STORM THE FORT.

STORM THE FORT LONG DISTANCE DUATHLON

20km Multi terrain run, 100km road bike, 11km road run.

Saturday 9^th October 2016, the inaugural ‘Storm the Fort’ long distance duathlon based at Clun in Shropshire. Tagged ‘The UKs toughest Duathlon’

Two things drew me into entering this race,

1) tough long distance duathlon,

2) based in my home county of Shropshire.

At £75.00 entry fee I also thought that this race was pretty good value for money as long course races don’t come cheap.

Organised by 3 local multisport athletes who also organise the now well known ‘Storm the Castle’ in Ludlow, Shropshire. These fellas love what they do, they are very passionate about the sport and their events.

You could register the day before the race so this seemed like a great opportunity to get over to the beautiful Shropshire countryside and spend the afternoon driving and walking the routes. Such a friendly little place, we met some lovely people in and around Clun.

Spotted in Clun the day before the race..I took a good shovelful out.

I would recommend the The old Wheelwrights bed and breakfast where Annie made us very welcome and gave us a hearty pack up as we had to get up on race day too early for breakfast. Also if you are in the area and need a good evening meal you will definitely not go away hungry from the Crown at Clunton, a community pub.  I did some serious carb loading here the night before the race!

Race morning. Bike racking in the dark, eugh. However the sun was shining on me as a guy from True start performance coffee was handing out free coffee in transition…This was now already the best duathlon I had ever done!

Run 1, 20km

Running with Alan, from Manchester.

After a short loop around the village we headed off past transition and up a road that lead to the woods. The course was challenging, we seemed to be running up up up for ever! Eventually you reach the top of the Bury Ditches Hill fort, where you collect a wrist band to prove you’ve been all the way up, then run down through a grassy area back into the woods, (collecting another wrist band at the out and back point, then eventually back to transition. It was a really tough run, I had couple of little walk breaks knowing I had still got a long day ahead of me. I ran some of the way with a really friendly chap, Alan, from Manchester. 

The ford, on both run routes.

The course takes you past the water/feed station several times, the marshals on route were very friendly and supportive. I had planned on 2 hours for this challenging course so was pleased to come in under my prediction, 1:53:09 which also includes T1.

Bike 92 km

Top of the Kerry Climb and Bottle exchange.

The course was originally 100km but a fairly substantial stretch of roadworks meant the organisers thought is best to alter the route for race day, cutting down on the kilometres from 100 to 92 but adding a fair few meters to the elevation! On paper the elevation and profile of this bike leg does not look horrendous, challenging, leg sapping, brutal, but trust me, it is. You start with a 1 and half mile cat 4 climb out of Clun, then things settle down until you get to Kerry, where you have to endure a 2-3 mile cat 3 climb up to the car park where marshals were on hand to hand offer fresh bottles of energy drink, water and gels. The views here really are stunning. 

The descent is long and fast. I was overtaken by a young female rider at this point who disappeared into the distance. I wondered if she was super-fast or had I slowed down a lot? Luckily for me I found out later that she was part of a relay team and was not doing either of the runs! She was also very fast! After this long descent you return to Clun, (I was feeling pretty good at this point) plenty of supporters in town now, but then this is where the fun begins!

Turn right by the bridge in Clun

 Turn right in clun and the road goes straight up and then into a double leg sapping climb (one cat 3 the other cat 4 with minimum recovery in between) taking you from New Invention to Knighton, this is a really tough part of the ride. When driving the route you get to this point and you would be forgiven to think that after the double climb it will then be TT’ing all the way back to Clun and into T2, However in reality you have so little left in your legs that this is not quite the case and it becomes a mental battle to try to keep a pace on to get to the end! I was really pleased with myself as I overtook 4 men on this part of the course. I fuelled the ride on bitesize pieces of Meridian Peanut butter wholemeal wraps stored in my top tube bag! As well as energy drink. A method  I used in Zofingen.

I really wasn’t sure how much or how little clothing to wear for this race. I opted for tri shorts, short sleeved base layer under a sort sleeved cycle top and arm warmers.  I got really hot on the climbs, but then really cold on the descents and flats.

Zoffingen aside this is definitely the hardest bike course I have ever done in a duathlon…

I had anticipated 3 and a half hours for this bike leg based on seeing the profile, but I was just over that in 3:38:49 (inlcudes T2) I wasn’t disappointed!

T2 was a welcome site, just the run to go.

Run 2

In transition I had to sit to change my shoes! A super fast guy had just finished the race and told me that this second run was really tough and he found it really hard….great, cheers mate., just what I wanted to hear right now.

However he was right! It’s starts with an uphill out and back, up towards the woods again but a turnaround point to go back down the road, loop around the ‘not flat’ village, back past transition and repeat the whole thing for a second lap taking the distance between 11 and 12 Km.

Clun castle ruins, on both run routes.

 People were fading fast on this run. I saw people on the first lap that hardly seemed to have progressed by the time I saw them again on the second lap.  It was the stuff that makes grown men cry.  My feet were numb and I just wanted the race to end. I did the first lap with Sarah from Malvern, she was running the last leg for a relay team and was good company, she talked a lot which distracted me from the pain and suffering. She pulled away on the second lap. Once again there was great encouragement from the marshals on this final part of the race, and locals around the village were also very supportive. We passed the water station twice.

The tiny bowling club hut on both run routes.

During this run I had no idea of the time of day or how long I had been running as the battery had run out on my sports watch.  I do believe this course was a little further than advertised though ..somewhere between 11 and 12 km…

My time 1:03:32 again all things (for things read hills) considered I was pleased with this.

Finish

I came into the finish area, to the announcer calling my name out and announcing me as first lady. Fantastic !

Six hours 35 minuntes 30 seconds.  I was really pleased with this as I had sort of thought I would be around 7 hours. I think racing Zofingen last month helped, it gave me a lot of long course experience in pacing, and mental strength helping me get to the finish in a strong place.

Start easy, finish strong.

As always Ron was there at the finish, he had been busy all day supporting me at various points on the routes, I was so pleased to cross the finish line and see him there.

Post race there were Danish pastries, sausage rolls, water

Bottle opener disguised as a medal

Cheers

A great medal……
that also doubles up as a bottle opener

A bottle of well earned Storm the fort Beer, to check that the bottle opener works

A t shirt….even extra small for the ladies

Prize giving was inside,
 I picked up a trophy for First lady over all

Prizes from Race director Dermot

First lady trophy

First female vet trophy

And a trophy for first female veteran !

What a fantastic race and result to end my season.

This is right up there with one of the best races I have ever done.

The UKs toughest long course duathlon?……well, it’s got to be right up there and listening and reading  reports from the other athletes that raced this and other similar courses I know they would agree.

Dermot and co….It was Brilliant, Beautiful and Brutal…..not necessarily in that order !

After racing Powerman Zofingen (Switzerland) I would describe this race as Zofingens little sister. Two months before Zoffingen would be great timing for this race as a warm up event. It would be great to see this race become Powerman UK.

#stormthefort
#stormthecastle
#duathlon
#runbikerun
#powerman