Can you Geel it?

I raced the ultra competitive Powerman Vlaanderen in Geel, Belgium at the weekend in the Flandrian half of Belgium which is the homeland of Duathlon and came home with a decent 12th place finish.

Powerman Vlaanderen - Aug 7th 2011 - 10k - 60k - 10k

This was my first time racing in Geel but luckily they had totally changed the course so it was new to everybody. The first run was mainly off road on soft grass around football pitches which was slow and hard going. The race started at a crazy pace and I probably paid for a big effort on the second k to get onto the group ahead. I came into T1 in 18th Position with some work to do.

The bike was a very technical but flat 60k and was this probably my best bike leg of the year. 1.29 is not bad for such a winding course on a breezy day and I hit T2 in about 18th Place.

The second 10k run was where I needed to really gain some places. My first 2.5k was really quick but I then slowed a little. It was hard to know how many places I was gaining as I was lapping scores of people. But I could my car buddy Lee Piercy was just ahead and despite roaring that I was coming to get him on the last lap I never did catch him but gained about 5 or 6 other places trying!

12th doesn't sound great but the field was so competitive that if I was Belgian I'd have taken the bronze medal in their long distance national championships and they are the strongest nation in the world of Duathlon.