Doyle digs deep for first duathlon series win
Thursday May 14 2009
BELPARK'S Mark Doyle ran a smart race to win the opening runways.ie Dublin Duathlon Series round in the Phoenix Park. On a windy evening, Doyle held back while his clubmate Barry Minnock, fresh from a strong run at the National 10km Championships, set a fast pace on the opening 2.7km run.
Keeping a close watch was Doyle, along with Fernando Fuentes (Belpark), John Caffrey (Belpark), Chris Upton (Wicklow) and Colin Bolger (Pulse). Minnock was first into the changeover, but was soon caught by Doyle on the 13km cycle stage. Doyle knew he had a battle on his hands when John Caffrey moved to the front and, after two of the three laps, had built up a lead of 15 seconds. Fuentes was a further 10 seconds behind.
All changed when Caffrey overshot a corner. By the time he recovered, Doyle and Fuentes had flown past him. The battle was then on for the bike "prime" with Fuentes catching Doyle on the hill at St Mary's.
A super-fast transition allowed Caffrey to re-establish contact with Doyle and Fuentes on the final 2.7km run, but he soon pulled up with a suspected hip strain. It truly was not his day. Doyle and Fuentes were left to battle it out into the energy-sapping head wind on the back straight. Fuentes did his best to push on, but could not shake off Doyle who, with the finish in sight, used his track speed to pull away for a first ever duathlon series win.
Behind the two leaders, Wicklow's Chris Upton had done enough on the bike to give himself a comfortable third place. First veteran was Setanta's Jonny McCabe, with Colin Bolger of Pulse first under 23. While the men's race was the closest in some years, Elena Maslova (Wheelworx) opened up a lead from the start of the first run and continued to pull away.
Behind her, Monica Marconi and Barbara O'Hanrahan (Belpark) battled it out for second place, with Marconi ahead by the finishing line.
Pre-entry for the remaining rounds of the series on June 3, July 1 and August 5 is now open on the website -- www.dublintri.com. About 50 entries are kept open for distribution on race night.
- Lindie Naughton
