The Stinger

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BY: Harry Forshaw

Published: 17th February, 2013

I am writing this from the comfort of the sofa, I am now incapable of standing as I have been crippled by the stinger off-road Duathlon.

 

I love the stinger, (even if it did cripple me) it starts with a nice, slightly muddy, slightly hilly 5km offroad run, you then have to jump out of your trainers and on to the bike (some gifted individuals do this in one swift move) and then force your legs to cycle for 20km. On completion of four laps of the bike course, you then have to climb back into your trainers and run a further 3km. However, this is now ordinary 3km run! This is the stinger run! A run so muddy and with such steep hills, that many will perish (Verb 1.Suffer death, typically in a violent, sudden, or untimely way. 2. Suffer complete ruin or destruction.).. only the strong will survive! (okay I may have exaggerated on that last bit)

 

On arrival, I assembled my bike and made my way over to the arena. Looking around, the transition area seemed worryingly full of bikes and everyone seemed to be hurrying about doing last minute preparations and warm ups, but we still had over an hour to go.. or so I thought! I asked the nice lady in registration what time the start was and much to my surprise she said 11:00, not 12:00! So this left me 15 minutes to put my bike and kit in the transition area, put my numbers on and warm up. Fortunately I was able to cram all this in and actually arrive at the start line with a few seconds to spare, although I was not particularly well warmed up.

 

After laughing at all the people who sped of from the start at 100 mph only to die on the first hill, I realised I was in danger of becoming one of them. So I eased off the pace a little only to watch Sam Barley and then Jay Horton (responsible, along with wife Maddie for the brutality of the final stinger run) disappear off into the distance. The rest of the first run remained rather uneventful other than a few near ankle breaks due to the roots of the cottage return descent. Then came the transition, because I am relatively inexperienced at events which involve anything other than just Mountain Biking, my transition was mainly just a lot of fumbling with laces, buckles and energy gels. I eventually got going though and by the time I had winched my way up Cliff Climb my legs had just about adjusted, which was good as I had a bit of chasing to do. First person to overtake was Maddie Horton who had somehow managed to sneak past me as I was faffing around in the transition area. I managed to pass her on Cottage Return and attempted to shout some encouraging words as I went by although I'm pretty sure it sounded more like a drunken slur.

 

After a few close encounters with back markers, three laps had somehow gone by. At this point I was sitting in fourth place in my category and I realised that If I wanted to get myself a place on the podium, I was going to have to inject some pace. So I shoved some energy gel in my mouth and managed to catch sight of Sam again which provided me with fresh motivation. I passed Sam at the top of Cliff Climb and managed to hold the pace until Cottage Return where I called on my DH skills obtained by regularly riding the Downhill tracks at Triscombe instead of sticking to my 'strict' training schedule. It was on Cottage Return where I zipped past the next rider in my category which put me in 2nd place.

 

Another dodgy transition and I was out on the final run! Immediately the trail ramped up to a near vertical climb riddled with brambles which kept grabbing my posh running shoes (not happy). The course then led into some woods and down a hill and then back up a ridiculously steep hill, so steep in fact that a rope was required. That climb went on for what felt like for eternity but fortunately it did eventually level out onto branches and felled trees which I think had a firetrack hiding underneath. The branches and trees soon turned to ankle deep mud and huge puddles which bared closer resemblance to lakes.

 

A few glances over my shoulder resulting in suspected sightings of third place spurred me on to increase the pace. Although this was much against the will of my complaining legs which in return threatened me with a hint of cramp. I pushed through though and was again encouraged, this time by the sound of cheering from the arena which is not a sound we are familiar with in the south west.

 

I finally finished in 2nd place and promptly grabbed my free mug and free cup of tea. Just as I was finishing the dregs of my tea, a presentation occurred. I was happy to find that rather than the usual Newnham Park prize of a massive tub of Accelerade, I also received a gift voucher for Certini and a shiny silver medal for my efforts.

 

Big thanks to Martyn Salt and the Stinger guys for putting on such an awesome event, Fully Sussed and Certini for providing me with training programmes, helpful advice and bike related bits!

 

Here is a link to my Strava of the race, for those who are interested in such things. http://app.strava.com/activities/41260517

 

 

Harry Forshaw

Fully Sussed

Certini