Human Race Event Management

The Spring BallBuster, which takes place on Box Hill in Dorking, Surrey is widely renowned as the UK’s toughest duathlon and a race that has long been on the ‘must do’ list of every multi-sport athlete in the country.

Consisting of an 8 mile run followed by a 24 mile bike taking in part of the route to be used by the 2012 Olympic Road Cycling race and finishing with 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.

After the changeable weather conditions of recent weeks, the 300 plus athletes that lined up to start early on the 5th March were treated to a grey and damp day, with enough of a chill to keep temperatures nice and low among the athletes on the long climb up to the summit of Box Hill.

First into transition after a lightening quick first run of 43:41, was Cedric Lassonde of France with Sam Baxter just over a minute behind heading up a chase group that also included Nicolas Saillard, Salisbury Tri’s Dave Woodgate and Nick Malynn of Ful-On-Tri . Out onto the bike it was Baxter who put the hammer down to catch and overtake Lassonde with a stunning bike split of 1:07:53. Baxter held his lead through the second run leg to take the overall win in 2:42:38 with  Cedric Lassonde taking second in a time of 2:44:33 and Dave Woodgate (Salisbury Tri) coming in third with a time of 2:46:55.

For the women, Thames Turbo’s Vicky Gill took the title in 3:06:50, with second place going to Lisa Greenfield (BAD) just over two minutes behind in 3:09:19. Helen Dyke posted a very competitive 3:13:34 taking third place back to the West Country for Exeter Triathlon Club.

Full results are on our Results and Gallery Page and the opportunity to sign up for the 2012 Spring BallBuster can be found online.