Ahlin outduels Ball to win Riyadh Triathletes 3rd duathlon

Last Friday saw the 3rd duathlon of the Riyadh Triathletes season — the distances increased again to a 6km run, 25km bike and 4km run.
The hottest race of the season, held at The Maze, saw all the athletes severely tested on a hilly and undulating course.
Starting early to beat the temperature the athletes lined up for a mass start facing a run of 6km. For an event of this distance it is important to keep an even pace and conserve energy for the later stages. However, the pace was high from the start and gaps quickly appeared in the field with a lead group of five forcing the pace. Only in the later stages of the 6km stage did the group break up with Kristoffer Ahlin stopping the clock at 22:53, closely followed by Martin Ball 22:58, Antonio Castellanos 23:03, Gerd Muetze 23:11 and Gary McGregor 23:36.
A quick series of transitions saw the athletes out onto the bike course for 2 laps of 12.5km each. The course route was mostly straight allowing for an triathlon style aerodynamic position, however, a hilly course with constant incline changes never allowed the riders to fully settle. With temperatures rising the athletes mostly faced lonely rides and personal battles over the 2 laps.
Ahlin was first out of the saddle with an impressive time of 42:38 averaging over 35kph, Ball remained firmly in touch with a ride of 43:13 and Gerd Muetze completed the cycle in 44:03.
Similar transition times of around a minute put Ahlin out onto the final 4km run just 30 seconds in front of Ball with Muetze in touch less than 2 minutes behind Ball.
Ahlin proved his fitness and race management skills starting the run at a good pace and perhaps settling quicker into a rhythm. He eventually extended his lead by a further 30 seconds to finish in a 4k time of 15:38 for an overall time of 1hour, 23 minutes and 08 seconds.
Ball, impressive all season, came in second place a minute behind with an overall time of 1hr 24 minutes and 08 seconds.
Muetze, again running an intelligent race, finished in 1hr 27:15. The honor of the fastest final run went to Antonio Castellanos on 15:28 which gained him fourth position after losing time in transition 1 and the bike.
In category B Katerina Holeckova worked hard all race to finish in 1hr 54:11. Loreli Watson in her final race for Riyadh Triathletes finished in second position.
Ball was the only junior male in the race claiming the category win. Again he came in an impressive sixth position overall in 1hr 40:54. Phoebe Lloyd-Evans in the junior female category put in a strong performance full of grit and determination but had to shorten the final run due to a muscle injury picked up on the bike section.
It was a particularly difficult race for most of the competitors, many of whom had to dig deep in the hot conditions.
The club would like to thank sponsors Carrefour, Power Horse, 2XU, Sport in Life, Nestle Pure Life, Wolfi’s Bike Shop, Saab and Riyadh Palace Hotel.
Overall: 1st Kristoffer Ahlin 01:23:08; 2nd Martin Ball 01:24:08; 3rd Gerd Muetze 01:27:15; 4th Antonio Castellanos 01:36:28; 5th Reiner Gocian 01:38:10; 6th Cameron Ball 01:40:54; 7th Paul McParland 01:41:14; 8th Gary McGregor 01:46:29; 9th Richard O’Leary 01:47:26; 10th Katerina Holeckova 01:54:11; 11th Andrew Bennett 01:55:25; 12th Adrian San Juan 01:56:14; 13th Jeff Forrester 02:08:04; 14th Dragan Petrovski 02:12:45; 15th Loreli Watson 02:22:45.
Category B: Katerina Holeckova 01:54:11; Loreli Watson 02:22:45
Junior Category: Cameron Ball 01:40:54