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{"ID":169,"SpaceID":3,"PageID":73,"HasCommentsThread":false,"SeoTags":{"OpenGraphTags":[{"ID":"og:title","Name":"Rapid Racing in Rumia Pt 2 - European Sprint Duathlon Championships"},{"ID":"og:type","Name":"website"},{"ID":"og:url","Name":"https://www.petersfieldtriathlonclub.co.uk/Cms/Spaces/CN/Rapid+Racing+in+Rumia+Pt+2++European+Sprint+Duathlon+Championships"}],"NonOpenGraphTags":[]},"Path":"Rapid+Racing+in+Rumia+Pt+2++European+Sprint+Duathlon+Championships","Title":"Rapid Racing in Rumia Pt 2 - European Sprint Duathlon Championships","Author":{"ID":72,"Name":"Joshua Lahiri","CompanyName":null,"HasEmail":true},"Version":2,"IsDraft":false,"IsOldVersion":false,"PublicationDate":"26/05/2025 09:24","VersionDescription":"v2 - Joshua Lahiri","HideHeader":false,"IsFullWidth":false,"ThemeCode":null,"BackgroundColour":"rgb(182, 47, 61)","JumpLinks":[],"Blocks":[{"Columns":[{"Width":8,"WidthClasses":"col-md-8 col-sm-12 col-xs-12","Elements":[{"ID":984,"Type":"HTML","Content":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\u0022color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\u0022\u003eWelcome back to Part 2 of our opening round of race reports for the season, and we jump straight in to the deep end with the European Sprint Duathlon Championships held in Rumia, Poland in April. For part 2 we have another GB AG debutant in Amanda Simpson, and the chase for the medals is a go!\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\u0022color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\u0022\u003eThe first time I heard about Age Groups was from the winning lady in my first local duathlon in Autumn 2023 (when I unexpectedly came second lady to a 22 year old.) My first thoughts were – Really? Surely not? Oo well how good would that be?\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\u0022color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\u0022\u003eFirst. Get a coach. 2nd Get a good coach 3rd, train, Train, TRAIN!!!!!\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\u0022color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\u0022\u003eTurns out structured training and positive feedback is highly rewarding and addictive. Which was handy as there was a lot to cram in around a part time job.Don’t tell anyone, but I found seeing my training data strangely compelling. Buying shiny new toys and gadgets and finding out about aero position swiftly followed. Oh, and I developed a relationship with Zwift\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\u0022color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\u0022\u003e.Fast forward to race day…Saturday was beautifully sunny, but chilly at 3 degrees. Athletes discussed arm warmers and base layers, decisions were made and I set out to rack the bike at 6.30 am. We lined up for equipment check. The race official checking my number and helmet held my bike as I undid jackets and lifted warm clothing to show her my number. And then, inexplicably she let go of it. I was still caught up in my jacket, so had the unnerving image of my beautiful bike crashing to hit Polish tarmac, rear derailleur first. Crash!!! Aargh! She apologised and asked if it was alright…. A fellow athlete confirmed that something was bent and I could only use the middle gears. My bike computer had sadly broken immediately after the course recce too, so I guess it wasn’t necessarily a stress-free start. However, this was forgotten about when I caught sight of my beautiful friends, each strikingly wrapped in a Union Jack. They had travelled over to support me and I was absolutely beyond excited!!\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\u0022color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\u0022\u003eId worked out where to place myself on the start line, I knew there was a very fast Italian woman and a fast British woman, so I tucked in. During the run I felt really strong, glancing at my watch I realised I was running well. The other 2 were in front but I felt happy.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\u0022color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\u0022\u003eHeading out of transition on the bike, we were slowed at a ramp which had caught out a lot of the faster male athletes. My friends had earlier witnessed several tripping and somersaulting over each other, one athlete looked to have got injured. I then made a rookie error – I couldn’t see anyone in front and had to ask – where do I go? I had to wait for someone to overtake me and latch on. Definitely a potentially costly mistake. This was a draft legal race and for once I was in a pack of about 6 women including 2 Polish Athletes. This made it a lot easier. I took my turn on the front, I realise not everyone did, but maybe they were hanging on. Id felt the pack could have gone faster, but when I surged forward, they weren’t keeping up and I wasn’t near enough to the group in front, so I made the decision to stick with the group.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\u0022color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\u0022\u003eI really felt that the bike was easy. So after Id got into my run shoes I set off knowing that I only had 2.5k to go to finish my first European race. My legs felt a little weird but OK. Running along past my vocal friends I saw the second place athlete heading back. Was I third? I had thought there was a woman in my age group in front. I was gaining on her, I thought I could catch her to leave 100m to go and my adrenaline surged. I passed her, but it turned out she was in the group below me. I didnt know my placing until a few hours later, so I enjoyed the friendly post race vibe and shared hugs with other women who I had made friends with. I had made 3rd, I was elated and received a Bronze medal at an impressive awards ceremony that evening.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\u0022color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\u0022\u003eThis trip was absolutely the best, Id raced well, shaving 22 secs off my 5k PB. Could I have caught the woman in Silver? She beat me by 13 secs over the 2 runs, 30 seconds on the bike, but Im afraid to say a whole 48 seconds on transitions. My transitions have improved, embarrassingly they used to be worse. But I attended the transition workshop that Leighton and Julie led. This was very close to this race so I’ll be continuing to practice new strategies they taught me.. So who knows what I might do in my next duathlon.. Im crossing my fingers…\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","ContentConfig":{"Caption":null,"Icon":null,"IconColour":null,"CaptionColour":null,"UnderlineColour":null,"TextColour":null,"FontSize":null,"LineHeight":null,"RequiresLoggedInUser":false,"BottomMargin":0,"PaddingLeft":"5px","PaddingTop":"0px","PaddingRight":"0px","PaddingBottom":"0px","PhoneVisible":true,"TabletVisible":true,"DesktopVisible":true,"CssClass":null,"PageLinkName":null,"PageLinkCaption":null},"ComponentCode":null,"ComponentError":null,"BottomMargin":"0px","PaddingLeft":"5px","PaddingTop":"0px","PaddingRight":"0px","PaddingBottom":"0px","CssClass":null,"ResponsiveClasses":"","PageLinkName":null,"PageLinkCaption":null,"Background":{"Colour":null,"ImageURL":null,"Filter":null,"IsParallax":false,"Image":"","Tint":""},"ImageConfig":{"ImageURL":null,"ObjectFit":"contain","ImageHeight":null,"FrameStyle":null,"BorderRadius":null,"Caption":{"IsActive":false,"Text":null,"SubText":null,"Font":{"Size":null,"Colour":null},"SubFont":{"Size":null,"Colour":null},"Alignment":null,"Position":null,"Margin":null,"BackgroundColour":null,"Blur":false,"Hover":false},"AltText":null,"LinkURL":null,"BottomMargin":0,"PaddingLeft":"10px","PaddingTop":"10px","PaddingRight":"10px","PaddingBottom":"10px","PhoneVisible":true,"TabletVisible":true,"DesktopVisible":true,"CssClass":null,"PageLinkName":null,"PageLinkCaption":null},"IgnoreCache":false}]},{"Width":4,"WidthClasses":"col-md-4 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