3rd in 2007 ITU Asian Duathlon Championships

Last Saturday March 24 saw my first major race for the season at the ITU Asian Duathlon Championships conducted in the province of Mukdahan in Thailand. After arriving in Bangkok, I was exceptionally well looked after by the proprietor of Asia Bikes, Mr Seema Permyong. Mr Permyong is the Thai distributor of many bikes and accessories including my sponsor CSK and his website www.asiabike.com gives some insight into his major role in bike distribution in Thailand.

The race itself was a 1 hour flight and 2.5 hour drive from Bangkok along the banks of the Mekong River near the border of Loas. After heading up on Thursday prior to the race we experienced great hospitality and food at the Poy Palace hotel and I was confident going into the race.

After a steady start to the run I worked into the lead pack of about 12 athletes by 2.5km and by 5km was at the front of the run pushing the pace in pursuit of the early leader Nakata from Japan. After eventually catching Nakata at 6km, the pack had been whittled down to the Russian Sergey Yakolev, the Japanese Fukaura and myself. The four of us then worked together on the run and bike before things finally sorted themselves out on the final run.

Unfortunately, my final run was not as quick as I had hoped and I had to settle for third place about 1 minute behind the Russian Yakolev and 40sec behind Fukaura. The race was a very strong start for me and the first 80-9 0minutes of racing was the most powerful I have felt in a duathlon. Unfortunately, I think I paid for my hard work early with a slight fade out but it is always tough to get your pace right in the Asian heat- it can be very unforgiving!

I must give special thanks to Mr Seema Permyong and all his staff at Asia bikes for the great Thai hospitality, plus the great CSK whose new Hydroform 7003 road bike road like a train, plus Vijitr and the Thailand Triathlon Association who organised a fantastic event.

This Sunday, I race the first round of the French Grand Prix at Chateau Renault- should test out the fast twitch fibres with a stacked field and sprint 5k-20k-2.5k format

Regards
Radar