2008 Mountain Ranger Duathlon

Originally posted in the trailblazer adventure racing forums

Great Courses, great event! The Rangers in Action Demo is worth sticking around for as well. Well organized and kept on schedule. All of the Rangers and volunteers were awesome! Thanks!

I was there to do the duathlon along with Coker and Pedlgrinder. I had set a goal of 2:40 for myself. My runs were a bit slower than my typical trail run pace, but those hills out there are killer! Had no way to know how many people were actually doing the duathlon except for the number of bikes piled up in the transition area. When I got there at the end of the 5k (first run leg) a large number of bikes seemed to have dissappeared - I knew to where!

I had a good transition to the bike. Looks like about 2 minutes (much better than my previous triathlon attempts). Started the climb just behind some guy - managed to get ahead of him relatively quickly and I could see several more bikes in front of me. I started picking them off one by one - nothing easy about it the climb to winding stair gap - it's horrible (but in the best way!!!)! I think I was actually catching the tail end riders from the bike race before I got to the top. One guy caught and passed me on the bike - I wasn't pleased, but he was strong on the bike for sure!

Coming down from Winding stair gap was awesome! My top speed was about 37 mph. I'm sure there was some crazy folks out there faster, but that was comfortable for me. Passed a bunch more people - I have no idea how many were from the bike race and how many from the duo - but I did my best to keep up the pace.

Made another good transition (just under 2min) to the second run leg and took off with the one guy who passed me on the bike in sight. I managed to catch and pass him before the turn-around and hold him off for the climb back to the finish line. I crossed the line at 2:34:06 - beating my goal.

Lots of awards won by trailblazers out there! My time got me 3rd in my age group. Pedlgrinder came in the top 5 overall and got an award for his age group (I'll let him fill it in so the record stays straight!). His partner Karen did the 15K run and she also brought home an award plaque.

I met Lorna for the first time, and she brought home an award as well!

Coker came in very close to his goal time and better than his last year's time.

Great showing by the trailblazers for this event. Congrats for all the participants. I'm already looking forward to next year!