that race.

The cycle track on the speedway

The cycle track with transition in the background

I went into John Bull Cycles last weekend to check out bikes. I am getting a new bike before my trip to Budapest for the World Champs in September. I also picked up my new John Bull cycle jersey which I rode in around the port hills today. I love it!

My new Team John Bull cycle jersey!

At the moment I’m trying to get a great deal on the Avanti Questa Team bike which uses Shimano Durace componentry and is a carbon frame. It is so much better than my current bike which uses Shimano Sora componentry and is a full aluminium frame. All the bikes in John Bull Cycles are so much lighter than mine. I can’t wait to get a new bike it’s given me a whole lot more motivation which I need to help me train during winter in chch. Training on the wind-trainer in the garage and running in the rain isn’t that fun!