Pete Baxter reports: On a very windy day with the odd snow shower it was a wonder that we got seventy nine hard souls to venture out for the last, and longest, race in the series. The courses were designed to bring everyone back to the Hub Bus on two loops of both the bike then run courses. The finishing times for the run and bike courses were almost exactly the same for each leader, with fastest times around 42 minutes.

The race was won again by Prasad Prasad who came from third off the bike to pull through by the start of the second lap. Neil Crampton was fourth off the bike and came through to second, with Andy Barlow, second on the bike having a super run to finish third. Adam Ward reasserted himself as first V40 male with Garry MacInnes second and Andrew Patience third, to give a Carnethy 1, 2, 3. Vet 50 honours went to John Goldsworthy followed by Bob 'Sniffles' Waterhouse, with Adam Anderson again representing V60 men.

The ladies race was superb, with Ruth McGavigan finishing first senior woman in 19th overall! Angela Miller took second in front of Claire Fennel. First Veteran 40 woman was Debbie Carr (I promised her highlights if she won again!), with Cali Ingham V50 woman after a heroic effort. Debbie and a few others sacrificed time to assist an injured biker, who required attention.

The Team race was well attended as many felt the Long was too far for a solo effort. Oliver Young and Mark Nixon took pole position in fourth overall with Mark having the fastest run time of the day. Ross Creber gave his dad Chris a superb lead, with father taking the decision to do the short loop first, thereby giving Prasad a near heart attack in his efforts to catch him on the first, longer, loop. Nice one Chris!

Series results

Disappointment for some who had gone off-course on the Short and could not make up the deficit – sorry guys. The overall was won by Prasad with two wins and a second, with Andy Barlow close on his heels with one win and two third places. Chris Boustred took third place with a total of 19 points. Ian Sill took advantage of Adam Ward’s poor placing in the Short to steal Adam’s V40 trophy by three points, with Ian Bell taking third and holding off a strong challenge from two athletes just two points behind. Bob Waterhouse and Adam Anderson won in their respective classes, as did Bob Soutar and Ewan Gowrie in the Team event.

The Women’s overall was won with three excellent performances by Ruth, with Angel Miller not too far behind in the points totals. Debbie Carr also had three straight wins and left Monica Magnessen with consolation second place. Cali Ingham had to finish the Long to take V50 woman and despite missing the prize giving was given her own special event, along with Bob, who had chivalrously gone to escort her in.

Another Glentress Duathlon Series comes to an end. Some photos are available courtesy of sleepmonster.co.uk, with the results in all the usual places. Our thanks to the huge team of helpers, marshals and sponsors who make all of this possible – Emma and Tracey from the Hub, Villeneuve Wines, Walter the Jeweller, the RAF for the Junior prize, Judith at PMS Ltd for the admin, Jenny, Les and Angela for the results, PCC and Glentree Bike Patrol for marshals and support, Forest Enterprise for support and clearing up all those fallen trees! A special thanks to Carl Lane for all his hard work and course collecting when everyone else has gone home.