Helen takes World Duathlon title

Bromsgrove & Redditch Athletics Club member Helen Russell is celebrating after winning gold at the World Duathlon Championships in Gijon, northern Spain.

The race was a sprint distance race consisting of a 5k run, a 19.2k bike and finishing with 2.5k run.

Helen led throughout the first run and had a good transition holding onto her lead going out onto the bike leg. The first half of the bike route was tough with a 3km ascent reaching a gradient of 6%. Unfortunately Helen was overtaken on the ascent by Celia Dubey from the USA and Ruth Gomez Alvarez from Spain. However determined to regain the lead she made a real effort and reached the summit of the climb in first place. She then led for most of the technical decent before being overtaken again by Dubey. The final section of the bike leg saw Helen and Dubey swap position a number of times. Helen entered the second transition in second place but was only a few seconds behind. She powered out of transition and quickly caught and overtook Dubey. On the final run she pushed hard and extended her lead to finish the race in 1.08.43 and take the gold in the 35-39 age category. Dubey finished 36 behinds seconds behind to take the sliver, whilst Gomez Alvarez faded in the final stages and had to settle for the bronze, one minute and 28 seconds behind Russell.

This is Helen’s best ever result and builds on from her World Duathlon bronze in 2009 and European silver in 2010. She will now have a month of rest before starting her winter training.