Racing roundup: June 2010

Apologies for the week's absence (and apologies to Lynn Truss of Eats, Shoots and Leaves fame if the apostrophe was used there incorrectly, if it should have been used at all). We'll let you know where we've been later, but for now we need to let you know what TNSers have been up to outside of the points series. Yes, there is life outside of triathlon (apparently)! Or so we've been told....

On June 5th Suzanne Ferrier and Erin Gillis took on the Mooseman 70.3 in New Hampshire and came out the other side with times of 5;32.05 and 6.01.49 respectively and placed well in their age-groups too, 6th and 10th.

On June 12th Stacy Juckett-Chestnutt did the New York Road Runners Mini 10K. True to Cookie Monster's prediction, she went under 40 minutes, 39:46 to be precise, for 6th Age-Group.

June 13th saw the Muffin Run 5k in Lunnenberg. This is always a popular event attracting several hundred runners and we often wonder where Lunnenberg puts them all. Certainly there can't be that much parking in Lunnenberg can there? Oh well, not our problem. Ex-Elite Colin Edwards was the first triathlete in 17:08 and kept pace with Rami "the Rocket" Bardessy for a kilometer or so before the Rocket lit the jets and took off to win. Rayleen Hill was 51" behind in 17:59 for second lady, only 16" behind the "Pocket Rocket" Denise Robson. So that put Rayleen as first regular person. She must have been giving Denise fits and starts as Denise usually wins by much, much more than that! Other names we saw from the Muffin Run were Jim Thain, Cookie Monster (yup, he's racing again), Mike Pettipas, Steve Saunders, Roxanne MacLaurin, Tina White, Tammy Slaunwhite, Francine Comeau, Jane Thain, Amy Gough and Bev Richardson.

The week after this was the Johnny Miles Running Event. At least two of the Juniors were in the 5K; Myriska Caulier and Kali Caulier. Kali got an age-group gong but wecan't remember which one, sorry. In the 10K we saw Jim Thain, Jane Thain, Dianne Chaisson, Emily MacDonald, Mike Pettipas and Tine White. In the half, Parker Vaughan ran an outstanding 1:20:02 in his first ever half marathon to place second overall, with only Soloman ahead of him. We saw Parker in the start corrall and asked him what his plan was; " a 37 (10k-Ed) and see what happens after that" was the reply. Clearly he was up to the task and ran a 37 10K, then another one (because one 37' 10K isn't hard enough) and then did an extra kilometre at the same pace! With some degree of modesty, the TA was three and a half minutes behind Parker but we still made the top 5! Stacy Juckett Chestnutt, "fresh" from NY was "out to see what I can do, no pressure"and ran a 1:29 for 2nd lady overall! She jumped for joy when she crosed the mat but jumped so high her chip didn't register amd Mike Richard had to hand-enter her time! Other names we saw were Marie-Claude Gregoire, Denise Mader, Pam Waterhouse, Nancy Petrie, Georgie Gillis (1st Age-Group), Bev Richardson, Steve Saunders and Ken Grandy.

Also held on that Sunday was the Bicycle Nova Scotia Provincial Road Race Championships, held over multiple loops of the Riverport circuit, the same one as the duathlon in October. And you thought one loop was bad. We wonder if they had the infamous headwind-all-the-way-around that we have? Brigham Poole won the U17 race, continuing the tradition of triathletes taking provincial RR C'Ships (Andrea Morritz and Julie Curwin being two to do so in recent years, and going the other way, Jeannie Ju who was part of a winning team at the old Investors Group Tri has recently started doing all three sports herself). Mac Grant was 5th in the B race (4th in the Provincial standings) following his showings at the Halifax Criterium where he rode the B race and the fixie race.

Last weekend Laura Keefe did the Ironman 70.3 Buffalo Springs Lake event in Lubbock TX and was 9th in her age-group with a 5:11.

That pretty much gets us up to speed on the racing front. As usual, this review comes with the caveat that the TNS member-tracking software is, as always, on the fritz and as such, we can't (won't/shouldn't ever) guarentee that we got everyone. Our sincerest apologies if we missed you and leave a note in the comments below to let us know how you did. We know it goes against the ethos of telling us how you did, but you can also comment anonymously if you wish. We do read every comment.

