Current ITU World Triathlon Champion and former World Duathlon Champion Tim Don did enough to win the BTF British Duathlon Championships held at Carsington Water, Derbyshire on a sunny April morning. The first 12K run at Ashbourne is deceptively tough around the perimeter of the reservoir, which has a total of 890 feet of climbing making not only the uphills tough, but also the descents give your tired quads a pounding.

The race was split into four waves separated by 5 mins each with both the elite men & women off in the first wave. The pace was hot with Phil Wylie (Diadorra/Bicycleworks) setting a blistering pace to break away and hit T1 in 41.39, some 21 secs ahead of Don and nearly 2 minutes clear of the third athlete into transition, Oliver Mott (Tri UK-Gatorade) the current U23 World Duathlon Silver medallist.

Meanwhile in the women’s event both the current World Duathlon Champion, Catriona Morrison from Scotland, and Bronze medallist, Michelle Lee (Team MK), were going head to head along with the best duathletes in the UK. After the first run they hit T1 neck and neck in 47.10 with a gap of 1 min 30 behind to the next athlete, Rachel Jones (Tri Preston).

The cycle section is undulating and scenic, taking athletes through the market town of Wirksworth and up the infamous Middleton Top climb, and is both demanding and technical with 2000 feet of climbing to contend with. Despite numerous mobile and static draft busters along the course there were no reported incidents of drafting, which was a testament to the course and athletes for a National Championship event.

Within a few miles on the bike, Don overtook Wylie and began to extend his lead whilst the others fought it out for the next places including the likes of Mott, Wayne Smith, James Attard (current Australian Duathlon Champ) and Matt Moorhouse (Tri Preston). Mott caught and passed Wylie up Middleton Top whilst the others were all within sight. On the technical descent down Nimble, Jack Attard punctured and was out of the race. The final stretch back into Carsington saw Mott put in a hard effort and managed to catch Don going into T2 – maybe a Don victory wouldn’t be a forgone conclusion! Dan Corner (Arctic Shorter Rochford RT) recorded the fastest 40K bike split of the day in 1.05.31 to move him up to 6th. In the women’s battle, Morrison had the stronger ride to put a 50 second lead into Lee going out onto the final run.

The second run is a flat out and back 4K along the dam wall and even though it’s short many athletes were pulling up with cramp following the arduous efforts in the previous disciplines. This wasn’t the case with Don as he headed out of T2 just a few seconds behind Mott and ran the fastest split (12.43) to pass Mott in effortless fashion to claim the National Elite title by a 5 second winning margin in 2.01.48. Wayne Smith had a strong bike to take the final spot on the podium.

There was no chance of relaxation for Morrison who ran a hard final leg to retain her National Championship title in 2.14.30 with Lee getting the silver a further 1.08 back. Third place went to age-grouper Robyn Golding (BAD Tri) in 2.25.24.

First male age-grouper back was Matt Cullen (TheEnduranceCoach.com) in the 25-29 age-group who made 9th overall and assisted by Marc Laithwaite (23rd) and Michael Pluckrose (24th) took the team prize for the second year in succession.

Full results are here.