Our 2016 Sprint Duathlon saw well in excess of 100 athletes flock to Normanby Hall on Friday night to take on the latest sporting challenge offered up by Curly’s and Blizards!

Excitingly, we also welcomed scores of youngsters to our first ever Junior Duathlon yesterday morning, with the overwhelming verdict being the need for another similar event as soon as possible - watch this space!

The main Sprint Duathlon offered Team Blizard athletes the chance to test their strength and speed on a course involving a 5k run, a near half marathon on the bike and a super speedy 2.5k sprint to the finish.

Our own Jenny Blizard - a former elite cyclist and triathlete as well as an international GB athlete - provided one of the biggest stories of the night when she suffered a disastrous puncture on the bike leg. Leading a talented women’s field by more than two minutes on the first run, a puncture cruelly ended the Maitland physiotherapist’s chances of victory, but, refusing to give up, she still pushed on to finish in a valiant 81:38. A lesson to all athletes - never, ever give up!



That’s not to take anything away from the eventual champion, Louise Venables, who just managed to hold off her nearest rival to the title, Katie Webster by a whisper! Louise’s 70:08 was a mere five seconds ahead of Katie’s 70:13, while Joanne Bolton ran and pedalled to a fine 70:58 to clinch the third podium position.

A prolific duathlon competitor, Louise recently secured selection for the 2017 ETU Standard Distance Duathlon European Championships when finishing second in her 35-39 age group at the Anglian Water Duathlon in February. Proving her credentials further, she also scored a superb top ten age category result at the World Duathlon Championships in Spain - great going Louise!

Our own Team Blizard wonder woman, Katie Webster, was determined to put in her best challenge for victory, having recently tied down her own GB age group selection for next year’s Euro Champs. The experienced international has fought back against performance anxiety to show she’s capable of repeating her superb World Sprint Distance Triathlon Championship form from 2014.



Bronze medallist Joanne Bolton is no stranger to competitive glory either, having recently clinched age group gold at this year’s ETU Sprint Distance Duathlon European Championships, as well as earning overall silver at the Darley Moor Duathlon less than two months ago!

Team Blizard ambassador, Jess Barrington showed her steely determination knows no bounds when she crossed the line in a glittering 72:34 to finish fifth lady overall, and first senior woman!

The men’s race was a more certain affair in terms of the final top three positions, with Nev Watson storming across the line more than a minute ahead of second placed Andrew Holt, their times of 59:00 and 60:16 representing high class performances at any level. Gavin Mann’s 61:37 made up the podium results.



Nev Watson is a promising multi-discipline athlete, recently taking overall victory at the Eton Dorney Duathlon, posting impressive splits of 16:48 (5.2k run), 33:32 (22.2k bike), and 9:16 (2.6k run), to win by five and a half minutes!

It was great to welcome back Andrew Holt, who repeated his fine silver medal winning position from his last outing at our Duathlon events. He finished second at our May standard distance race in a brilliant 2:02.02, proving his speed over a great range!

Third placed Gavin Mann is also a Curly’s and Blizards regular, having finished not far behind Andrew in May, but beat his position there by one on Friday night, grittily impressive Gavin!

It was fantastic to see so many familiar faces at both events, with strong performances from Richard Ogden (67:18), Tony England (72:35), Andrew Billington (74:37), Gemma Scougal (75:55), Steve McAleavy (76:29) Lee and Sam Weatherall (76:52 and 78:49), and Sally Wheelhouse (86:06), to name but a few!



Thank you Team Blizard, we love putting these events on for you, and seeing every one of you achieving your goals by completing our races!

We were also very proud to see how much energy and enthusiasm was on display at our junior event, and can’t wait until our next one!