TIM JOHNS has gone down as the first local triathlete to win an event on a single-speed bike as he took the second race of the De Putron Winter Duathlon Series. With the transitions based at Mont Varouf School, the race comprised of a 2.5 mile run anti-clockwise around the reservoir, then a very hilly 12-mile cycle followed by a further 2.5 mile run clockwise around the water.
Johns, who turns 37 next week, had to compete on the bike that is similar to those used by London cycle couriers, as he waits for his new race bike to be delivered.
The single speed bike requires the cyclist to keep pedalling.
It did not hinder him at all as his finished first of the depleted field that was missing such luminaries as Ian Scholes and Kiwi newcomer Luke Walton.
‘I was spinning like a little hamster going down to Talbot Valley,’ said Johns.
‘I got lucky this weekend - we didn’t have the top guys. I was using it as a training round but after five minutes I got excited and I got my teeth into it.’
With the start downhill from the school and over the dam wall, Dan Smith and Richard Stapley both started at near sprint pace, despite both having run the previous day’s inter-insular cross country in Jersey.
Johns, however, went off at a more conservative pace and entering transition one, the three were very closely paced at 16.5min. with Martin Chapman and Paul Hooker just off them.
The ride stage took the competitors through Les Vauxbelets and down Talbot Valley, before climbing the steep hills of Le Dos d’Ane to pass down Le Mont Saint, then to climb the steep reservoir hills back to pass Mont Varouf for a second lap.
Johns on his single-speeder maintained a lead over the less experienced Stapley and Smith, who has recently invested in a proper Tri specific bike as he becomes more hooked on multi-sport racing.
Fastest bike split of the day went to Richard Setters, although many showed significant improvement, including Chapman again on his first outing on a new bike.
Going into the second run, Johns was expecting to be passed, but a costly mistake by Stapley saw him running about 200 metres the wrong way before he realised. It possibly cost him his first ever duathlon win.
Smith took advantage of his training partner’s mistake as he took second place behind Johns.
Chapman suffered cramp at the start of the run and was passed by third placed Mark Naftel and Adrian Thorley who took fourth spot, showing that his training for his first Ironman this summer is paying dividends.
In the women’s race, Lynn Mahy and Shanine Johns were within 30 seconds of one another in the initial run stage.
But on the bike, Mahy stretched her advantage by nearly two minutes.
She went on to win the event convincingly, followed by Johns, Anna Le Cocq and Carol Ann Stapley.
The first junior was Alex Ford.
The next race in the De Putron series is a super-duathlon at Les Amarreurs, on Sunday 2 March.
It consists of a one-mile run and a six-mile bike leg, followed by another one mile run and six-mile bike, to finish off with a final one-mile run.
‘I’m looking forward to that,’ said Johns.
‘It’s going to be a short, sharp blast. It’ll be fun.’
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