A great race took place last Friday performed by the Riyadh Triathletes in the north areas of Riyadh.

The second duathlon of the season on the distances of 5km running 20 km biking and 3 km running gathered around 50 athletes kneeing to defy a new course in the area known as the Maze.

Paradoxically despite the name no one got lost and was the hilly biking track with endless straight roads and the high temperatures what made the spectators and participants delights and horrors. Thanks again for the support of Carrefour, Power Horse, 2XU, Sport in Life, Nestle Pure Life, Wolfi’s Bike Shop, Saab and Riyadh Palace Hotel, as no matter where, they are always taking care of the athletes.

Setting some needful adjustments to shorten the course in around 500 meters before starting to avoid interferences with the unexpected cars on the course, the race commenced with a mass start just few minutes delayed. Soon the fastest runners took positions ahead of the group. After a very fast first kilometer seven athletes, including the junior Cameron Ball, led the running.

With Martin Ball marking the pace for the group some units were left behind as kilometers fell down. It was first Gary McGregor and Gerd Muetze the ones losing contact while Cameron struggled to remain within the head giving up only in the last kilometer from the four men ahead. Martin, Petr, Kristoffer and Antonio entered together to the transition area stopping the watch below 20 minutes for the 5 km.

In a fast transition for the group leading the race with less than 10 seconds among them it was Martin Ball leading the bike length and closely followed by Kristoffer Ahlin who started putting distance with the other two pursuers, Antonio Castellanos and Petr Pospisil, both unable to keep Martin’s pace. Also soon Petr Pospisil was out of breath and Antonio Castellanos managed to go alone in third position while Gerd Muetze, recovered after a hard run, was coming strong overtaking Cameron Ball as well as Petr and entering in forth position to transition. With the head of the race settled and after a few kilometers with stable positions Kristoffer Ahlin made his move taking the lead on the bike and entering first into the second transition just seven seconds ahead of Martin.

The gap was still between both after dropping the bikes and putting on the running shoes, moment where Kristoffer pushed the pace finishing with an excellent running time of 11 minutes 25 seconds assuring his second victory of the season. Martin couldn’t stick to the pace and limited himself to control the timing to end in second position. Antonio Castellanos after a lonely race from the bike crossed the finish line in third. There was a good battle for the fourth and fifth places as Petr rejoined Gerd after the bike finishing finally ahead of him just for 15”.

In Category B the race was dominated by Jana Jaruskova, grounding her victory on a strong bike stretch. Finishing together with Katerina Holeckova the 5 km Jana’s fast transition opened the gap between both that only increased along the bike length. The final 3 km was an easy stage as the victory was already in her pocket.

Great race for Cameron, finishing first in his category and sixth overall. He was accompanied by Joseph Bowes in second, Cameron McDermott in third and Lucas Day fourth, all of them with great performances.

Results:

Overall: 1st Kristoffer Ahlin (1:02:07), 2nd Martin Ball (1:02:58), 3rd Antonio Rodriguez Castellanos (1:04:27), 4th Petr Pospisil (1:06:11), 5th Gerd Mutze (1:06:25), 6th Cameron Ball (1:09:00), 7th Brett Girven (1:09:39), 8th Chris Johnson (1:10:23), 9th Stuart Gillespie (1:11:28), 10th David Wright (1:12:51)

Category B: 1st Jana Jaruskova (1:24:28), 2nd Katerina Holeckova (1:28:02).

Category Junior: 1st Cameron Ball (1:09:00), 2nd Joseph Bowes (1:35:49), 3rd Cameron McDermott (1:48:32), 4th Lucas Day (1:52:46).