On the TNS side in the same time as this runfest we've had Cyclesmith, Du It Like Bryan, Greenwood and Ingonish. We have a couple of weeks off now in Nova Scotia; not a planned break but be rest assured the officials will be all getting their cars serviced this week. We're back on the road with a car full of buoys, turnaround signs and traffic cones on July 18th for the Port Hood triathlon, which also sees the first ocean swim of the year (are you ready?) and then Provincials in Bridgetown on the Natal Day weekend. As always, you can register on Atlantic Chip.

This weekend sees another double-header; the Cross Border 10K Challenge (Amherst) on Saturday and the Duncan Hadley Tri in Fredericton on Sunday. Good luck to everyone doing one or both components of that. We will single out for a special shout-out Michelline McWhirter from RNS, who also runs (no pun intended) the YRS series, who will be doing her first tri in Freddy on Sunday. Give her a cheer if you see her.

As always, happy and safe training and we'll see you in a transition zone sometime soon

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Greenwood Triathlon/duathlon

Before we get onto a report from the 14 Wing Greenwood Tri, this would to be an appropriate time to revisit the "are the Piggott brothers unstoppable?". Firstly, a little aside about an upcoming change of name. At the Ricoh Awards the MC seemed slightly linguistically challenged as she pronounced Piggott Piggeau. This wasn't prententious Frenchification as she pronouned Gaudet Gaudette later that evening. Everyone at the TNS table was taken with the new pronounciation, s0 Piggeau it is. Besides, being twins, it lends itself nicely to the plural Piggeaux.

So, are the Piggeaux unstoppable we asked?

The results were evenly distributed between the three answers; 30% thought the Piggeaux were merely mortal (in triathlon terms) whilst 35% thought, quite practically, they couldn't win in the 40-44 age-group so what did it matter. However, seeing as they have now won three of the four TNS events this year (Brad DIFS and Greenwood, Matt- Navy) and didn't go to the fourth (Cyclesmith) then would seem that the hard data agrees with 30% of you and yes, they are unstoppable.

That said Greenwood did not all go the Piggeaux way and that just made it more exciting. Matt led two-time G'wood winner Parker Vaughan and brother Brad out of the pool. All three were under nine minutes. Business as usual then. The Piggeaux may have had the lead coming out of TZ but Parker had them squarely in his sights and had chased them both down by the end of their first lap of three on the bike-course. Brad and Parker stayed pretty much glued together, albeit the required 10m apart, for the next 15 kms, with Matt a few hundred metres adrift in third.

The bike was changed from last year; gone was the chicane and in it's place a long, straight course which was universally liked by the athletes able to compare the two courses. It was pretty flat too, a gradual downhill of only a few metres to the turn, and the corresponding "climb" back "up". We all should say thank-you not only to RD Denis Choquette but also Eric Travis as well as the base staff who allowed us to use this road, which paralleled the runway and as such was on the operational side of the base. We think an Aurora may even have taken off during the race! Vroom vroom!!

The CP-140 Aurora; does the 10m draft-zone start at the end of the tail or the end of the boom?

Anyway, back the race, where Brad and Parker came into TZ almost together and headed out on R2; Brad on Parker's heels. The run course was also changed from last year and now took in most of last years bike-course, a straight shot through the PMQ to Greenwood Mall and back, to be done twice.

They were running 3:30 kilometers, or about 17kph, matching each other stride for stride, and this was after the swim and bike At 3.7 kms, Parker put in a little dig and momentarily dropped Brad, but the latter came back onto his heels. The pace didn't drop, instead it increased to almost 3:15 in the final kilometer. Finally, with about 200m to go, Brad put in his first burst of the run and got a miniscule gap on Parker, which he maintained to the line, to win by seconds. A thrilling race to watch to be sure, and also a tactically astute race by Brad, by "sitting in" (as much as you can in a non-draft event) for as long as possible and making his only big kick when it counted and making it stick. Both Brad and Parker were under the hour, 59 minutes. This was (or course) a course record (it being a new course) but an event record too.

