On Sunday 29th June 85 committed individuals participated, over 3 distances, in second ever Top Barn Duathlon. Yes, unfortunately, for the second year running the water quality at the venue didn’t meet our standards. Despite efforts by Top Barn staff to remove the weed there were still reports of swimmers suffering from ‘swimmers itch’. The decision to change the format of the race wasn’t taken lightly and a number of alternatives were considered before a decision was made.

Our primary concern was to adhere to the clubs principles and values by running a safe and enjoyable event. As a respectable club we have a reputation for making decisions based on the welfare of the competitors and not decisions based on profit. However, I don’t think anybody could have predicted just how many people didn’t want to race a Duathlon?!?!.. This was somewhat disappointing and for this reason we thank those who remained committed and supported the race. We hope you had an enjoyable day. And to those of you who withdrew…. such a shame as you missed a great race.

The race itself went very smoothly. Luckily the torrential rain we endured while setting up transition on Saturday afternoon didn’t return on race day. Instead we had a glorious day with a little breeze which made for a challenging headwind on the A443 to Great Witley. Some temporary traffic lights in Lower Broadheath meant we had to make the bike lap slightly longer (+3km). However, this extended route worked well as it avoided Hallow Lane (which is a bit ‘sketchy’ in places) and also bypassed the tricky ‘T’ Junction back onto the A443.

The reduced numbers resulted in some competitors winning an unexpected, yet well deserved, prize of cash and wine. A full list of results can be found on Stuweb.

As promised the club donated 10% of entry fee revenue to local charity St Richards Hospice. Add to this the donations from the post race massage the total sum donated to St Richards Hospice was £489.

Some of you may have spotted Worcester Tri Club member (and amateur photographer) Darren Huxley sat in a roadside ditch with his camera capturing some action shots of you all. These photos can be viewed and purchased from here . Darren is away on holiday at the moment so he’ll process any orders in a week or so. A proportion of monies taken from photo sales will be donated to St. Richards Hospice.

There were a couple of items handed in as lost property. So if you lost anything on Sunday please email russell.kingston@btopenworld .com and he’ll endeavour to reunite you.

Finally, special thanks to all the loyal members who took time out of their weekend to help setup, marshal and clear up after the event. Without you the event would never happen and your input is instrumental in making sure the event runs smoothly.