Race Date: Sunday 26th March 2017

So the story began late last summer when I bought my first ever road bike to try and keep my niggling calf and achilles problems at bay.  All didn’t quite go to plan as I fell off the bike on the tram tracks within weeks.  Oops!

A short time later, a conversation with David Maloney planted the seed in both our minds about doing a Duathlon in 2017.  We had a choice between the more formal Sprint distance or choosing this more unique offering around Derwent.

Sprint Duathlon are very much road only and usually comprise of a very standard and regimented 5km run, 20km bike and 2.5km run.  So that’s 3.1 miles, 12.4 miles and 1.5 miles in old money.

The Derwent Duathlon is very much off the cuff with the following make-up; 2.8 mile fell run, 18 mile bike ride and 3.8 mile trail run, so already the stakes are raised against a conventional Sprint.

The toughness of the fell element of this race is heightened that it includes the first mile up and the last mile down of our very own Salt Cellar race.  Those that have run that will know how steep and challenging that is.  The bike and trail aren’t flat either, i’d say more undulating.  A tough morning was in store.

On arrival David and I were delighted to find Liam Russell had also entered, making it three Striders involved.

Another unique element of the race is that you could run the leg of your choice first and then complete the other after the bike leg.  Liam and I went for fell first, trail second.  Whilst David opted for trail then fell. Not sure any of us knew which was the best choice?

The competitive nature of the event is turned up a notch as each year the race is chosen to be the UK Police Sport Duathlon championship race.  I’m not quite sure how much the coppers are paid these days, but there were some seriously nice (and expensive) bikes sitting in transition.:)

Matthew Hallam won the race for the second year running in a total time of 1:33:55, a seriously quick time.  Not sure of his exact splits, but somewhere around 18:30 (fell), 23:30 (trail) and 50:00 (bike).

Friend of the Striders, Mark Havenhand finished 20th (and 2nd V50) in a total time of 1:48:41 with splits of 27:00 (fell), 25:30 (trail), 59:00 (bike).  Mark opting to take the trail run first and finish with the fell.

Note: all timings listed are somewhat approximate due to timings through transition etc not formally recorded.

First lady home was Elsbeth Grant in 1:40:44.  Again, a super quick time, especially considering she was under 20 years of age.

There were 103 finishers in total.  So without further ado, here are the Striders results.