For the record, Matt came in third and first "regular person" was Tyrone "now known for reasons of national security as" Grande, followed by multi-Investors Group winner Andrew MacDonald and Eric Travis.

In the ladies race, Laura Keefe, the winner of the Bluenose Half-marathon a month ago was the ladies winner. Her time of 1:10 was two minutes shy of Emily Wood's event record in 2008 but it is still the second fastest ladies time at Greenwood in the three years of the event. Junior-team athlete Marie Soehl was second and Janelle Knickle was third.

Moka Case was there, gonging up in her age-group for the second race in a row. We have to admit, TZ is always a little it sunnier and a there's always a whole lot more laughter around when Moka's racking.

Denis decided to spice up the Greenwood event this year by putting up some prize-money in the form of the "beat Parker" prime. Simply put, beat Parker Vaughan, the only overall winner for the event ever, and win $200. No wonder Brad was going so hard. The ladies race was handicapped, so that they also stood to win $200 if they came within 10 minutes of Parker's time. It was a chase-format in other words. We'd hummed and ahhed over the handicap time but in the end the handicapping was perfect. It came down to the wire but Parker didn't get girled, but only by the thinnest of margins, 48". Perhaps a real chase format, where the ladies started 10 minutes ahead of the men would have yielded a different results; do you really think Laura wouldn't have dug in a little harder if she'd spotted the Brad/Parker tandem behind her? Other RDs take note - it would be an exciting race.

In the accompanying supersprint, Kali Caulier and Liam Patterson took top honors. It won't be long before they're kicking our arses too!

There was also a 5120/5 duathlon. This saw Alan Miner out in another strong performance which puts him in a commanding position in the duasthlon points series after three races; Shawn Amirualt will have to win Riverport in October to take the series we think! Kurt Stevenson was second, back on his bike and racing well after that crash two months ago. Ian Loughead was a third. For the ladies, Alexa Vodicka

It was not a day without challenges for those in reflective vests either, and congratulations to all involved for rising to, meeting and defeating the challenges sent their way. As you are by now aware, the event was not chip-timed (more on this later but it wasn't an Atlantic Chip problem) and Daivd (sorry we did not get your full name) spent and hour in the sun deciphering scrawls on finish-line sheets and doing math to provide full results for everybody within an hour of the last finisher. Also, a job-well-done pat on the back to all of those volunteers who thought they'd be standing on a corner and instead ended up staffing a stop-watch; a position of infinately more responsibility.

Of course, a huge felicitations et un grand merci to Denis Cnoequette and his team for putting on a great race and also, after two years of wind and rain, the event was finally blessed with sun and warm. Another thank-you to the base-commanders for allowing us to use a road on the operational side of the base, the new ride totally rocked!

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Photos from Laura Keefe and Norma Patterson.

Greenwood; Kurt Stevenson

On Sunday 13 June I was off again for my third race in 3 weeks. The air force base at Greenwood was hosting a sprint triathlon, tri-a-tri and duathlon. Again, with my aversion to pool swims, and healing shoulder, I opted for the duathlon.

Following the 90 minute drive from home, I had enough time to warm up well and chat with some of the other racers. The sun was out, there was very little wind, and the temperature was starting to climb. And I forgot to bring a hat and sunscreen... oh well, I was not planning on being on course for very long.

The distances were certainly not conducive to my best abilities... 5k/20k/5k... definitely a runners race with a short bike thrown in. The run was 2 out and back loops of 2.5k through the base. The bike was 3 loops of out and back on some really flat, smooth roads. I guess it is normally quite windy, but there was very little present today. My “strategy” was to limit the damage on the first run and stay as close to Alan Miner as possible (he is running really well); hammer the bike; and hope for the best on the second run.

