Thick mist and warm conditions greeted the 500-strong field as they gathered at the top of Box Hill for the 15th edition of the RG Active Winter BallBuster, one of the UK’s toughest Duathlon events. Featuring five eight-mile loops, all of which including the notorious climb up the Zig Zag Road to the summit of Box Hill, the Winter BallBuster is not for the faint hearted.
First, participants complete one eight mile loop on foot followed by three laps on two wheels to form the 24 mile bike loop and another one on foot for the final eight mile run leg.
On the bike leg Mashford suffered from multiple punctures that took him out of the reckoning while Piercy dropped out, leaving Adams to forge ahead alone for the first few miles. Adams was quickly caught and passed by a fast moving Hugh Mackenzie, who used a blistering bike leg (1:06:51) to come into the second and final transition with a healthy three minute lead. For the women Ruth Clifton used a 01:14:08 bike leg to increase her lead as behind her Alexie Shaw moved up to second place and Victoria Basquill came through into third.
The final run leg saw Adams leave transition still in second place and running hard to catch Mackenzie, with Chris Dettmar now in third and making up time on both the men in front of him from the first mile. In the end Hugh Mackenzie managed to hold on and take the win in a time of 2 hours 41 minutes and 9 seconds, a vast improvement on his performance in 2010, as Mackenzie himself explains. "It was a tough course, I enjoyed the 3 bike loops but it was that last 1km of the run that really tested me. My performance this year is definitely a step up from last year which ended in a disastrous broken collar bone!"
Behind the winner the race to decide the remaining places on the podium went down to the wire with Chris Dettmar closing the gap to just 10 seconds by the finish. Paul Adams did just hold him off with three consistent legs to take second place in 02:42:01. Just behind them Ruth Clifton ran a solid final leg to seal a relatively comfortable victory in what was her first attempt at the BallBuster in 02:58:13. Something she was understandably delighted about; "This was my first Human Race event and I’ve had a fantastic morning - It such a beautiful place up here! I started to feel the pain once I began the second run and the final hill climb really was a psychological battle but I got there. Looking forward to a relaxing afternoon and some good food now!" Behind her the placings were unaffected by the final leg with Alexie Shaw coming in second in 03:02:24 and Victoria Basquill a few minutes behind for third in 03:05:11.
Full results and a selection of race photos can be found in the RG Active Winter BallBuster Results & Gallery.
Next up on the Human Race calendar is the five-event Asics Off Road Duathlon Series followed by a return to Box Hill on Saturday the 3rd of March for the Kinetica Spring BallBuster.
