Essex Cross Duathlon, one year to the Nationals and 1st place

Having had a crazy week and nearly run out of time again I thought I would simply use Multisport Management's report from Sunday's Essex Cross Duathlon here:
over to race organiser Graham Lee ( www.multisportmanagement.co.uk ):


The Essex Off Road Duathlon, sponsored by 53-12.com and Essex & Suffolk Water went ahead despite the weather. The original 4k first run was binned as the route was impassable due to the river bursting its banks, so the second 2.5k run was used to top and tail the event.

Essex Duathlon 2012 - Mudtastic

Race morning was met with very chilly winds but decent enough sunshine after heavy overnight rain, so 70% of the entries decided to get out of bed and turn up and give it a go with five waves setting off at 2-minute intervals. Jez Cox set the pace over the 2.5k first run (9:04) with Kirsty Prior first lady in 10:57s.

The next stage was to tackle the newly extended 14km bike route. One word describes this year's course....MUD! With the previous two years being hard-packed, this year the mountain bikes had the advantage over the cyclocross riders. Jez Cox dominated the bike on his Trek Superfly 29er in a time of 38:50. Kirsty Prior was the fastest female again in a time of 51:17, both athletes streching out their respective leads.

Out onto the final run and Jez and Kirtsy romped home in a time of 9:52 and 12:58 respectively to take the wins and go into next year's English Cross Duathlon Championship as clear favourites.

Roy Young was top male vet and finished second overall, having found a new lease of life in the muddy stuff and Dan Foster was third. Jenny Hartley and Clare O'Neill completed the ladies podium a couple of minutes after Kirsty.

The pair relay teams had their debut in this year's race, with the runner completing both start and finish legs and the cyclist doing the middle section. It was easy to spot who did what, as the runner would have a lot less washing to do when they got home! Well done to Jamil and Jason for fastest male pair and the Jellicoe family for fastest mixed pair.