On Saturday, Matt Walley of Newport & District Running Club took part in the Clumber Park Duathlon, as part of the qualification process for the national team at next year’s World Championships. Afterwards, he was kind enough to send us this account of his race:

At 4.30am, I am sitting bleary-eyed, eating my race breakfast of Frosties – as Tony the Tiger would say: “they’re great!” and getting ready to go to Clumber Park for the World Qualifying race for Townsville Australia 2024. 

This race wasn’t the most local qualifying race, but Oulton Park was on the same day as Venice (where Matt took part in the European Championships earlier this year), so this was my first (and probably only) chance to get into the GBR team for the World Championships next year. 

After the 2hr drive I collect my race number & timing chip, get the bike back together after the journey, and make my way to transition to get everything set out. After the bike is all set in transition, I go for a warm-up with my brother & Winnie his dog, who also came along.

The gun goes, and off we go for the 5k run. The 5k has a couple of uphills in there for good measure, but I get into a decent position from the start and get into a nice rhythm to finish in a time of 19 minutes, 36 seconds. By no means my quickest 5k, but good enough to get me back in the top 5. 

Transition doesn’t go as smoothly as I would like, as I don’t find my bike straight away, so I have to duck under the transition bar that I rack my bike on, luckily the exercise that Joe gives me to keep me fit also helps me limbo under.

In this race, the bike section is a non-drafting event; this means you have to keep a certain distance between each cyclist. This favours the stronger cyclists and not myself. So I get my head down and just try to keep my legs spinning and knocking down the miles. 

After the 20k comes to an end, I’m off the bike and onto the last 2.5k run. My legs feel fresh so I am able to push on the run from the start. After overtaking a couple of people, which is always a good feeling, I finish in a time of 1 hour, 9 minutes, 17 seconds for a finishing position of 55th out of 220 athletes. 

I will have to wait for a couple weeks to see if I’ve made the GB Team for Australia next year. 

As always thank you to Sophie from SW Sport Performance for the sessions that make the results possible. Joe at Optimal movement for keeping injury free & helping with my limbo technique when I lose my place in transition. Isaac & Winnie for coming with me and driving home (Isaac not Winnie) when my legs don’t feel connected to the rest of my body. Don Whitley for sponsoring me and making it possible to enter these events and get the right people around me to get the result I need. 

European qualifier in 3 weeks then an Ultra with my brother and the dogs a week later makes for a busy month but then a few weeks well deserved rest afterwards!