The inaugural Kielder Off Road Duathlon kicked off on the 9th January and proved to be a true winter event, with fresh snow on the ground and a chill to the air. The sun made an appearance and served to heighten the feel of being transported to Scandinavia in this vast forest landscape. Based from Kielder castle, former hunting lodge to the Duke of Northumberland, this was the perfect venue to stage the event and provided a backdrop like no other. With a fresh covering of overnight snow settling onto the frozen hard packed layer, the route was shortened slightly from the original distance but proved no less arduous in the conditions.

Photos courtesy of Rebecca Hughes: The Start

Starting from the castle gates the first run was a testing 6k route which took competitors onto the lower slopes of Deadwater fell before returning back to transition at the castle. With a fresh covering of overnight snow settling onto the frozen hard packed layer the route was shortened slightly from the original distance but proved no less arduous in the conditions. Starting from the castle gates the first run was a testing 6k route which took competitors onto the lower slopes of Deadwater fell before returning back to transition at the castle.

First back was Gary Grounds (Bike Traks) in a time of 21:36 followed by Andrew Higgins (Northumberland Fell Runners) in 22:22 and Phillip Addyman (Ryton Tri) in 22:42. In the women’s race Victoria Fawcett from Stockton was first back into transition in 29:22 followed closely by Joanne Caruthers in 29:27 and Louise Wilkinson in 30:14.

The mountain bike stage followed the recently completed Blue graded trail, however due to the conditions it was more white than blue! With a further heavy snow shower descending on the cyclists Paul Beckett from Manchester describes his take on this section, 'I actually think the snow added an extra level of extremism to the event, drafting behind each other along the fire roads in tyre width channels in the snow was awesome!' Matthew Jones (www.killerkielder.co.uk) was forced to look sideways as the driving snow relentlessly pounded his face.

Phillip Addyman took the lead on this 16k section recording 57:16 and the fastest bike split overall despite having to create a line in the snow that everyone else could follow. However, with two strong runners close behind there was no time to relax coming into T2. The womans race followed a similar fashion, with local girl Louise clearly thriving in the conditions 'The weather just made it even better’ and blasting round the bike route in 1:14:48.

Photos courtesy of Sport Sunday and Rebecca Hughes: cw l-r. You never know what you’ll see out there! 5th Female Jody Nichols enjoying every minute!

The second 7k run took competitors onto the route of the old railway line and across Kielder Viaduct, passing over the spectacular frozen landscape of Bakethin Reservoir nature reserve. Thinking the route followed the same course as the Borderer fell run here, Philip took a wrong turn leaving Andrew with a two minute lead over a fast running Gary. The latter part of the run climbed steadily back into the forest making use of the forests extensive network of trails before a strength sapping section across an open field. With the towers of the castle in sight above the trees the finish appeared deceptively close as Andrew and Gary exited the trees together to slog it out in the last few hundred metres. Sprinting up the Castle drive Gary crossed the line two seconds clear to win in a time of 1:49:57 and recording fastest run splits of the day. Stephen Magrath (Heaton) finished 3rd in a time of 1.56.26.

Despite a good lead going into the second run Louise knew there was no time to ease back and enjoy the scenery as Joanne and Victoria exited the transition within a minute of each other and were determined to close her down. Louise clearly had enough in reserve and held on to win in a time of 2:22:42 recording 34:11 for the run and finishing 33rd overall. Joanne stormed round the run in an impressive time of 30:24 closing to within a few minutes to finish in 2:25:54. Victoria finished strongly in 3rd position and was first FV40.

James Dickinson (One Life Biking) finished an impressive 4th overall in 1:58:35 to claim the MV50 title. A youthful looking Trevor Bryant from Galashiels was first MV60 describing his experience of the race as 'a friendly event that offered a wonderfully wintry challenge.'

Photos courtesy of Sport Sunday and Rebecca Hughes: cw l-r. Along the Forest Drive; The lead group; Kielder Castle

With first three to count in the team competition, Simon Gibbs led Wallsend Harriers to victory finishing 5th overall in 1:58:43. Relay pair Jonathon Reid and Michael Chambers (team NBS) won the relay category in 2.29.26.

The spectacular conditions really added to the uniqueness of this event, indeed many competitors crossed the line with big grins after ‘playing in the snow!’ Kielder formed the second race of the newly created High Terrain Events duathlon series. Following on from their consistent performances at Whinlatter in November, Simon is the current male series leader with Louise heading the female category.

Next up is Grizedale March 13th, finishing with Newlands on April17th. For those looking for a further challenge the Kielder Ultra is set for June 26th. Visit www.highterrainevents.co.uk for further details.

Overall male results

1	Gary Grounds (MV40)	BikeTraks	1:49:57
2	Andrew Higgins	Northumberland Fell Runners	1:49:59
3	Stephen Magrath	Newcastle	1:56:26

 

Overall female results

1	Louise Wilkinson	Northumberland	2:22:42
2	Joanne Carruthers		2:25:54
3	Victoria Fawcett (FV40)	Stockton	2:29:27

 

1st Male V50

James Dickinson

One Life Biking

1:58:35

Team

Wallsend Harriers

Relay Pairs

Jonathon Reid/Michael Chambers

NBS

2:29:26

 

Click here for full results

 

A big thank you to Simon Banks from Kielder who put in an immense amount of effort to ensure the event went ahead. Everything from initial course design at the outset to setting up the transition area in a snowstorm at 8pm on Saturday evening, then re spraying direction arrows on the trails at 4:30am on Sunday morning after his efforts the previous day had been covered by the overnight snow. They obviously make them hard up in Kielder!

Many thanks to the Forestry Commission and Kielder Partnership for allowing the event to go ahead in this stunning location. Also thank you to our sponsors, Up and Running, Hagloffs and Purple Mountain who provided some fantastic prizes.

Lastly thank you to photographers Sport Sunday (www.sportsunday.co.uk) and Rebecca Hughes (www.thehouseofhues.com) for providing us with some fantastic pictures.