S-size Girlguiding Nightrider gets thumped at duathlon

I got my Girlguiding cycling top last week. It wasn't love at first sight - the L size I'd plumped for billowed off me like a sail and probably had room inside it for the rest of the Boy Racer team. After a bit of trial and error it turned out that I needed an S size. (Fair enough, I'm only about 6 foot 2.)

Having found a replacement top that at least fits, I gave the colours their first outing at a duathlon at the Olympic Velopark on Sunday.

A duathlon, for those not in the know, is an event where you run, cycle, then run again. The Velopark has its own gorgeous road race circuit, which is a mile loop of pristine Tarmac with no National Express or Addison Lee trying to run you down. Sunday's event was two miles of running, ten miles on the bike, and then one more lap on foot.

There were some points where people would be running and cycling at the same time, so the organisers bunged a few traffic cones out and informed competitors that running anyone down would be considered 'a poor show'.

Great racing at the Velopark. Next race on June 29th. http://t.co/bEZQLJgyVX @HHHTriathlon @TriEng_London @slsclido pic.twitter.com/jsrlkpPW4B
— Eriç (@ericdol) May 25, 2014

To my surprise and delight, I started the bike leg in 2nd place, having shown the back of my Girlguiding top to some of east London's premier duathletes. ('I support Girlguiding' it says on the back. Let's hope some of them were inspired to do likewise.)

Sadly, I'd agreed to lend my road bike to the brother for the event, so I trundled out of transition on my big orange mountain bike with a rack on the back. All I could do was ring my bell at people and shout at them to slow down as they whipped and zipped past me on their carbon-framed killing machines. They weren't having any of it.

The @Velopark_Dua Duathlon this morning @EastVillageLDN pic.twitter.com/k3fncana7N
— Ashleigh Ahlquist (@AAAAhlquist) May 25, 2014

(I'm pretty sure that's me slogging away in the top right.)

By the end of the bike ride, I was down in 16th place, having been lapped twice by all of the top 3. I managed to get one place back in the final mile run, despite my legs feeling like they belonged to someone else (possibly someone who'd been dead for centuries).

The girls from my running club who came fared rather better, coming 2nd and 3rd in the ladies' event so a huge well done to them.

If you, the reader, fancy a summer challenge head to the Velopark Duathlon page and check out their next event. It's open to all levels of ability and it's a great chance to burn round the Olympic Park.

Or, if you like the idea of me in my Girlguiding top, labouring away on a bike, please throw a few pence towards our Nightrider team at http://www.justgiving.com/boyracers4guides!