DUATHLON - Varsity 2011
Sunday 23 January 2011
Varsity Duathlon 2011 was held in a dedicated wave at the F3 Events Winter Duathlon at Dorney Lake near Windsor on the 23rd January. The race had a ‘sprint’ duathlon format, consisting of a 5 km run immediately followed by a 20 km bike, then finishing with another 5 km run. The flat ‘out and back’ run route, and closed bike course alongside Dorney Lake made for a fast race, and the clear, if cold, day set the scene for a brilliant race.
Cambridge’s Alex Young set the pace on the first run, leading out a group of six Oxford and Cambridge runners before effortlessly stepping up a gear 3km in to drop the pack. Alex finished the first run almost thirty seconds clear of the next racer, Andy Collier, also of Cambridge. Oxford's Lee Harper put in a strong effort on the bike to move up from third place and into the lead. Building on this, he headed into the bike-run transition in first place. Alex wasn't ready to give up however, and produced another pacey run to retake the lead and win the race in a time of 1:07:11. Meanwhile, Simon Gilbert and Tim Humpton (both Cambridge) had fantastic races on the bike, only to be overtaken by Sean Ledger (Oxford) and Andy Collier (Cambridge) during the second run. With so many individual battles, the men's varsity match, decided by the total times of the first three finishers from each team, was incredibly close. Cambridge's total time was a mere 42 seconds less than Oxford's, just clinching them victory!
In the women's race, things were more one sided, with Oxford’s Clare Kane leading from the start to finish in a great time of 1:14:41, and Josephine Anselin finishing two minutes later to put Oxford racers 1st and 2nd on the podium, with Cambridge’s Lowri Richards finishing in third place.
Mens Ladies'
| 1 | Alex Young | Cambridge | 01:07:11 | 1 | Clare Kane | Oxford | 01:14:41 | |
| 2 | Lee Harper | Oxford | 01:07:56 | 2 | Josephine Anselin | Oxford | 01:16:43 | |
| 3 | Sean Ledger | Oxford | 01:10:04 | 3 | Lowri Richards | Cambridge | 01:26:10 | |
| 4 | Andy Collier | Cambridge | 01:10:25 | 4 | Julia Wedmore | Cambridge | 01:26:30 | |
| 5 | Tim Humpton | Cambridge | 01:10:45 | 5 | Laurel Steinfield | Oxford | 01:28:28 | |
| 6 | Taylor Ahlgren | Oxford | 01:11:03 | 6 | Alison Smith | Cambridge | 01:33:17 |
Men's
Cambridge Win
Cambridge 03:28:21 - Oxford 3:29:03
Ladies'
Oxford win
Cambridge 4:25:57 - Oxford 3:58:15
