Ed Auden – European Duathlon champs - Oulton Park, Sunday 8th October 2017

To add to already a weekend of excellent racing from Belgrave!!Author:  Ed AudenPhoto Credit: Helen WhiteThanks to roadworks on the M6 and then pretty exceptional map reading from Helen, we got to the race venue for me to register with 2 minutes to spare! We then had 9 minutes to put my bike back together and get and racked up before race officials closed transition. The positive being I had little time for nerves!Oulton Park itself provides a fantastic course for Duathlon. It's an undulating 4.3km car racing circuit in a stunning location in Cheshire. Athletes have to run a lap, then hop on a bike and hammer it for 5 laps, before parking up for one final run lap.So the horn sounded and off we went. I used the first half of the course to work my way up from 15th to 4th and then really attacked the final hillier section to move into second just behind Nick Samuels (Sonia Samuels of athletics-famed husband). That gave us a +10 second lead coming into T1.I thought the bike would be entertaining and it was. The first lap of a duathlon cycle often feels like your eyes have popped out after a hard first run, but every lap got smoother and I only got passed by 2 until the final lap....Then a train of 13 cyclists all flew passed, but I managed to jump on the back of it and return into T2 in a similar time.With one 4.3km loop on our feet to go, I was 15th. I took it out really hard and moved up to 6th within the first 2km. On the back of the circuit, you have a great view of runners-up the road before they ascend the final 2 hills. Once you are at the top it's a flat 800m into the finish. Thanks to Helen White's great support I moved passed three into 3rd on the final hill but couldn't quite catch second before the finish.Only a few weeks ago  Ed & Helen announced their engagement having both met through Belgrave. Congratulations to you both from your Belgrave Team Far Right :  Ed Auden on his podium finish