As the gun fired, we all took off. Alan quickly shot to the front (his strategy was to obviously put as much distance between him and me!) while I settled in to what I felt I could handle “tolerably”. Ian Lougheed was also with me for about the first 1.5k, but he quickly dropped off the back. The rest of the first run was uneventful. Time of Run 1: 20:26. 2 into T1, and about 45 seconds back of first.

A quick change onto the bike, and I went into “chase” mode, catching Alan by the midway point of the ride. I continued to ride hard, keeping with the race plan, and entered T2 with the fastest bike split and about a 45 second lead.

Another quick change back to running shoes, and I was off, hoping I had enough in me to hold Alan off...

...nope. He caught me at about 1.5k and continued to run away from me... I could do nothing but try to limit the damage and fight for as many “series points” as I could (total points are based not only on finish position, but also time differential from winning time). Run 2 time: 21:56. Total time: 1:17:09. 2nd overall, 2nd age group.

So, 2 duathlons, 2 second places. And head to head, Alan and I are tied... hmmm, I may have to try and get in another race against him to break the tie!

Thanks to my sponsors for all their support: ASICS, Aerobics First and Synergy Sport.

Keeping the rubber side down...

KAS

Enfield 5K; Kurt Stevenson

On Saturday morning (June 5th), we headed off for my first go at the 5km distance in a few years. The race took place in Enfield, about 40km outside of the HRM. This race is part of the Run Nova Scotia Timex Series, so there were bound to be plenty of solid athletes present.

The day was warming up quickly, with very little wind and plenty of sunshine. In conjunction with the Timex race, there was also a 1.5km race for kids (wow, some of these youngsters were tiny, but awesome to see them go out and do their thing!). There was also a 10 miler for those looking to do a longer race. TNS’s own Andrew Dacanay and Ron MacDougall both did the 10miler, while Stacy Chesnutt, in training for her assault on a 10k PB in New York on 13 June and I toed the line for the 5k. Wife Rayleen (and previous tri-geek) has switched her focus back to her first love of running (her bike is in the basement collecting dust) and was also present going for the win.

The Enfield 5k is a straight out and back on the mostly flat rural roads around Enfield. Before the race, Stacy came up to me asking what my goal time was... I’ll be honest, I was not sure... with the lack of training, I was hoping to go sub 20-minutes, but by how much, I did not know. I thought mid-19's would be possible. So, we planned on running together. At 9:20, the gun sounded and we were off. Already, Stacy was about 10metres ahead of me... and the distance continued to grow... guess I wasn’t going fast enough!

I hit the first km in 3:50. Ok pace, now hold it. As I approached the turn, the leaders were all on their way back and looking relaxed (running is something we can all “do”, but those that are truly gifted runners really make it look easy and relaxed, even when they are working hard). 2.5k in 10:03. Hmm. This is going to be close if I want to be sub-20.

On the return, there was someone behind me named “Dion”. The reason I know this? Everyone still on their way out cheered for him... so, I “pretended” my name was Dion so I could get some of the love too! I passed a few more runners on the return, and eventually crossed the line in 20:03... so close! Definitely the slowest I have gone as long as I can remember... but, I am starting to feel better, and the body is aching less and less each week. At least I can get out and compete! I finished 23rd overall, and 4th in my age group.

Other TNS’ers that I saw... Shawn Amirault did the 1.5 with his little one. Stacy ran a quick race, finishing in 19:21.

Rayleen finished 3rd, collecting some much sought after points for the Timex Series. Andrew ran a very solid 10miler, finishing 5th overall. And Ron added to his total race count. Congrats to everyone!

Next up, the Greenwood Duathlon this weekend.

Thanks to my sponsors, ASICS (www.asics.com) Aerobics First (www.aerobicsfirst.com) and Synergy Sport (www.synergysport.com) .

Keeping the rubber side down...

Kurt

Du It Like Bryan Race Preview; Mark Campbell

Hey folks,

This years 7th edition of the Du It Like Bryan is indeed a go and will take place this Sunday, June 20th.


With over $8200 proceeds donated in the first 6 yrs, the event supports amateur sport, and is run in the memory and unique style of
Bryan Scallion.



