Competition fierce in Portsmouth Duathlon Series

Bob Pentland finishing duathlon race one. Picture: Mick Young (160470-07)

It’s another sold-out event, organised by Rob Piggott in Southsea.

The opening race of the series was excellent with Southsea triathlete Neil Collins fighting off a very good debut from Adam Mitchell to take the win.

Collins’ time of 1hr 1min 37sec, faster than the time he set when he won the opener in 2015.

Patryk Huczkowski completes race one. Picture: Mick Young (160470-05)

Mitchell was not far behind, though as he recorded a time of 1.02.07.

He showed he could be a strong contender to challenge for the series title if he completes all three races.

Patryk Huczkowski finished third (1.03.31).

Jahan Hunter and Andrew Wheeler battled out fourth and fifth with times of 1.04.03 and 1.04.04 respectively.

Roy Matthews, Bohuslav Sosna, Piotr Meller, Mike Essex and Simon Johnson completed the top 10.

Defending series champion Emma Jolley improved on her time from 2015 as she finished third lady, clocking 1.13.43 – an encouraging start for her after some good training and racing so far this year.

Liz McDougall competed very strongly as she recorded a time of 1.11.00 to cross the line first lady.

Hayley King finished second in 1.11.51.

Both could be rivals to Jolley in the race to win the series if they are able to complete all three events.

Kate Rasell was fourth lady in the opening race (1.21.35) with Dawn Haynes-Sewell fifth (1.21.58).

Rachel Fair, Victoria Landi, Sarah Morgan, Louise Kennedy and Angela Agate completed the top 10.

Race two starts at 8.15am tomorrow at Speaker’s Corner, Southsea.

It is a longer course with a 7.5k run to start, an 18.5k bike leg and a 5k run.