From Peter Shelley…
If you fancy a sit down in the middle of your run, and don’t mind pedalling a bit, a duathlon may be for you. Oulton Park stages two duathlons a year in spring and autumn respectively, with a choice of three distances: sprint, standard and middle.
We opted for standard, which means running two laps of Oulton Park’s racetrack followed by nine laps riding and finishing with a single lap running. That’s an 8.66km run, a 39km ride and a 4.33km run respectively.
The event begins with a mass start on the grid. Transition takes place in the pits and the finish is at the paddock entrance.
Fell runners accustomed to having the scenery, terrain or wildlife come up and slap them in the face have to adjust to the utter lack of obstacles. Even road cyclists will welcome the lack of traffic lights, intersections and potholes on this wide smooth surface. The challenge is simply to get your head down for a fast, sustained but carefully paced effort spread across the three parts. It makes for a very intense experience.
Transition 1 is exciting as you exit the pits on your bike and experience the circuit at higher speed (if not quite high enough in my case). This is a British Duathlon Championship event so the standard at the front is high. This becomes all too apparent as you begin to be lapped by a succession of aero and tri-bikes. That said, there are plenty of other competitors spread across different categories pursuing their own goals. The circuit and event can accommodate them all.
Transition 2 is less exciting as you realise your legs have turned to jelly and something important you had between them has disappeared.
The Oulton Park venue and facilities are ideal for duathlon, and the event was friendly, well organised and blessed with perfect weather. I really enjoyed it and recommend it to fellow runners/cyclists. If you are prepared to take the shopping basket off your bike and don’t mind finishing slightly down the field, why not give it a try?