Microgaming Off-Road Duathlon Results
See some great photos taken by Rob Quine & Peter Bradley on the Manx Tri Club's Face Book Page
Despite a relatively small field of 34 competitors, this year's Off-Road Winter Duathlon at South Barrule Plantation was thoroughly enjoyed by all who took part. The event kicked off with a 3k Run starting near to the Foresters Cottage. The run course quickly takes in a very steep 200m climb up to the top firetrack. At the end of the 2 laps, Andrew Nash and Simon Skillicorn came into transition neck and neck, with Joseph Ricciardi, Russ Collister, John Coppell, and Neil Brogan following in quick succession. Paul Kneen was next into transition, but despite being almost a minute down on the two leaders at T1, Paul moved up into 2nd place on the 1st lap of the 15k bike course. Simon however stretched his lead out to 1 1/2 mins over Paul by the time the two had returned to start the 2nd Run phase. Meanwhile Joe Ricciardi put all his years of Motocross skills to good use to pull out a minutes lead on Russ Collister, who had also pulled out a further minutes gap to John Coppell. Simon wasn't going to be caught, further extending his lead and securing the win in under an Hour, with Paul holding on to 2nd. Russ Collister had paced the event well and managed to overhaul a tiring Joe on the last lap to take 3rd. John Coppell held off a chasing Andrew Nash to finish 5th and 6th respectively and a superb performance from 15yr old Nathan Hinks gave him 7th place in a fantastic time of 1:10:35.
The Ladies race was also tightly contested. Regular fell and cross-country runner Rosy Craine was first into T1, with a 40s gap to 3 of other ladies, Karen Shimmin, Natalie Arrowsmith and Lisa Dunwell who all arrived together. Despite being a new-comer to multi-sport Natalie Arrowsmith showed just how strong she is on a bike, quickly breaking away from the group and overtaking Rosy, and giving herself a 3 min advantage over the rest of the field by T2. Lisa had also passed Rosy on the bike to arrive in T2 in 2nd place, but Rosy wasn't giving up and ran a very fast last leg to steal back 2nd place. Unfortunately it wasn't enough to catch Natalie who took 1st place and 10th overall in 1:16:59. Lisa held on to 3rd from Karen in 4th and Jill Bunyan in 5th, who is just returning from injury.
The 5 Teams had a great day out (3 of them family teams). Marie Morgan and her brother Mark Noon led from start to finish for the win, with 15yr old Rebecca Storrie putting in a fantastic run to place her and her Dad, Aron, in 2nd place, and Gaynor Evans and Mick Harrison finishing in 3rd. Probably the best performance of the day was from 11yr old Lydia Morris in a Team with her Dad, Andrew, their efforts earning them 4th spot, from Lynsey Elliott and Gaby Cooper in 5th.
Thanks to all the marshals who gave up their morning to put the event on and to St.Johns Ambulance for their support.