TORQ’s Dave Mcwhinney is a very accomplished Ironman racer. This gives him tremendous endurance, but can this be translated in to raw speed in a sprint duathlon?

Here’s waht Dave had to say: “After the trials of the Ironman World Championship and as a way of winding down, I fancied trying something different, so decided to try a duathlon for the first time – the Cheshire Duathlon. The race consisted of a 4 lap 5 km run, a 3 lap 18 km bike and a repeat 4 lap 5km run to finish.

As it was my first duathlon, I was unsure about pacing, so took it easy for the first run (far too easy really!) and quite a few people overtook me. Through T1 and onto the bike and the legs were feeling great, so I decided to push really hard on the bike and started passing people straight away on the undulating course and kept a consistent pace throughout the ride.

Then it was into T2 (after achieving the fastest bike leg of the day),  I was in 4th position going into the second run and started to push it hard, but by the 4th lap my legs started to feel very heavy, so I was glad to cross the finish line to finish 7th overall and 1st in my age group.

It was a change to do a duathlon, but it was a shock to the system having to do a second run, so I came away with an increased amount of respect for all those out there who do duathlons regularly, which includes my fellow TORQ team members!”

Thanks, as ever go to our wonderful sponsors:

Delicious, natural and healthy nutrition: www.torqfitness.co.uk
Frames – Merida: www.merida-bikes.com
Cycle Shoes – Lake: www.lakecycling.co.uk
Helmets & Glasses – Limar: www.limarhelmets.com/eng/
Cables – Jagwire: www.jagwireusa.com
Aerobars – USE: www.use1.com
Wetsuits – 2XU: www.2xu.com
Wheels – Fast Forward: www.ffwdwheels.com
Powermeters – Powertap: www.cycleops.com