ITU Duathlon World Champs Edinburgh - TO's Report
This was a great experience to officiate at another ITU competition at a fantastic venue, Holyrood park with surprisingly good weather I Started the weekend with the Paraduathletes on Friday afternoon followed on Saturday by the Age group guys, well done to Brian & Marius (did some discreet supporting as they both flew in and out of transition), another early start today for the Juniors, U23's & Elites. It was tough going for me doing the various roles and briefings, but it was real respect for all the competitors and their positive attitiute towards us, as this was a hugely difficult bike and run course. Shame that I couldn't stay there tonight as it's party time!!
Good luck to everyone in Budapest next week.
Marius Kwint
[View of Edinburgh from only part-way up the climb round Arthur's Seat, which is on the right]
Appreciated your support, Jan, not to mention your officiating. I didn't catch sight of you but think I heard you, even if I didn't exactly feel like I was 'flying' at the time.
A splendid and enjoyable event, although the race itself was a bit too gruelling to be enjoyed by me. Having done a few of these international age-group and qualifying events over the years now, I know a number of the regular participants, and we all had a good time in some very conveniently located and well catered accommodation at the University of Edinburgh. Much of the appeal for me is also socializing with competitors from other countries. It was, incidentally, mildly amusing that the briefing stage was adorned with a banner with a life-sized photo of Chris Goodwin and I in Athlone, invoking people to 'get involved' in paratriathlon. The para-duathlon race was inspiring and enjoyable as ever too.
The course was on closed roads around Holyrood Park on the edge of the Edinburgh, which is surely one of the finest-looking cities in the world, especially in that sparkling Indian summer weather. The format was roughly standard duathlon -- 10k run, 43k bike, 5k run -- with the runs over multiple fairly hilly laps, and the bike being five very hilly laps around the extinct volcano that is Arthur's Seat, totalling approximately 1000 metres of climbing. Not my kind of course, then, apart from the spectacular views, by turns across the city, the Pentland Hills, and the Firth of Forth. The bike involved some hair-raising narrow chicanes on the descents, where I tentatively (compared to many of my competitors) braked, especially following my recent close familiarity with tarmac.
Even among us gentlemen of a certain age (45-49), the opening bid for the 10k run was a long 32 minutes, but I ran very conservatively (in the good sense) for a bike that I knew was going to be hard. The lack of recent duathlon experience probably told and, even though economizing on the bike, I felt a few twinges of cramp, which once I hit the uphill run out of transition, became dire, and nearly stopped me in my tracks. I was haemorrhaging places following some steady losses on the bike, and the cramp only began to ease off about half way through the second run.
Altogether, it wasn't a bad result, and I finished within the top third of my AG, as opposed to the top quarter two years ago. I think the standard has gone up, not least within the British team. Brian did well to finish sixth in his AG, and local triathlete James Gilfillan of Team Feat gave a spectacular performance after his recent top-ten finish in the Antwerp 70.3, ripping apart the bike course to come first overall in the AG race by nearly four minutes, in a time of 1:58! Other than the weather, Hampshire is surely one of the top locations in the world in which to be a multi-sport athlete.
Results
Marius Kwint
Run 10K 35.57
Bike 43K 1:23.37
Run 5K 20.18
Total 2:22.23 19/60 in M45-49; 177/772 finishers overall.
Brian Grierson
Run 10K 51.09
Bike 43K 1:39.18
Run 5K 26.11
Total 2:59.24 6/16 in M70-74; 666/772 finishers overall.
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