Merrell TuffMan Duathlon and 10km Run
Saturday 6th February 2010

Pippingford Park, Nutley, East Sussex

The fourth and final event in the Merrell Off-Road Series was the culmination of an exciting winter series of mountain bike duathlon and trail run events organised by Human Race. A brand new venue in East Sussex and a super technical course greeted both the duathletes and runners for what would turn out to be a gruelling race.

The Merrell TuffMan had promised to be ‘tough' and it certainly lived up to expectations. The new course had been designed to be more technical, especially on the bike and with sections running along the side of the lake, it was a challenge for cyclists just to keep their bikes upright and avoid sliding into the water. The 10k trail run, was simply a mud fest and had challenging,technical twists and turns to keep everyone on their toes.

The World Record Holder of ‘10 marathons in 10 days' (brathaychallenge.com) Adam Holland (Votwo) was the ‘surprised' winner of the 10km run and thrilled with his performance ‘I didn't expect that at all!' he exclaimed. Only seconds behind him in second position was David Hellard and Mike Page in third place. First lady was top triathlete Fiona Moorhead-Lane who declared it to be ‘hilarious and loads of fun!' with Yseult Whitaker in second and Carys Mills in third for the ladies. The canicross runners with their dogs were back in action with Mark Dunbar, running with Norman and Ringo, taking first place.

In the duathlon however, all eyes were on the supreme Colin Dixon who already had three wins out of three under his belt in the series… could he make it four out of four? But XTerra pro Sam Gardner and newcomer Tim 'Macca' McDowell along with the ever present Jim McConnel and Paul Davies, were all on the start line to see if they could give him a run for his money. Dixon was sadly forced to pull out however after one lap of the bike with technical difficulties and McDowell suffered a ‘race ending' puncture. This left Gardner, McConnel and Davies to battle it out for the win. The hugely experienced Gardner put the hammer down though and pulled away leaving the rest in his wake, to take the win with a great performance.

McConnel took second place with Davies in third. ‘Gardner was supreme on the bike today' said McConnel ‘and he's in great form at the moment. I'm really happy with second place though and now off to XTerra Portugal which will be fantastic. Thanks to Human Race for an excellent series it's been great fun'.

‘It was perfect conditions for me today' said Gardner ‘I love racing in the mud and the course was ideal for me too. These events are perfect sharpeners for the XTerra circuit. I'm off to Saipan in a few weeks to try and retain my title, and really looking forward to a great season'.

For the ladies it was the ever improving Fay Cripps taking her second win of the series and an impressive 40th place overall, with Claire Weldon in second and Elizabeth Wilson of clapham chasers in third. Team Hoof It took the honours in the relay to score their fourth win out of four.

The TuffMan marks the final race in the Merrell Series for this winter. However more off-road fun will be back in November – check out www.humanrace.co.uk for more details.

Next up from Human Race is the Lucozade Sport Race Your Pace Half Marathon on 28th March at Dorney Lake, enter online at www.humanrace.co.uk.