There’s a dark horse in our midst … belated congratulations must go to Sue Powell for her age group first place in the grueling, inaugural Storm the Castle Duathlon that took place in and around Ludlow castle on Sunday 19th April. Billing itself as ‘possibly the UK’s toughest duathlon’ the race did not disappoint. If I tell you that the legendary Mick Ligema was virtually bed-ridden (exaggeration) for a week afterwards you get the idea. When I saw Sue’s time in the first Hereford 5k, I knew that damage limitation was my only hope. My pre-race mantra was “Go real slow on the first 10k, hammer the 20 mile bike, max out in the final 5k” but this turned into “crawl around the first 10k, suffer on the bike and die on the final 5k”. I have seldom been so knackered at the end of a race. Five members of the burgeoning “Croft Ambrey Triathlon Club” took part in the race which I totally recommend for next year. Croft Ambrey results (out of 195 finishers) were: 23 Sam Mayglothling 2:16:01, 26 Mark Lamonby 2:16:58, 113 Mick Ligema 2:41:32, 142 Sue Powell 2:52:02 (awesome), 144 Neil Taylor 2:53:25 …. cross-training is very healthy – I might try it next year.
NB Next year’s Storm the Castle [April 17th] won’t clash with Shobdon Wood – [May 8th]