On a weekend which saw a fellow Yorkshireman take the World Olympic Distance Triathlon title, I thought I¹d leave the spotlight on him and change codes.

So I found myself setting up transition at 6.30am on the outskirts of Hull for the second running of The Humber Duathlon. The race consisted of running 2 out and back laps of the Humber Bridge followed by a cycle route mainly along the A63 and finally another out and back run lap of the bridge to finish off, total distances 10km-40km-5km respectively.

Despite being set in the less than glamorous surroundings of the Humber estuary (who needs The Gold Coast or Hawaii?!), the run offered some quite spectacular views. After the first lap I was placed 16th (out of a field of 27) but put in a strong second lap, including the last 2.5km in to a headwind, to claw back a couple of places. A swift transition gained me
another 2 places so I was up to 12th by the time the bike leg began.

Nothing much to say about the bike leg other than it was flat and fast  15km down a dual carriageway, 10km through a couple of villages and then 15km back up the dual carriageway with most of the time spent trying to tame The Silver Bullet who was not happy about being woken up at 5am. A couple of places gained on the bike leg put me up to 10th, and a lightning quick 21-second transition got me up to 8th by the time the second run began.

By now it was just a case of hanging on for the last 5km. The next guy in front of me was too far ahead to catch so I focussed on trying not to be overtaken and hold on to my 8th place, which I did despite cramping up on the final 50m in to the finishŠ ouch!

All in all, a really enjoyable and well organised race and I would recommend it. Total time 2h13m11s including a 42:56 PB on the first 10km.

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