Tuffman action
Ferguson and Martin take the Tuffman honours in snowy conditions
Conditions of minus one degrees greeted tough men and tough women for this weekend’s TuffMan event at Pippingford Park Estate, the penultimate race in the 2013 Human Race Off Road Race Series.
The 200 TuffMan duathletes (consisting of an 8km run, 13km bike then a 4km run) were soon on their way. The first leg of the duathlon was a challenging 8km run that wound its way through the singletrack paths of the Estate. Phil Holland was quickest in this run leg posting a time of 28:43.
The run was followed by a technical 13km bike leg which Steve Ferguson made his own. He posted an impressive time of 46:50, a time that was nearly two minutes quicker than anyone else on the day and it gave him a good lead going into the final run leg.
Steve managed to hang on during the 4km run to take the win in a total time of 1:35:46. It was his first event in the series and he was delighted to get the win: “The race was really cold and the conditions were really tough. I knew there were some really good competitors in the field and some big names that I didn’t expect to beat.”
Overall duathlon series leader, Philip Westoby, took second place in 1:37:07 to extend his lead at the top of the standings. Phil Holland posted the fastest second run leg of 15:47 for the 4km distance to secure third place with a finish time of 1:37:16.
Last year’s winner, former Aquathlon World Champion Richard Stannard, managed seventh and cited some tricky conditions underfoot which led to him temporarily losing one of his trainers in the mud.
The women’s duathlon race was dominated by Freya Martin from B2P Tri Club who won her second successive race in the Off Road Series in a time of 1:46:36. She posted the fastest time in all three legs of the duathlon.
India Lee of Winchester and District Athletic Club took second place in a time of 2:10:36 and overall series leader Samantha Aplin delivered another consistent performance to take third place in a time of 2:14:32.
The final race in the Human Race Off Road Race Series is TrailMan which takes place on Saturday 6 April at Eridge Park near Royal Tunbridge Wells. To find out more click here.
Matt Baird
Editor of Cycling Plus magazine 
