"The sun always shines on the Merrell MudMan"

Sarah Russell reports on a great morning of racing.

Once again, athletes were greeted with glorious spring weather for the Merrell MudMan duathlon and run on Saturday 7th March.

The event took place on an army testing ground near Guildford in Surrey with both a 7.5km offroad run and a mountain bike duathlon on offer, over 160 athletes eagerly lined up for the challenge.

‘The Merrell Mudman is not for the fainthearted’ explains John Lunt of Human Race ‘with lots of hills, lots of mud and a tough, tough route….pain is guaranteed. We like to think everyone has a lot of fun as well though!’.

The 7.5km offroad run was first on the agenda, and fresh from his victory at the Merrell ICEMan only two weeks ago, David Chapman once again took the win in a fantastic display of cross-country running. Chapman destroyed the field to win in 32:21 with Darren Bird taking 2nd in 34:44 and Brent Jones in 35:11. The ladies race was also a straight-forward affair with Amanda Morwood taking victory in 42:51 and 19th place overall. Never in any danger, Morwood looked incredibly strong throughout and led from start to finish. ‘I train here on these hills’ she said ‘and I love running on this sort of course, it was great fun!’. Second over the line was Laura Flegg in a superb 43:41 and taking third was Emily Davies in 45:49. Both women were running as part of The Sisterhood Challenge (www.sisterhoodchallenge.com) - a dynamic group from South West London who take on extreme adventure events including paddling down the Amazon and rowing an all-female dragon boat across the English Channel to raise money for ‘Babes in Arms’. Both Flegg and Davies were all smiles crossing the line, claiming that the race was ‘seriously hilly, but just a fantastic challenge!’.

The Duathlon was next, with an eclectic mix of hardened triathletes, mountain bikers and adventure racers all taking part, the racing would prove to be interesting. With previous two-times winner Colin Dixon not on the start list and Jim McConnel also absent, the men's race was wide open. The first run followed the same gruelling 7.5km course that the runners had just completed, and then the 15km bike and another loop of the same 7.5km course for the final run.

After the first run, Sam Gardner and Eliot Chalifour (Vo2) came into T1 neck and neck in 30:58 and 31:04 respectively. Onto the bike however, and Gardner used his superb skills to create an insurmountable lead, completing the 15km bike course in a stunning 39:13. The second run was then simply a formality with Gardner then taking the overall victory in 1:43:07. Chalifour had been pushed on the bike by the improving form of Paul Davies, but re-claimed his lead on the final run to take second in 1:49:59 and Davies 3rd over the line in 1:52:47. In 4th place overall was Bradley Hales and at only 18 yrs of age, this performance showed huge future potential. Gardner is about to embark on a World tour of the XTerra circuit and was using the Merrell MudMan as a final sharpener before his departure. He was delighted with his win ‘doing a race like this is perfect preparation’he said ‘you would never work as hard in training, and it's brilliant to push yourself on a challenging course’.

The ladies race welcomed previous MudMan winner Aileen Anderson, back to protect her title. And she did that in great style. Anderson, who has been focusing on her running since the last event, cruised to victory in a superb 7th place overall and in 2:07:41. ‘I love hills’ she exclaimed ‘this course suits me down to the ground!’. Next over the line, and only just over a minute behind, was Fay Cripps in 9th position overall and in 2:08:59 and in 3rd place Becky Crisp in 2:23:52. For Crisp, it was the icing on the cake, having won her entry in a competition on www.sportsister.com ‘I'm delighted’ she said ‘I really enjoyed it and had a great race’.

For full results check out www.humanrace.co.uk

Full Results
Merrell Mudman Run
Merrell MudMan Duathlon

The Merrell Mudman returns in November 2009, but check out www.humanrace.co.uk for their full calendar of triathlon and running events throughout the summer.

COMING NEXT…. The triandrun Ballbuster Duathlon Saturday 21st March, Box Hill, Surrey.