Completed the Hairy Legs Challenge yesterday (Sunday 11th May). The Hairy Legs is a duathlon, i.e. a two event race, covering 5km running, 20km mountain biking and then another 5km run. The race is actually quite a challenge as it is over a fairly hilly course just to the north of the river Thames at Goring. The 5km run starts off at Goring, then climbs steeply, before heading through a wood, and then back down, before a sudden steep up hill, followed by a downhill. You then head to the transition zone, swapping trainers for bike shoes, and then heading out along the Thames path for the mountain bike section.

This was really hard work, which could be due to me not having been on my mountain bike since last July, or it might be because I am not very fit. Either way, it hurt, although I was rather pleased that I was able to overtake people on hills (and then let them overtake me on the flat – I AM a nice chap).

The second run was over the same route as the first – so hard work again, but I was still able to overtake people towards the end – including a few of the cyclists from the previous section. And when I got back down I discovered my front tyre was completely flat – this clearly didn’t help my race.

Anyway – don’t have the times yet. This is my third year doing it, and I think that I am getting slower every time. I will update them when I have them, along with the HRM graph.

Updated: With HRM and Results

Results. Well – I am goingbackwards. While I was faster overall than the previous year, I had a major puncture last year. This year my runs were slower, my overall position was lower, but my class position was higher. Go figure and see this (search for “Anton ” (thats with a space. They have spelled Lawrence wrong in 2006)