Wight Tri member Laoise Bennis competed in her first ever mainland duathlon, the Windsor & Dorney Sprint Duathlon.
The duathlon – which took place around Dorney Lake in sunny but windy conditions – started with a 5km run, followed by a 20km 4 lapped cycle around the lake, and finished with another 5km run.
Laoise started steadily to post a solid 24:29 for the 1st run to enter T1 in 6th female position. She had a swift transition onto the bike, showing her recent club transition training was paying off and headed out for the 4-lap bike. Although the course was fairly flat, there was a strong headwind down the home straight, but Laoise had a very good cycle to complete the 20km route in 42:59 and moved into 5th position as she came into T2.
Having now warmed up, after another fast transition, Laoise’s running strength came to the fore in the 2nd run to post the fastest female 2nd run split of 22:23. Laoise finished in the 5th female position overall and 3rd in the female senior category in 1:31:53.
Wight Tri member Liz Dunlop took part in the Paphos Logicom 10km Road Race.
This is a huge event, offering runs in several distances up to the marathon, and is normally run in hot and sunny conditions. However, Cyprus is having the strangest of weather patterns with temperatures of 8 degrees and rain and hailstorms in the morning of the race. Warming up was difficult at the venue, with the race starting from Paphos Castle on an out and back course, and most runners were clad in winter running gear.
Liz started steadily, as she had not really warmed up on the outward 5km leg, and posted 25:35 at the turnaround, on target for a solid 10km time. However, as she headed back, things got worse as she ran straight into a 30km headwind, with gusts at times much stronger, stopping her in her tracks and almost forcing her backwards.
Liz battled on to continue running through a hailstorm and a heavy rainstorm for the last 3kms and was relieved to reach the finish line to post a time of 54:13.
Although this was her slowest time on this course, Liz took 21st female overall position and 1st in the Vet 65-69 category in tough conditions.
