Recently it was the annual ITU world duathlon championships. To participate, you have to qualify and this is achieved in the months leading up to the race in large competitive domestic races. If you’re fast enough, you then earn the privilege of racing in GB kit, representing your age group and the opportunity to compete against the world’s best. The race changes venue every year, so we were lucky to have the most prestigious race on the duathlon calendar in Scotland – even better when Cat Morrison won the race on home soil. Nick has been concentrating his efforts on this race for some period of time and did himself proud. I’ll let him tell you how it unfolded.

Nick Shasha – World Duathlon Championships Edinburgh

“The anticipation that this would be the most gruelling Olympic distance duathlon in history proved quite accurate in the end. On the event Facebook blog many were fearful of having to tackle Arthur’s Seat 7 times and climb around 700 metres of ascent.

So what was it actually like? It was fantastic, painful and exhilarating, though probably not in that particular order. I decided pre-race that the only way to approach this beast was head on and to put in a mighty first run which I managed. At around the 5k mark I was around 3rd or 4th and only drifted back to 7th by the time T1 arrived some 33 minutes later. Initially the fatigue of the run overcame me and I took the first lap on the bike very steady but gradually found that my confidence grew with every passing lap. Out onto the final run and it really was a case of get round and survive as it appeared to be with almost all the competitors. At this stage and after 2 hours of pain I was just hoping to not get overcome by cramp or fatigue. Somehow I managed to make it through and finished 18th in age group from around 60 recording the 7th fastest 1st and 2nd runs.

I ended up using two Torq caffeine gels (Forest Fruits and Banoffee) and a Black Cherry one. The first just before coming into T1 and the 2nd and 3rd out on the bike. All washed down with Torq Energy (natural flavour).

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

Bikes: Quintana Roo http://www.quintanarootri.com/
Wheels: Fast Forward http://www.ffwdwheels.com/
Power: Saris http://www.saris.com/
Cycle shoes: Lake http://www.lakecycling.co.uk/

Delicious, natural and healthy nutrition: https://www.torqfitness.co.uk/

Until next time.”

Nick