Raf Baugh who's website recently featured as our website of the week sent us this report on the Saucony Australian duathlon Championships.

The 2009 Australian Duathlon Championships were conducted in ideal conditions along the shore of Lake Burley Griffin. With the National Parliament and War Memorial as backdrops on either side, the race venue was certainly a striking location for the event.

The Long and Short Course events drew just under 300 competitors and was conducted by the ACT Triathlon Association, who did a great job organising the event at such a great location with full road closures in place. The course was quite flat, except for a few highway overpasses on the bike and the course was conducive to fast times with mild temperatures and mild winds.

In the male elite race, former Australian Marathon Champion, Daniel Green showed strong form as he covered the opening 10km run leg in under 31 minutes and had already opened a large gap over Rafael Baugh, who had in turn put over a minute into the main chasing group. Onto the bike and while most of the elite athletes held position, the big mover was Adam "Thighs of Justice" Conquest who smoked the bike course and recorded the fastest bike split by nearly three minutes. He caught Baugh in the last kilometre of the bike but was unable to catch Green who entered transition with a 40 second lead over Baugh and Conquest. A sharp transition and intial kilometre of the run saw Baugh close to within 18 sec of Green at the 1km mark but Green was able to then find his running legs and hold the distance to record a well deserved National Title in 1.49.35 21 seconds ahead of Baugh in 1.49.56. Conquest faded slightly after the bike but came through in third place (1.51.38), just clear of an improving Steven Hadley (1.52.31).

In the Female category, Nadelle Legge led throughout the race and showed her balance of strength take a three minute victory in a time of 2.08.3. The minor place getters were Wendy Walker (2.11.24) and Julie Gollan-Foard (2.12.41).

The race acted as a good hit out for many of our National age-group athletes preparing for the World Championships on the Gold Coast and in Perth later in the year. The competition was tight through the categories and will no doubt help athletes prepare for what should be a hugely successful competiton for the host country.

A full set of results and race report are available here.