John Tatton of On Your Marks Event reports on last weekend’s Althorp Duathlon, complete with 25 piece orchestra…
Snow may have caused the initial postponement of the Althorp Duathlon on 11 February but that turned out to be a blessing as 253 athletes turned out this weekend on one of the finest days this side of winter.
The course was designed around a stunning 5km multi-terrain run through the tree-lined avenues of the Spencer Estate and a beautiful 20km ride around the Northamptonshire countryside.
Event attractions included trade stalls, race commentator, sports therapist, sports photographer and 25 piece orchestra playing to the athletes at transition with Althorp House, ancestral home of Diana, Princess of Wales, in the background.
Leading from the start, Colin Norris completed the two 5km laps to be first into T1 with a fast 10km run of 33:48, closely followed by Ian Lawton and Phil Holland from Team Corley Cycles (Blue).
Norris couldn’t hold onto this lead on the bike section as Lawton and Holland came past with Lawton the first into T2 with Holland only eight seconds behind. A closely fought second run saw Lawton and Holland both finishing in sub two hours, with Lawton holding onto his lead to win in 1:58:30, with Holland coming in second in 1:59:06. Making up lost time on the bike Colin Norris came back with the quickest second run to steal third place on the podium with 2:02:33
First lady into T1 was Stacey Penn of Northantrs Tri Club. An impressively fast bike section developed her lead, which remained unchallenged throughout the course with finishing time of 2:16:16. A quick bike split from Anouk Molliex from Leamington Cycling and Athletics was not enough to catch up with Penn or third place finisher Christine Howard from Police Sport UK.
Head to www.onyourmarksevents.org for full results and their 2012 race schedule.
