Duckworth cruises to glory in Lakesman event

Chorley Athletic and Triathlon Club's Joe Duckworth obliterated the field to win the Lakesman full Iron distance race in nine hours and 15 minutes.

The Lakesman – a full Iron Distance triathlon event – started just before 6am, as 400 nervous triathletes entered the Derwentwater Lake in Keswick.

Duckworth exited the water from the swim in one hour 12 minutes in 49th position, and with the quickest transition on the day out of T1 in two minutes 11 seconds, it was clear that he was going to be picking off the cyclists over the 112-mile bike course.

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Duckworth said: “Straight away on the A66 I was passing a lot of athletes which gave me heaps of encouragement. I was eating every 20 minutes which is standard for me on an Ironman. The only thing that was worrying me somewhat was the heat.

“Already I was thinking about the run and the suffering that was on the way.

“This was not going to be a case of who was the fastest, but, who slowed the least.

“By the time I was on the coast road heading towards Silloth I was basically on my own, seeing very few athletes.

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“I passed a guy just before the turn round who confirmed I had just moved into fourth, about four minutes down.

“It was brilliant, feeling great hitting the numbers with relative ease and gaining all the time.

“I continued to pick another couple of athletes to get to second, and was informed I was 40 seconds down.

“The pass came at a perfect time in the perfect place, uphill. I saw the second placed athlete fighting with his bike, with the lead car in front of him in a climb.

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“I passed just prior to the top of the hill still sat on the aerobars, and the sight of me disappearing into the distance along with the lead car couldn’t have been too great for the guy now in second.”

With the fastest bike split of the day of four hours 53 minutes and a personal best for this distance in a triathlon, Duckworth had a clear lead going into T2.

With a transition of one minute 56 seconds, Duckworth kept up the ante in the run with a pace of six minutes 45 seconds per mile.

It was thus no surprise that 20 miles into the run, Duckworth had a lead of over 20 minutes.

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Due to the deteriorating weather conditions Duckworth slowed his pace slightly to seven minute 20 seconds per mile for the final six miles to ensure he finished.

And Duckworth did just that as he ended the race with an Iron distance marathon PB of three hours five minutes to win by 31 minutes.