Castellanos wins in style in gruelling duathlon

Friday 23rd August brought the toughest race of the season so far. Starting early to beat the worst of the heat the athletes faced a 10km run followed by a 40km cycle ride and finished off with a 5km run.
Despite the tough conditions and demanding distances the organizers were delighted to see 34 athletes gather at the Maze to compete, with 18 people attempting the full distance and 12 people and 1 team succeeding.
The race started with 4 laps of a 2.5km circuit. From the outset a very quick pace was set by the leaders and before 1km was completed the field was already split in several places. Antonio Castellanos completed the lap in first place closely followed by Sylvian Girardeau and then Michael Fox and Stuart Gillespie. Castellanos, winner of the last biathlon, showed that it is his running that is his strength. He was in imperious form as lap by lap he increased the lead to finish the 10km distance in 43:55, a great time given the heat and challenges ahead. Sylvian Girardeau was second through the 10km mark in 47:21 a deficit of 3:26. Fox and Gillespie finished in a joint third place time of 49:41 and Katy Taylor edging ahead of Adam Taylor in 49:48 and 50:38 for fifth and sixth respectively.
The bike section consisted of 3 laps of 13.3km, each lap with long 2km climb that gave the athletes a stern test. Boosted by people just contesting the bike section 25 people tackled the bike course. Bruno Syfring who had completed the 10km run came out on top completing the 40km course in an impressive time of 01:08:44 for an average of 35.3km/h, a quick pace over a hilly and undulating course. Dan Bennelich who contested the bike portion only came second in 01:11:47.
In the overall race standings Senior Paul McParland, who was seventh in the 10km run, moved up the leaderboard with a third fastest time of 01:13:28 despite technical problems locking him into a high gear. The bike course feature a particularly hard battle between Paul McParland, Michael fox and Reiner Gocian. However, it was Castellanos who consolidated his lead with a fourth place in the bike section with a solid time of 01:13:35.
With only a 5km run ahead the leaderboard showed Castellanos in first place with Paul McParland and Bruno Syfring both 07:45 behind and Reiner Gocian fourth 09:00 behind the leader.
Castellanos could have relaxed but instead showed a clean pair of heels and finished the 5km run in the fastest time of 25:56 to win by the impressive margin of 11:56, a total time of 02:26:26.
Podium places were decided with Paul McParland coming in second place overall and Reiner Gocian overcoming a 01:15 deficit to claim third place from Bruno Syfring.
Category B was taken by Jana Jarůšková in a total time of 03:06:21. Katy Taylor having had to retire from the race after 2 laps of the bike course.
The club would like to thank Robyn and Megan Gocian for helping the runners out with water. Sponsors Carrefour, Power Horse, 2XU, Sport in Life, Nestle Pure Life, Wolfi’s Bike Shop, Saab and Riyadh Palace Hotel supported the event.
Selected results:
1) Antonio Castellanos 02:26:26; 2) Paul McParland 02:38:21; 3) Reiner Gocian 02:39:11; 4) Bruno Syfring 02:40:13; 5) Michael Fox 02:42:54; 6) Eduardo Lando 02:47:41; 7) Stuart Gillespie 02:48:57; 8) Adam Taylor 02:52:14; 9) Martin/Stefan 02:56:09 (Team Victory); 10) Jana Jaruskova 03:06:21 (Category B Winner); 11) Sean Ellis 03:10:08; 12) Stuart Elliot 03:12:31; 13) Dragan Petrovski 03:38:00.