Ballbusting Warm Up For Tour in Iraq

Sunday, 20th November 2005

Saturday November 6th, saw over 350 athletes compete in the 15th annual Ballbuster Duathlon taking in 5 arduous 8-mile loops of a course centered around Surrey's infamous boxhill.

On the crisp November morning it was Michelle Parsons (Worcester) and Richard Hunt (Army Triathlon) who took the honours in the women's and men's races in times of 3h 01m 18s and 2h 40m 18s respectively.

The highly competitive men's race saw a come from behind victory with a blistering fast run in the last 8-miles for Hunt in a field where any of the top 10 men could have one on their best day.

Hunt, who heads to Iraq for a tour of duty in the spring, had trailed Mark Goodridge (2nd in 2h 40m 54s) in the run and Dave Brown (3rd in 2h 43m 00s) on the bike. Goodridge led the leaders throughout the first 8-mile run only to be overtaken by Brown whose phenomenally strong bike saw him come in to the final transition with an advantage of nearly 2 minutes, but both man fell to Richard who put in successively stronger rides and runs.

On his victory Hunt comments: "I was really quite surprised to win as it has been a long and arduous race season and I had just come back from the Hawaii Olympic Distance World Age Group Championships. Though I have to say I am thrilled with victory and this is just what I needed to keep motivated about training even though I am off to Iraq in spring and will miss most of next season. Hopefully I will be back in the fall with time to prepare for the race and defend my title."

The Ballbuster marked the end of the year for not only most of the athletes but  also organiser's Human Race who are looking forward to a well deserved rest before their season kicks off with the Asics Breakfast Run in Kingston on April 2nd. 

For more information visit on any Human Race event visit www.humanrace.co.uk

Article Source: Press Release, 18 November 2005