Our very own track stars Darren Cole and Abigail Farwell were bright eyed and bushy tailed on the 6 am ferry for the the early 8am start of Bayside Tri’s Super Sprint Duathlon. No mean feat considering Abi had been at a music festival the day before and Darren attending a Zombie themed wedding!
“We only had 4 hours sleep” said Abi
But you’d never guess. They were on that startline at Stokes Bay in Gosport on time and ready to go.
The distance was a super sprint, which consists of a 2.5k run, a 10k cycle then a second 2.5k run. It was Abi’s first ever Duathlon. She is a more than competent cyclist and brilliant runner as we know, but doing it with seamless transition under pressure is difficult. For Darren it was less nerve wracking as he has competed in similar events before.
They set off on the first run. Fast and flat (including Gosport’s Golden Mile) along the promenade. Our track teamsters got a fantastic start. Both Darren and Abi pulled ahead of their competitors straight away, despite a unforgiving side wind.
They returned to the car park at the to transition seamlessly onto their bikes. They maintained their leads as they made their way on wheels through Lee-on-Solent on to the turning point at Dadealus Airfield. It was here that Abi was caught by the eventual women’s winnner. But she kept battling away, trying to not lose any more ground.
They then made the last switch back onto their feet. Darren still way out in front and Abi still chasing the leader. The wind wasn’t abating and Abi was feeling the effects.
“It was the weirdest sensation. I felt like I wasn’t moving, like I was in slo-mo” she shared with me the next day
But she was moving, moving at the speed of light, trying to claw back the lead. But the leader was too far ahead and Abi just ran out road. Darren had stormed in for the overall win, in a fantastic 34.42, ahead of a Team GB age group Triathlete!
Abi came over the line 2nd lady and 8th overall in super duper 40.50
What a fantastic duathlon debut from our dynamo duo.
