Dingo's Duathlon Discussion

Well what a race. It lived up to all expectations after the course was lengthened back to the long course event consisting of 2.5km run, 10km ride, 2.5km run, 10km ride and finally a 2.5km run.

After the late withdrawal of Chris 'The Animal' Waterhouse, the field was wide open for a new winner. Was the veteran work horse John 'High 5' Hill going to move up and take glory, or was Dingo going to repeat the 2003 performance and pull off a surprise victory, was Damo ready to show his peak conditioning and prep for the World Duathlon Titles and destroy everyone as he did in the earlier races, or was Mark 'Canuck' Gardiner going to live up to his expectation and smash us all with those blistering runs and take his virgin victory?

The 50 odd starters apporached the line and faced conditions that were cold and very very very very very windy. The starters gun went (well he yelled 'go') and as expected Kempy, Dave Mathews and Mark took off at a scorching pace.

The three quickly put 50 metres into a second pack consisting of John leading into a strong head wind, followed directly behind by Luke, Damo, Scott and Dingo (getting no benefit cause everyone was so short).

The pace was conservative but fast, and the pack stayed this way until the return home. Mark had about 40 seconds on the boys pack, who was lead in by Luke after a powerful surge about 500m out stretched the pack. Mark obviously needing to improve his transitions almost lost the 40s as John Hill in a flash was in and out of transition. He gapped the field and quickly put in 100m on the pack consisting on Dingo, Damo, Luke and Scott and some other random (don't know his name - sorry).

Dingo immediately looked at bridging the gap to John Hill who was running scared, like a rabbit being chased by a pack of wolves (it was true he was being chased by a pack of hungry wovles looking to tear him apart). But John had other plans 'chase that dam Canadian'. 4km in and John had increased his lead to about 200m, Dingo still trying to pull him back rolled to the back of the pack for a breather as Scott took his turn and steadily increased the pace. The pace was quick and Dingo quickly found that the random had blown and lost about 20m to Luke, who was quickly falling off the wheel of Damo and Scott. By the time it was realised Dingo was 50m down and in trouble.

Meanwhile John still riding strong, thought 'bugger this wind is too tough' and began to slow up a bit. This enabled Scott and Damo to pounce causing more grief for Dingo who still trying to claw his way back after dropping Luke. At the end of the 10km, John had pulled back Mark, who was caught by Scott and Damo, and eventually by Dingo who now was quite stuffed after 6km of chasing!

Another flash in transition saw all 5 out together, and Mark once again disappear, while John and Scott ran strong and steady. By this time is was quite obvious that Damo and Dingo were in serious trouble and couldn't hold the pace of John and Scott. By the turn around their lead had increased to 30 seconds, while a flying Luke had picked up Damo and Dingo in one foul swoop, and was set on catching John and Scott.

The second run once again proved to be the turning point of the race, as Mark increased his lead, over Scott and John who put 1 minute in to Dingo who had dropped Damo.

Into transition and by this time chaos had set in. The every increasing wind speed and the entire field on the run course proved a disater for John Hill who carelessly threw his helmet next to his bike not realising that 50 people decided to do the same thing. The wind was blowing helmets, shoes and bikes everywhere.

After trying on a few helmets, John eventually found his 'pink coloured stack hat' and joined Scott on the bike. This was pretty much the last I saw of them, as Scott and John rode together the whole way. Luke had managed to put 20 seconds into Dingo who had put 20 seconds into Damo. This is how it remained as John and Scott worked together, trying in vein to make up time on Mark.

Luke trying to make ground on Scott and John rode strong causing further grief for Dingo, who was stuck in no man's land trying to catch Luke but also holding off the presence of Damo riding with the unknown rider working together.

The final run saw Mark catch and pass Dave Mathews, and pull a galant second place behind the amazing Chris Kemp.

Scott and John had the battle of the day, both catching Dave, and John being out sprinted by Scott by a matter of metres, claiming 3rd and 4th overall. Dave and Luke came in 5th and 6th. Dingo struggled home in 7th, followed by the unknown and Damo in 9th.

Where it really counts, the group results, saw Mark 'Canuck' Gardiner first, John 'I would of beaten Mark if I hadn't lost my helmet' Hill, second, and Tony 'I can't believe Luke got me' Dingo sneaking on to the podium. Damo came in 4th, stating 'I could've and would've won if I wasn't racing in the 'WORLD CHAMPS' next week, I need to save the legs'.