The first duathlon of the Riyadh Triathletes season was held recently. The race was generously sponsored by Harley Davidson of Riyadh in association with the Harley Davidson Owners Group and included a BBQ, raffle with Harley prizes and prizes for the winners.

Ranco farm was the venue for a duathlon consisting of a 3km run, 10km bike and 2km run. Sadly, thunder and rain greeted early morning competitors and not the thunder of Harley Davidsons. Despite the weather, the organizers were amazed to find athletes were already waiting to register for the race when they arrived at the farm.

After a 30 minutes delay for the rain, winner of the first two races Martin Ball led the athletes out on a brisk 3km run. The field stayed together as Kristoffer Ahlin and new triathlete Petr Pospisil chased Martin Ball all the way to the 1st transition. Ball, the 2011 champion, defended his lead and set off first on the 10km bike phase. The fight for the lead lasted the whole 10km course where Ball and Ahlin used their course knowledge to put a few seconds between themselves and newcomer Pospisil. Both Ball and Ahlin came into the transition at the same time but a quick turnaround saw Ahlin take a lead of 8 seconds into the final 2km run. Not being the 2011 champion for nothing, Martin Ball closed the gap on Ahlin with every meter. In a terrific fight to the finish line Ahlin took the tape by only 2 seconds over Ball with a winning time of 36:59 minutes.

Not to be outdone in the women’s field were Freda Gocian and Jana Jaruskova. No quarter was given over the whole length of the course. Jaruskova led from the first 3km run with Gocian on her shoulder. Gocian navigated the transition the faster of the two and was first onto the bike course. Again a terrific fight broke out on the hilly bike section with Jaruskova able to catch the leader. Gocian took the lead again with another fast transition and the race for first position was on over the final 2km run. Jaruskova dug deep and was able to pass Gocian half way into the run and finished strongly to claim victory in 48:01 minutes with Gocian rallying well to finish just behind in 48:08.

Cameron Ball put in another impressive performance in the Junior category finishing first again. Demonstrating his ability to challenge the men he finishing in a fantastic time of 41:09 minutes for 6th position overall. His performance in this duathlon being as strong the previous biathlons should see him being a formidable competitor in the upcoming triathlons.

Two additional categories, a 6km run and a 21km bike race, attracted members of the Riyadh Road Runners and the Riyadh Wheelers taking the chance to compete in their off-season.

It appeared that the Runners are still in good shape as Franck Sigismondi finished the 6km course in 30:08 minutes only 3 seconds in front of Sebastien Jaulent in second. The 21km bike race was cleanly decided when Wheelers veteran Pascal Cudey taught Gerd Muetze a lesson by finishing first in 33:39 minutes over Muetze finishing second in 35:09.

After the drama of such hard fought and close races the sun finally made a welcome appearance and shone on the winners at the HOG awarding ceremony followed by a raffle.