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Event	Burghley Standard Duathlon – Multisport Weekend
Distance	Standard Duathlon
Date	10.05.2026
Location	Burghley House, Stamford
Condition	Freezing cold, dry
Kit Highlights	Huckson trisuit, Scott Plasma RC Ultimate, Ekoi helmet
Entry fees

Run	Bike	Run
10km	40km	5km

Goal	Target	Result
Qualify for European Standard Duathlon Championships	Top AG finish	❌ 13/19 in AG

Finish Time	Age Group	Gender	Overall
2:20:15	13th / 19 (50–54)		48th / 153

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Context first. In 2024, I finished 1st in my age group at Cholmondeley Standard Duathlon. A result that should have punched my ticket to the Duathlon World Championships. Should have. Except I hadn’t registered with British Triathlon as an age grouper, so the slot went nowhere. Lesson learned, painfully.

This year I fixed that. Registered properly. Showed up ready. The goal was simple: qualify for the European Standard Duathlon Championships. The field had other ideas.

The weekend started well. Drove up to Peterborough on Saturday, stayed at a colleague’s place, and had a sunny aperitif in the garden. Early night. Up at 4:30 am. Banana, coffee, and 25 minutes to Burghley House.

It was freezing when I arrived (not literally). Registration was fast, and the volunteers were brilliant. And there, in the ‘village area’, was the Huckson Tri gazebo, a very welcome sight. Definitely a stop after the race.

Transition itself was tidy and well-organised, controlled by one of my coach’s athletes, Emma. I didn’t recognise her. She didn’t recognise me. Fair enough — we’d only ever seen each other on WhatsApp. That’s modern triathlon club life for you.

Six trips to the toilets before the start. Six. I’m fairly certain that’s approaching some kind of Guinness record. Pre-race adrenaline combined with sub-zero temperatures does not make for a relaxed warm-up.

Then came the rookie mistakes. Mistake one: I assumed it would be warm enough that a trisuit alone would be fine. It wasn’t. Mistake two: I’d brought brand new elastic laces for my running shoes — one piece was missing. Back to the regular laces. At least I’d packed a second pair.

One thing that did go right: the new Ekoi helmet. Yes, I broke the cardinal rule of never trying something new on race day. Again. But it worked perfectly, so I’m choosing to call that a calculated risk rather than an error.

TORQ gels loaded. The plan was four: one before the start, then one every 35 minutes-ish. Time to go.

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The plan was a negative split and about 40 minutes for the 10 km. Conservative start, build into it. Sensible.

The body didn’t get the memo. The cold had me stiff from the off, and the terrain — a mix of grass, gravel, paths, and tarmac — with some rolling elevation thrown in for fun — wasn’t helping. The legs were going through the motions rather than racing. First lap through in 22:36. Total run 1 in 43:33. Slower than I wanted, and I knew it. But a negative split.

10 km — 43:33 — Category position: 16th

Clean and quick. 1:22 — 4th in category for the transition. Small wins.

Out of the estate on a climb and a rough path. Not the most confidence-inspiring start. Once on the road, it felt better — and the good news was I could get into the tri bars and mostly stay there. A marked improvement on Cascais.

The bad news: the cold had completely destroyed my bike handling confidence. I’d planned four TORQ gels, one of which was earmarked for the bike. I never opened it. Reaching into a back pocket at speed felt like a bad idea when my hands were half-numb. Three gels total — pre-start, pre-T1, and T2 — out of four planned.

I was chasing 250W and 40 km/h, higher than what I’d held in a middle-distance championship setting. I got neither. Power sat below target, average speed came in at 33 km/h. The legs and bike handling just weren’t there.

40 km — 1:11:37 — Avg: ~33 km/h — Category position: 9th

An absolute nightmare. My feet were blocks of ice — I couldn’t feel my toes, couldn’t feel my fingers, and couldn’t get my shoes on. I had to stop and untighten the laces before I could even get my foot in. 1:58 — 64th overall for the transition. That tells the story.

Off the bike, I felt surprisingly OK. A brief moment of optimism — maybe I could claw a few places back. That vanished pretty quickly. The negative split I’d hoped for turned into a very positive one. The legs were done.

But the finish is something else. You come sweeping back towards Burghley House, then turn your back on it for the final straight — the house framing the perfect backdrop behind every finisher photo. Cruel and beautiful at the same time.

5 km — 21:44 — Category position: 11th

Medal. Water. And straight to the Huckson Tri gazebo, where Woody and James looked after me properly — dry robe handed over before I even asked. Then next door to the sauna, where I ended up chatting to someone who swims across oceans butterfly-style. Apparently, a woman swam the Channel butterfly in 14 hours. Some people are built differently.

Packed up. Drove home. Made the mistake of hunting for the results online, bouncing between sites before finally finding them.

13th out of 19 in the 50–54 age group. No European Championship qualification. Congratulations to those who earned their spots. Back to the training board.

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Run	T1	Bike	T2	Run	Finish
00:43:33	00:01:22	01:11:37	00:01:58	00:21:44	02:20:15

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Sauna. Dry robe. Good company. A chat about butterfly swimming reminded me that my problems are very small. Then the long drive home, slightly numb in more ways than one.

• Getting to the start line at all — the morning logistics were smooth, the drive easy, the registration fast.
• T1 — 1:22 and 4th in category. One thing that went right.
• Tri bars — held aero position for most of the bike leg, which is progress after Cascais.
• The new Ekoi helmet broke the rule and got away with it.
• Post-race crew — Huckson Tri looking after me, sauna on hand. Couldn’t ask for more.

• Cold weather preparation — a base layer or arm warmers under the trisuit. A trisuit alone in near-freezing temperatures is not a strategy.
• Bike nutrition – afraid of losing a gel (or control) because my hands were too cold is a kit-and-planning problem. Sort it before the next cold-weather race.
• Bike power — 33 km/h versus a target of 38 km/h. Form wasn’t there, but the gap is too big to explain by cold alone.
• Run 2 pacing — went out feeling good, fell apart. More discipline off the bike.
• Elastic lace check — all pieces present before race day. Every time.

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Organisation	9/10
Course	7/10
Atmosphere / Crowd	4/10
Post-Race Experience	7/10
Value for Money	/10
Overall	8/10

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13th out of 19. Not the day I came for. The cold, the form, the frozen feet in T2 — none of it was the plan. But Burghley is a brilliant event, the Huckson crew are good people, and there’s a woman somewhere who swam the Channel butterfly in 14 hours, so perspective is available if you need it.

European Championships will have to wait. The training board awaits.

Have you raced at Burghley? Drop a comment below — or find me on Instagram at @oli_le_triathlete.

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