This year will again have the usual huge prize lot and buffs for first 65 to registrar, as well as maintaining the same commitment to safety,
fun, and competition.  The usual free BBQ and mud is also available to any who come to compete or watch, and of course you must have the
mandatory squeaky toy or bell for the bike.


Event info can be found at http://www.atlanticchip.ca/events/details.php?show=542


For insurance coverage and sanctioning, all non-Triathlon Nova Scotia members must pay a 1 day $20 fee, or $10/person for a team.  I've reduced the base fees $30 to help ease that charge, and with a good
turnout, we will still be able to make a good contribution to the memorial fund and also support the multi sport efforts of Triathlon Nova Scotia.

I hope to see many of you there, and be sure to bring a friend or family member to watch, or even give it a try.  i still need a few volunteers
as well so please pass them anyone interested on to me and will keep them busy and feed them too.

gudhealth2all and see everyone Sunday,

Mark Campbell
Du It Like Bryan event organizer
wentworthdu@yahoo.ca

Trash talking

If you scoot over to the side-bar on the right there, you will see a new graphic. Email trash-talk has spilled out into the public domain and here at the TurnAround we are only too willing to give it an airing and maybe even stoke the flame. Mwah ha ha!

In the red corner (the predominant colour of the MacDougall tartan) we have Ron "McIntrepid" MacDougall, the man who will do a marathon on any given, random Sunday purely because he hasn't done one yet this week. This guy has more dossards in a drawer at home than TNS has in it's stash at the office. He has so many numbers written on his arm over the course of the summer that his farmers' tan is less a line than a palimplest. You get our drift.

In the blue corner, we have Cookie Monster, Mark "the Mule" Campbell; past-president of TNS, multi-race-organizer and guy with the largest number of Ironman completed under his number belt than any other Nova Scotia athlete, past or present. This is the guy who does Ironman as training for other things, things like E2C and TransRockies. Not to mention doing the 280km Cabot Trail Relay in an ever-decreasing team.

The smack-down is quite simple; Tartan Tally or Cookie Counter?

If you don't mind, the TurnAround will act as TD for the event. Normal rules apply. We'd like to see sportsmanlike conduct; no spitting, gratuitous elbows, coarse language, blows below the belt or sticks in the spokes. To qualify for the counter/tally, the "event" must have issued a bib-number, bike-number, body-marking, timing chip, Popsicle stick or the sport-appropriate equivalent. We'll accept anything as long as this is done. A multi-day event will be counted as multiple events as long as there is a break (or maybe a sleep) between the events. Transrockies; six legs in six days, would be six events. E2C, a 24 hr orienteering event run off in one go will be one event. In the event of a disagreement, the gray area will be resolved by the Competition Jury, namely by polling all of you.

In case the Tartan Tally and the Cookie Counter are tied come December, we'll need a decider; a Ron vs Mark cage-fight perhaps. Or maybe a time-trial! Or competitive coffee drinking? We're leaning toward a combination cage/coffee/TT but we'll let you decide if it comes to that!

Yes, we acknowledge that by merely ("merely", ha!) counting the number of races, and not the type of race, we are giving equal weight to, say, a 5 K and an Ironman. Here at the TurnAround we are not distance snobs, and recognise racing for racing's sakes. It doesn't have to be long to be a meaningful sporting achievement.

At the time of publication it's (we think) 14-12 to the Tartan Tally, with Mark making a swift comeback after the Cabot Trail to do both Cyclesmith and the Muffin run. So good luck guys and may the best man win. Plus, it's going to make an awesome end-of-season graphic!

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Ricoh Sport Awards

Last night, Saturday June 5th, saw the Ricoh Sport Awards dinner in Halifax. The Ricohs (formerly Ikon Sport Awards) recognise the best of amateur sport in Nova Scotia.

