Nick Shasha is our specialist elite duathlete; with an extremely quick run and devastating bike, making him one of the best duathletes in the country. Below is Nick’s latest account of his racing.

Nick taking the win on the bike

Hillingdon Duathlon Series

“This year I’ve decided to enter all three duathlons in the above series organised by Hillingdon Triathletes. This series according to ‘triathlon247.com’ is “probably the longest running triathlon series in the country”. The events are unique in that they are raced as; swim / run / bike for the triathlon & run / bike for the duathlon (typically a triathlon is raced as swim/bike/run & a duathlon as run / bike / run). There are generally 100 athletes competing in the races.

The course is based at the beautiful Hillingdon outdoor activity centre and features a wonderful lake that is normally used for sailing. The triathlon is first to start in the lake and is watched with interest by the duathletes, who are all raring to go. After the 10th swimmer has finished the swim the duathlon starts. This allows for both the triathlon and the duathlon to be run together, for an exciting finish.

I managed to take 2nd in the first race back in mid-May, but made it one better last weekend. I took the first run fairly conservatively and managed to get back to the transition area in sub 22 minutes (the run course is somewhat longer than 6k). Just before jumping on the bike, I took on board a Torq Forest Fruits gel (I usually do this in the last 60 seconds of the first run). I then worked my way through about 3/4’s of a bottle of Torq Energy (natural flavour) on the bike to claim first place.

Nick on top of the podium

With one more race left in the series, I’m going all out for the series win!

So, what’s next? 

In the short term, I will be getting a bit of speedwork in next week, competing in the Essex AAA’s 3,000 metres and in mid July I’ll have the final instalment of the Hillingdon series.”

Catch you later.

Nick

Many thanks to all our sponsors who have made everything this year possible:

Bikes: Quintana Roo www.quintanarootri.com
Wheels: Fast Forward www.ffwdwheels.com
Power: Saris www.saris.com
Delicious, natural and healthy performance nutrition: www.torqfitness.co.uk