Gorilla Duathlon

Sunday 26th November, 10:30am. With the feeling of the Marathon and Friday's beasting session (courtesy of British Military Fitness) still in my legs, I pulled on my Gorilla suit. Not loving the 7am start for the drive down to Castle Combe, I squeezed my hairy self into the bright yellow Tri top and began to check my bike would still function carrying the extra fuzz.

This was the Chilly Duathlon and my second Oxfam challenge. 4 miles of running, split with a 10 mile cycle round the windy motoracing circuit. The weather was not how I would have liked it. Last year it was freezing rain, perfect conditions for a protective fur suit. Now it was sunny!

As we gathered at the start line I noticed I was the only Gorilla, competing in a race full of grown adults in Lycra baby-grows. The whistle blew and we were running. All too quickly I began to notice the condensation in the head dripping onto my face through the warm cloud of used air. Soon I got into my stride and wary of saving as much energy as possible for the second run, completed the 2 miles in 16 minutes. Moving through transition it wasn't easy looking for my bike in the tightly packed cycle cloakroom through the pair of wobbly windows in the mask. Eventually I found it and with lots of encouragement from what seemed like every child at the event, I fumbled with my helmet and ran my bike out onto the track for the 5 laps. As soon as I made the first rotation of the pedals I knew this wasn't going to be fun. It had little to do with the costume, although trying to get into any sort of aerodynamic tuck was pretty impossible, but the problem was my legs. In the last few months I had completely neglected my bike and with my legs unrecovered from Friday's training, there was nothing but wobbly pain in them. The shouts from other competitors were enough to get me through the back straight and the chorus from the spectators lifted me for the start of each new lap. After 36 minutes the 5 laps were over, I came back into the transition area to rack my bike and begin the final stage. I don't know if running tired is easier than cycling or if I just get more practice, but, after the initial calf seizures which always accompany the bike/run, I felt much happier. I had a lot of ground to make up and determined not to be at the back, I picked up my pace. The suit was beginning to ride up after being on the bike, having a Gorilla wedgie is not the most comfortable way to run, although it did make me want to get across the line quicker. Now I began to pass people. I targeted the furthest person I could see ahead of me and over the last mile I made sure I caught them, much to the disgust of the people I was overtaking. On the final sprint there was no one left ahead and I crossed the line, into a mob of small kids. With the last 2 mile run taking me 15 minutes, I completed in about 1 hour 7 minutes (165 out of 183) and on to a Hot Chocolate and Bacon Roll.