Last minute changes resulted in the Worchester double sprint triathlon becoming a duathlon. Not that this overall fazed Dave Mawhinney as he won his age group convincingly and was in the top 10 overall – pretty impressive for a 54 year old…

This is what Dave had to say: After getting over the shock of the proposed triathlon being run as a duathlon due to water contamination, it was down to Worcester to take park in an event new to me. The event would now involve a 5km run, 56km bike and 10km run to finish off. It was run by the local Worcester tri club at the Top Barn leisure centre. As I don’t do many duathlons, pacing the first run was hard to judge. It was good to race in warm conditions for a change and as the race started, I decided to take it easy on the first run. The run course was mainly off road and very undulating with a tough hill at 3km, so I was pleased to get to T1 and start the bike section without my legs being too shredded.

The bike course involved 2 laps and the strong westerly wind made the first half of the bike lap very tough, but I got into a good rhythm on the bike and was soon able to catch people who had pushed too hard on the opening run. Onto the final run, which was 2 laps of the initial 5km section. Running on the uneven surface was sapping, but by trying to keep a constant pace I was soon heading for the finish line. With time to ease up near the finishing line I was pleased to finish 10th overall and 1st in my age group.

My next race will now be the Liverpool Olympic distance triathlon, which will be the final qualifying race for this year’s world championship to be held in London in September.

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