Each Provincial Sporting Organisation (such as TNS) nominates their candidates for each category; male athlete, female athlete, coach, official, volunteer and so on. Each nominee gets a trophy. Here are the people that TNS put forward;

(l-r) Macgregor Grant (representing the Canada Games Mens Team of Mac Grant,Brad Piggott and Parker Vaughan), Luke MacDonald (Corporate Sponsor), Andrew Dacanay (Official), Emily Wood (Female Athlete), Brad Piggott (Male Athlete), Matt Piggott, Jason Lawton (Coach) and kneeling (perhaps not surprisingly after the Cabot Trail) Mark Campbell (Volunteer). They each got one of these...

For every category bar Voluntold, two committees look at each nominee and category to come up with a shortlist of three for x Of The Year. Although someone has to win this, just making the shortlist is almost as good as winning. as it recognises that for the year, you were the best athlete, official or whatever in all of sport in Nova Scotia.

For such a small organisation, TNS has enjoyed considerable success at the Ricoh/Ikons recently, with Jason and Jennifer Lawton being shortlisted for Coach of the Year in 2007, Jason Murphy making the Official of the Year shortlist in 2009 and we're pretty sure Ken Grandy made the list a few years ago but for the life of use we can't remember what the category was. Furthermore, Shawn Amirault won the Fair Play award last year for an act that still brings a tear to the TurnAround's eye.

As an aside, Mike todd, a TNS board-member was nominated and won Coach Of The Year for Sailing!

We nominated Aerobics First as Corporate Sponsor and they not only made the shortlist, they won the Corporate Sponsor Of The Year award, beating Bell-Aliant and Nautel (a local company who manufacture radio equipment). The committee recognised A1's grass-roots support for local amateur sport, and as TNS wrote in their nomination package "we cannot put a dollar figure on their support, but their philanthropy is more valuable than any cash donation".

Well done and congratulations to all of the nominees, and a huge congratulations (and a huge thank-you for all your support) to Luke and the gang at A1.

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Navy Trident's Duathlon Report - Kurt Stevenson

Just to get you in the mood for Cyclesmith on Sunday, here's Kurt Stevenson's view of the Navy Tridents' Duathlon last week. Thanks Kurt -(Ed)....

I woke up this morning to the wonderful sound of rain and a heavy fog. Not exactly the type of weather I was hoping for as my first race back (and on a bike!) since my accident 7 weeks ago. Oh well! The race today was a 3km run/20km bike on the air force tarmac, followed by a second 3km run. Although the field was small (most of the multisporters opted for the sprint triathlon, but with my distaste for pool swims and my healing shoulder, the duathlon was ideal for me) I knew there were some competitive athletes, and that it would be a great race.

With the amount of fog on the race course, the start was delayed by about 25 minutes, so more pylons could be laid down on the bike course... vision was limited to about 100m. Finally, the horn sounded and we were off. Wearing my ASICS Noosa Tri shoes, I settled into a “tolerable” pace, entering T1 in 5 place, th 30 seconds back of Shawn Amirault, who entered T1 in first. I now had some serious work to do if I wanted to get a chance for the win. Run time: 10:42. 5th fastest.

I hammered the bike, and was able to move into 1st with about 6km to go (thanks Gray for the great helmet and 9.5 rear wheel... really nice ride and comfortable!), but was not able to shake Shawn, so we entered T2 together (legally, of course!). Bike time: 33:54. Fastest bike split.

After a quick change back into the Noosa’s, I sprinted out of T2, knowing I had to beat Shawn quickly (and get away from the rest of the fast runners behind). But, to no avail... we ran together until about 800m to go, when Shawn put in a bit of a burst and gapped me by about 10m. I could not get back to him... I did hold off those behind, and finished second, losing by 6 seconds... but I know I emptied the tank, and had nothing left to give. Run 2: 12:00. 3rd fastest. Overall time: 56:34. 1st Age Group, 2nd Overall.

It has been a long time since I have been in a real battle like this... and it was really hard, but also so much fun! I am looking forward to my next race already! The results can be found at: http://www.atlanticchip.ca/events/results-show.php?result=987

Thanks to my sponsors for all your support: ASICS (www.asics.com), Aerobics First (www.aerobicsfirst.com) and Synergy Sport (www.synergysport.com).

Keeping the rubber side down...

