Bill Boynton of Congleton Cycling Club was a member of the large GB team at the “Worlds” competing in the ITU Duathlon. He won the bronze medal with 3rd place in the M70-74 Standard distance event in a time of 2 hours 38 minutes behind Tony Marshall (USA) and Carlos Leite (Portugal).
The initial 10k run comprised 4 laps of 2.5k on streets and pavements through the old town lined with hundreds of spectators. The bike route from the stadium immediately crossed the river Lerez and followed a long ascent of nearly 200 metres over 10 km to a turning point on the Santiago road. Fast sweeping descents at 40 mph brought competitors back to the river and the start of a second tiring lap. The race was completed by a further two run laps of the town and a stadium finish.
“When not racing, I would reckon that the climb towards Santiago was fairly easy and never more than 10% but after running hard for 47 minutes, it was a very attritional time trial course, the hardest I’ve ever done. It was all about slipping down a gear and maintaining speed while managing the cramp. The two descents round a series of tight bends were exhilarating and much safer as the circuit was traffic-free.”
With so many age groups in action, finishing positions are never clear until results are posted. Confusion reigned for five hours as the electronic timing system had failed and organisers resorted to backup methods before announcing results. Soon afterwards Bill was on the podium to receive his medal and later celebrated with Newcastle Tri Club teammate Julia Matheson who was dominant in winning F50-54 and setting the fastest time of any woman at these World Championships.
Winning a medal was a great result after finishing 5th in 2011 and injuries in the subsequent two years. ‘It’s a mad event’ says Bill, ‘maybe I’ll think of doing Sprint (half the distances) in future’.
Bill brought his medal to the club social evening last week (26th June) to show everyone.