Ahlin dominates Power Horse double duathlon

The toughest race of the triathlon season took place last Friday in Ranco Farm. The Power Horse double duathlon, probably the most prestigious race after the Olympic distance is also one of the hardest where the most daring triathletes of Riyadh want to prove themselves that they are up to level of this race.
The race combines a series of running and biking stretches on the distances of 4km run, 10 km bike, 3 km run, 10 km bike, 2 km run, 10 km bike finishing with 1 last km run. This continuous rotation between the two disciplines makes the intensity drop only for those completely empty of strength to the enjoyment of the spectators and suffering of the athletes.
Power Horse sponsored the race. Thanks also for the support of 2XU, Sport in Life, Nestle Pure Life, Carrefour, Wolfi’s Bike Shop, Saab and Riyadh Palace Hotel.
Kristoffer Ahlin led the race into the first out of the six transitions followed by Antonio Castellanos and just a few seconds after Gerd Muetze who managed to recover those seconds with a fast transition starting the bike in front of Antonio Castellanos but not Ahlin by then already pulling away from his pursuers.
With a mass start for the first running 4 km soon the leading group, always commanded by Kristtofer and closely followed by Gerd Muetze, Antonio Castellanos and Alex Carinan, put distance with the chasing competitors. Kristtofer’s speed, added to the hot weather, was putting down one by one his competitors and Gerd Muetze as well struggled to stay ahead in the last kilometer.
From this point the race was a monologue for Kris as no one came near his incredible performance marking one after another fastest times on any stretch of the race, no matter the discipline, either running or biking, he was above all others. In this way and smashing the watch with only one hour and 30 five minutes with 29 seconds he finished the race taking the victory of the Power Horse 2013 Double Duathlon.
The battle for the second and third positions between Gerd Muetze and Antonio Castellanos was a continuous alternative of better times with the biking in favor of Gerd while in the running despite going for Castellanos recovering some seconds was not sufficient and Muetze rose up to the second box of the podium wearing out any opposition for this place.
Held in parallel was the fight between Alex Carinan and Sylvian Girardeau, who finally took fourth and fifth positions. Alex placed above Sylvian by virtue of a pretty good bike performance.
In Category B, Jana Jaruskova and Kate Scott gave an amazing race, as Kate started ahead putting almost two minutes difference with Jana in the first running stretch and from that point on Jana was coming closer and closer better regulating her strengths to take the lead in the second 10 km of biking and keeping her head up to the finish to claim a great victory.
Apart from the run for glory spectators could see that the entire field was up to beat the heat in the Dirab valley. There was no surrender up to the last position and only technical problems could stop the athletes but not Dragan Petkovski, Dick Ella, Larry Duffy and Rami Beylouni who took the personal challenge not less serious and finished the race to their satisfaction and respect of all participants.
Results:
Overall: 1st Kristoffer Ahlin (1:35:29), 2nd Gerd Muetze (1:38:29), 3rd Antonio Rodriguez Castellanos (1:42:59), 4th Alex Carinan (1:47:27), 5th Sylvian Girardeau (1:49:22), 6th Reiner Gocian l (1:50:15), 7th Paul McParland (1:51:01), 8th Michael Fox (1:57:18), 9th David Wright (1:59:54), 10th Jana Jaruskova (2:04:01).