Milton Keynes Heartbreaker Duathlon, Sunday 22nd October 2006

Report by John Murray

Phil and I travelled down Saturday evening so that we would be fresh for the early morning start. If any one is from Milton Keynes I apologise in advance, but what a horrible place to drive around. On leaving the motorway the map showed our journey to be only another 3 miles, however, after getting hopelessly lost in the dual carriage way and roundabout system it took us a further 40 minutes to find our hotel. But what a hotel, the view from our window looked out directly onto the finish line with transition a mere 50 metres away, I have never stayed as close to a race start and probably never will again. The extra lie in time in the morning that was afforded by the proximity to the start was a welcome reward for the difficulty in finding the place.

We had both decided to enter this race as it was announced that it would be a qualifying race for the 2007 World's in Gyor, Hungary. Thinking that as it was the end of the year the competition would be sparse and we would be more likely to stand a chance of actually qualifying.

Phil was looking a bit peeky the night before and looked even worse on race morning. His intensive 5 day pre race preparation (beer and beer) in Bratislava was catching up with him as was his 'cold'.

There were 185 athletes at the start of the Heartbreaker and unfortunately for us some of these were Team GB athletes that had raced the Elite & Age Group events at the ITU World Duathlon Championships in Corner Brook, Canada and at the ETU European Duathlon Championships in Rimini. They had had the same idea as us and were seeking an early qualification slot. The international field was also augmented with athletes flying in from Ireland, Australia and the USA to race (not what we wanted to see).

Sunday was almost ideal race conditions (if you were a polar bear), personally I would have preferred it about 10 degrees warmer but at least the rain held off throughout the race.

There were 3 waves with the women off first followed by the vets and then the rest of us to chase.

The run was twice around the lake and we were told that it was longer than 10K and this was reflected in the times.

We had driven around the bike course the night before but hadn't really appreciated the hill in the dark. We were about to find out in the light that it was a beast. Short but very sharp, 'Heartbreak Hill', was a 1km long climb with a gradient that started at about 12%, but kicked into a 20%. There was a prize for the fastest ascent (neither Phil or I won it) timed on your first of 2 laps. A headwind from the turnaround point to the bottom of the climb meant that many of the athletes couldn't get any real speed or momentum prior to the commencement of the hill and "Heartbreak Hill" did exactly what it said on the race brief and claimed the heart, lungs and legs of a number of the competitors.

Unfortunately for me it claimed more than that as my front mech ripped out of the frame and sent me tumbling to the ground. A kindly race marshal and on-looker helped me to remove the offending piece of kit (the race marshal taking it with him and returning it to me in transition later) and now with only 6 gears I continued the ride, the 20 minute delay had scuppered my chances of a spot so now it was the need to finish. The bike didn't see it this way and on the second lap at almost the same point in the climb my chain managed to wrap itself around my frame and crank and my ride was definitely over.

I got a lift back to transition but was determined to finish the race, throwing my steed on to the rack off I went to complete the 6K run.

Phil despite his 'cold' managed to complete and was rewarded by a qualifying place at the World's, congratulations.

This was a well organised and well run race, the marshals couldn't have been any more helpful. However, if you are thinking of choosing an easy end of season race then this is not it.

Results (10k/37K/6K)

Name	Club	Total	Run 1	Bike	Run 2
Rafael Baugh	(Australia)	1:56
Phil Stannard	MTC	2:22:54	39:30	1:12:16	29:19
John Murray	MTC	2:21:54	42:43	DNF	25:22

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