It wasn’t just London

Tri Preston staged its first 1-4-1 duathlon event of the year, at 
Preston Sports Arena.

A duathlon is a cousin to the 
triathlon but without the swim – it is a Run-Bike-Run event.

The 1-4-1 series of events, 
supported by Triathlon England, are a one-mile run, four-mile bike followed by a final one-mile run and are aimed at encouraging 
people who have never participated before to get involved and get a taste of the multi-sport life.

Tri Preston is hosting four separate 1-4-1 events for beginners from now until July – all of which will be held at the Preston Sports Arena so there are no cars or pedestrians to worry about.

The first event was Saturday morning and 23 brave souls, all first timers, came along to join in.

Once they had signed in and racked a variety of bikes ranging from old mountain bikes to the 
latest carbon fibre racers it was over to Tri Preston’s Head Coach Ian Murphy (below), who led a stretch and warm-up after which they lined up on the start line to wait for the gun.

The early pacesetters were soon back after a lap of the one-mile track and into transition to don helmets and collect their bikes to cycle four laps.

The lead changed a couple of times and cheered on by the spectators and marshalls they came back into transition for a second time, T2 in triathlon parlance, to park their bikes and off on a final running lap.

Competition was fierce but Craig James Burgoine came home in 25:55 just 20 seconds ahead of Graham Hargraves in second.

Roisin Turner was first lady home in a time of 28:37 ahead of Gemma Webster. But the biggest cheer of the day was reserved for Wendy McNair who came home in a little over 39 minutes with a fantastic sprint finish to the cheers of all the spectators, competitors and marshalls.

Fancy having a go? The next Tri-Preston 1-4-1 event will take place on May 10 at 9am at Preston Sports Arena. Sign up at http://www.tripreston.co.uk/2014/03/beginner-duathlon-challenge/