Race report by Sally:
Yesterday Rob Sharkey and myself took part in the Ray McGloin duathlon organised by Tri Rivington held at Smithills school.
Same run course for run 1 and 2 with an out and bike course.
The event started at 8am, just as it started to rain. We left the school heading straight into the long and rather unpleasant climb to the top of Smithills Dean Road. We then took a right turn along Scout road for a short distance before turning right through the view point car park. Down hill then, that was much more pleasant 😁 working our way along the pathways, back out onto Smithills Dean Road and back down to the school and into transition.
After a bit of faffing I was on the bike and heading once more up the climb of Smithills Dean Road, turning right onto Scout Road, dropping down to Belmont Road and along the undulations to Abbey Village. By now the rain had increased, the temperature had dropped considerably and the wind had most definitely increased. At the turn around point I had to stop and put my jacket on as I was both soaking and freezing. And then I hit the headwind! I found the conditions challenging and at times felt like I was hardly moving forward. Eventually I made it back down to the school where my transition faffings were second to none! My hands were so cold and wet I couldn’t even tie my laces but fortunately Mel was there to help me out! 🤣
Back up the road again to repeat the run route with painful legs and glutes although the wind and rain had stopped which did help. I was so pleased to turn down hill through the car park and almost managed to smile when I finally got over the finish line!
There were only 29 single competitors and 6 teams and Rob did amazing to get 3rd place overall.
I didn’t quite come last….but not far off…. and I did manage to get 3rd lady!….but there were only 4 of us 😁
This isn’t an easy course and given the weather conditions I found it very challenging and to be honest very unenjoyable 😬 This was my return to multi sport competition but I am now questioning this decision! 😵💫…..might just stick to Parkrun 🥰
