The triandrun Ballbuster, which takes place on Box Hill in Dorking, Surrey is widely renowned as the UK’s toughest duathlon. It’s a race that is on the ‘must do’ list of every multi-sport athlete in the Country, and has to be tackled at least once in a lifetime.
Consisting of an 8 mile run, 24 mile bike and another 8 mile run, it takes in the summit of Box Hill – the highest point on the North Downs – no less than 5 times. It’s a gruelling race, the equivalent of a marathon and only for the very toughest of duathletes.
The popularity of the event has grown so much, that organisers Human Race Events now put on both a Spring and Winter edition, and both sell out each time.After the snow, ice and rain of recent weeks, a crisp sunny morning, and near perfect conditions, greeted the 200 athletes that lined up for the Spring Ballbuster on 6th March.
Without the likes of Lee Piercy, Richard Hunt, David Vaughan, Wayne Smith or any of the other former winners on the start line, it was a wide-open race and anyone’s for the taking.
First into transition after a lightening quick first run in 46:57, was David Freeman of SLH Tri Club with Thames Turbo club mates Andrew Mercer and, the ever improving, Paul Perry together and close behind in 47:03. Out onto the bike however, and it was Mercer who put the hammer down to post a stunning bike split of 1:10.50 and take the overall win in 2:47.40. Paul Perry held onto second to make it a ‘Thames Turbo’ one-two, in a time of 2:53.12 with Aodh O’Neill (Serpentine RC) taking third – after a great bike performance – in 2:55.35. Freeman went on to win first vet prize and take 5th overall in 2:56.35. Nick Kinsey of TriUK, put in a very impressive performance to take the 50-54 win and 6th position overall, in 2:58.16.
For the women, it was an easy win for top age grouper, Planet X’s Fiona Moorhead-Lane who took the title for the women in a superb 2:17.40 after leading from start to finish. Charlotte Maurissen of Evo TC, was second over the line in 3:24.44 with BRAT’s Ellen Tune taking third for the ladies in 3:32.19. There were 192 finishers.
Full results are available on our Results Page. The Winter Ballbuster takes place on Saturday 6th November and ENTRIES ARE OPEN.
