IC Tri(es) Lockdown Duathlon

Keeping up with the tradition of this year, the IC Triathlon team saw their only race for the year cancelled because of lockdown. However, the team decid- ed that the term’s training would not be done in vain; they decided to put up an alternative “virtual” multi-day event, with a 2 mile run on Friday, 10 mile cycle on Saturday, and a final 2 mile run on Sunday. With a huge sign-up list with more than 100 competitors from various Imperial Clubs and other UK universities, it was IC’s time to demonstrate who rules multi-sport races. The coldest Friday of the term arrived and in a frosty morning before the sun had been given a chance to rise, IC Triathlete Noah Sprent clocked in the first run.

It was time to demonstrate who rules multi-sport races

The runs kept coming in throughout the morning, with some incredible performances. In the men’s race, cross country’s (ICXCAC) Tom Bayley stopped the clock “Bolt”-style at 9 minutes 58 seconds, whilst Imperial Athlete’s Leisha Wegg took a considerable lead in the women’s with 11 minutes 49 seconds. She was followed by a very strong University of Nottingham team. Triathlon’s Social Sec Alice Duhem took the 7th spot at the end of day one but the race had just started and she wouldn’t leave it just there. The fight wasn’t over and Imperial Triathletes still had the bike race in hand. The Strava feed soon filled up with Regent’s Park Inner Circle routes: the perfect flat track to turn watts into incredible speeds.

In the virtual spirit, the time trial around the Champs-Elysees on the virtual platform Zwift was also thrilling. Ed Jones put on a tremendous display of power over the 10 miles, closely followed by Romain Barnoud and Fiona Sander, who took a solid lead in the Women’s cycle. All that was left for Sunday was for IC Triathlon to capitalise the cycling gains and resist for one last run the assault of the specialist runners. Unsure of how it could be done, cross country’s Tom Bayley managed to shave 18 seconds off his initial run, but IC’s Romain Barnoud did not yield with an incredible 10:40, securing the top spot in the men’s race. In the women’s, Fiona and Alice managed to make the most of their excellent cycle legs and also claimed the top spots, sweeping all wins back home to the hosts. A different race, nonetheless thrilling and heart-racing. We look forward to 2021 with the hopes of seeing real races return, and with them, that very-much-missed adrenaline rush as the start gun fires.