Kielder Off Road Duathlon
Muddy Conditions at 2nd Kielder Duathlon
Ian Mulvey (High Terrain Events) / 12.12.2011
Amidst the vast expanse of Kielder Forest in Northumberland National Park, right on the Scottish Border, this is a truly unique area combining open moorland, a maze of forest trails and as usual, plenty of hills, totting up to a whopping 1,700' of ascent. Kielder Castle, former hunting lodge of the Duke of Northumberland, provides a spectacular backdrop for the event.
A strong line up in the men's race including Carlisle Tri's duo of Mike Pluckrose, second place finisher at Whinlatter and Mark Ryan, last winter's High Terrain duathlon series winner. Also on form from Whinlatter were Daniel Clarke (Mersey Tri) and John Bousfield (Arragons Tri). In the women's race, defending champion Louise Wilkinson (One Life) knew she had a battle on her hands with the top two finishers from Whinlatter Philippa Liles (Keswick) and Angela Brand Barker (Keswick Bikes) in attendance.
The initial 4.27 mile run included an ominous 666' of ascent climbing up to 1,279' onto the open slopes of Deadwater Fell. Moving into an early lead was 20 year old Tim Calder (Hexham) opening up a gap of over a minute at the top of the 1.5 mile climb over the chasing group. The descent off the moor was a true test of off road running ability. A narrow sinuous trail through the heather with an abundance of icy cold bogs to wade through, it was going to be tough.
With over a two minute lead, Tim stormed through the castle gates recording 31:12 (Run + T1) and was out on the bike before the next runner was in sight. With slick (in the mud) transitions Mark (32:47) and Mike (32:55) set off in determined pursuit.
Former international orienteer and fell runner Angela was clearly thriving on this kind of terrain leading the women in 41:37. However, right behind were Philippa in 42:03 and Louise in 43:00. In fourth position and moving onto her strongest discipline was Kirsty Eastwood (A Quick Release).
The 13 mile mtb route was based around the Blue graded trails but with 750' of ascent and climbing up to 1,280' Combine this with Kielder's own unique microclimate and it was always going to be a testing route. Tim's earlier decision of not layering up was proving costly as a heavy snow shower forced him to stop and don a waterproof.
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