FOREST COMMISSION

The 2023 race season is upon us, with the Taurus Beast Duathlon just one of the many duathlons filling multisport's spring calendar. Cue deceptive hills, wardrobe malfunctions and not a wild boar in sight...

- MATT BAIRD

Here we go again, a fresh multisport season full of new hope, the promise of PBs and perhaps some new Lycra to boot. And, it seems, the mother of all duathlon wardrobe dilemmas. Do I run in my bike jacket? Wear a running jacket and switch into the bike jacket on the bike? Neck buff or headband? Gok Wan, where art thou?!

I settle on the winter run jacket for the run option, and I’m soon a sticky mess as the field heads out onto the 4.5km run course of Trimax Events’ Taurus Beast Duathlon in the Forest of Dean, that slither of England nestled between the River Severn and the Welsh border generally marked by the River Wye. We exit the Taurus Crafts visitor centre over a soggy field to Lydney High Street, before the run route hits Watery Lane for what’s essentially a gritty 2km climb with a 2km descent to finish.

Bar the frontrunners, the pace of the duathletes around me is mostly and wisely conservative, with plenty of chat filling the soundwaves. The turnaround point comes and widescreen views of the Severn Channel loom into view. I fight the urge to hit the gas and create a bit of daylight before most of the field effortlessly glides past me on the bike leg. I’ve learnt my lesson from going out too fast, too soon at too many duathlon events, and paid for it by carrying the dreaded duathlon bear on my back for the entirety of the second run leg.

This precarious pacing balance is one of the reasons, not forgetting the often cold and wet weather, that duathlon is such a difficult customer to tame and remains why many multisporters, including myself, deem it tougher than triathlon, despite the lack of neoprene neck rub. The sense of peril and cleanly navigating it are also what makes duathlon so rewarding, and there’s an array of multisporters both new and old here in GL15 giving the run/ bike/run sport a blast.