Kurt

Cyclesmith Duathlon

Well, it never rains, but it pours. Figuratively speaking at least, although we just got an absolute soaking on a run. We were really talking about how there were no races for ages, and now there's one every week. Last week it was your choice of Navy Tridents of the Cabot Trail Relay, and most of you wisely opted for Navy; although we understand the weather-conditions were truly epic. The rain held off the Cabot Trail until the minute the last runner finished the final leg (we kid you not). We'll bring you a recap of the CTR when we've recovered all our sleep and a recap of Navy when we get one. Anyway, back to races and this week we bring you the Cyclesmith Duathlon.

The C'smith Du is one of the oldest extant races in Nova Scotia, and certainly the longest running duathlon. This year marks the 24th running of the event. It started out life at Portugese Cove (on the Sambro loop) before migrating to it's current spot at Lawrencetown Beach. The course has further evolved to give us the race in the current incarnation of a 5km run, 34km bike and 6 km run.

The race starts on the road opposite the canteen at Lawrencetown Beach and you run west along the 207 towards Halifax. The run heads almost immediately uphill, but it isn't that long or, truth be told, that steep. Nevertheless, make sure you are well warmed up before the start as this hill could do funny things to cold muscles. The turnaround on R1 is by a church and after a few hundred metres on the way back you'll hang a left off the 207 onto the trail which you'll follow back to TZ. It may not be as smooth as tarmac, but this return route avoids having to climb the hill to get back to your bike.

Get your bike in TZ and head to the mount-line, which is usually in the gravel car-park but most choose to run their bikes to the road to mount. The surface in the car-park is not conducive to flying mounts, and it's bumpy enough on the way out to make slipping your feet in your shoes impossible. Plus, the more superstitious of us try to preserve their tyres on the way out; they'll ride back in, after all a flat 50 m from your rack-spot isn't going to wreck your day, but one 35000m from your rack-spot might just. Granted, it's only for 50 metres, and not so much Paris-Roubaix as Strada Bianca. but it's useful to plan around.

The bike course is a simple out-and-back east along the 207 to the DOT facility just before the intersection with the 107 and back again. The course has a generally good surface, certainly we've never found it too hard to negotiate on the drops or in the position. There is a fair amount of climbing onthe course though. We often think about it in two halves. The first half is gently rolling; enough to get you out of the saddle every now and then, but not too challenging. The second half has one large climb, followed by a more gradual downhill to the turn, before turning around and doing it all again. So maybe it's not so much halves as quarters. Whatever the fraction, given that both rouleurs and grimpeurs complain about it (too much hill, not enough hill respectively) then it must be offering something for everyone.

The TT leaves you back in TZ. Do the helmet and shoe thing and head out on R2, which is wholly different to R1. Instead of heading out on the 207, you hit the boardwalk and run eastwards into the scrub-grass behind the sand-dunes. This is a non-technical off-road run in which the terrain ranges from soil to gravel and crusher-dust and back again with a little tarmac thrown in at the turaround. As with the bike, it's flat to start with a couple of little hills thrown in for good measure.

To be honest, despite being off-road, the only thing tricky about R2 is the whole post-bike legs thing. Unless there's a monsoon out, we don't even think trail-shoes are in order for R2; your regular road shoes and a sense of humour about running with rubbery limbs are, as usual, the only requirements.

A quick look at the start-list (you can register on Atlantic Chip) shows that many of the usual suspects are signed up already and chasing the Worlds Du spots on offer. However, at the moment, the Navy-du 1-2 of Shawn Amirault and Kurt Stevenson are yet to ante up, but 3rd place Alan Miner already has. At the moment, Stacy Juckett-Chestnutt is the only person doing the weekend's double; that is the Enfield 10 miler on Saturday and the Du on Sunday. We reckon we will as well; a marathon and a mountain leg of the CTR in two weeks apparently isn't enough excitement, so we reckon the double should just about do the trick of making us take a break.

For more information see the event website. See you Sunday (or maybe even Saturday)

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Photos from last year's event from Cyclesmith and Atlantic Chip. Results for last years event at Atlantic Chip.