There was heat, hills and hard curves at the National Duathlon Championship Festival in Richmond. With a record field, it was an amazingly fast and exciting race. The Richmond Sports Backers did a superb job and the USA Triathlon “roadies’ set up a venue that was scenic and functional for thousands of racers and spectators. Check out the Richmond Times Dispatch race slide show.

Shown here after the race are (L-R): Gary Blackden, adroit massage therapist and top class cyclist and duathlete, Leesburg car, motorcycle and bike crash lawyer Landau, and Dr. Keith Saylor of Herndon’s Neuroscience, Inc. Super cyclist Saylor and his daughter both finished in the extreme heat. Blackden, who formerly ran “For Health & Balance” with his wife Tiffany, had a broken spoke and with his bike too badly damaged to complete the course, did not finish this exhausting event. Landau offered him his wheels and bike, but Blackden had already given his computer timing chip to the referee, taking himself out of the race.

Landau was fortunate again this year to avoid crashes, injury or technical difficulty (other than popping his chain TWICE at the start of the bike ride !). After a very pedestrian 10km run at 6:50/mile pace, Leesburg bike crash and bike injury lawyer Landau managed a few passes on the 3-loop course, but found it difficult to keep his heart rate up. With transitions of 42 and 51 seconds, the Triathlon Trial Lawyer saw 1:57:00 on the clock, which gave him time to break 2:20:00 if he could keep his run pace under his usual 7 minutes per mile. Instead, the Reston Herndon Virginia injury disability lawyer Landau managed 6:26/mile (20:02 5 km), breaking the tape at 2:16:54. Not fast enough to qualify for the World Championships, but a decent early season race.