5.6k trail run/15k mtb/5.6k trail run

The second Whinlatter Off Road Duathlon took place on Sunday 14th November with 195 competitors lined up for this challenging event.

Fortunately the weather remained settled after storms battered the area earlier in the week with winds of 85mph recorded.

The event is situated in Whinlatter Forest just west of Keswick at the top of Whinlatter Pass. This is a true mountain forest park with superb views over the Northern Lake District fells and with a network of trails and purpose built bike routes is proving to be a classic location.

Despite the relatively short distances this is a very testing course with over 4,000' of
ascent.

The race was won by Borrowdale fell runner Nick Fish who led throughout the whole event despite coming under pressure from Keswick Bikes pair Chris Hope and Andrew Wrigley. Nick built up a lead after the first run which climbed to the summit of Seat How at 525m the highest point in the forest, before returning back to the changeover at Cyclewise.

Leader Nick Fish on the run leg, by Rebecca Tatham. Phil Davis, Cyclewise traversing Seat How and Chris Steele, by Stuart Holmes.

Local riders Chris and Andrew pulled back some time on the 15km technical mtb course which included the full North Loop of the Altura Trail, a red graded trail involving switchbacks, berms, drop offs & ledges. This was followed by a testing steep climb on wide forest trails before finishing with a rapid singletrack descent back to the transition.

All three riders came in to transition within a minute of each other. However, once onto the second run Nick again increased his lead to win in a time of 1:44:47 narrowly missing out on Ricky Lightfoot's course record of 1:43:12.

First MV40 was Mark-Horsley Frost from in 1:53:58 finishing 6th overall, closely followed by Greg Mcnally from Manchester Fire and Rescue in 1:54:40.

The woman's race was dominated by British and Irish Mountain Running Champion Victoria Wilkinson who smashed the course record in a time of 1:55:16 and finishing 8th overall. This was despite puncturing on the last few miles of the bike. Victoria also recorded the second fastest run split overall on run 2.

Marie Louise Ridley won the FV40 in 2:26:30. Ruth Fletcher from Northumberland the FV50 in 2:52:25 and was the only competitor who managed to climb a deer fence!

The Relay Pair category was once again won by Chris Steele and Phil Davis of Cyclewise in a time of 1:34:54 taking 44secs off their previous time. In the Mixed Pairs category Kate Whittaker and Mike Wallis in a time of 1:58:04

First Female Relay Pair were Helen Brownlie and Kate Simpson in a time of 2:17:12.

First female, Victoria Wilkinson. Smiles all round. By Stuart Holmes

Results

Men's V50 Women's V50

This was the first event in the newly created High Terrain Events Duathlon Series.

Next event is at Kielder Forest on 5th December. Further details can be found at www.highterrainevents.co.uk