Two Wins for Prasad

The day after the National Championships Prasad went down to Peebles with a friend to have another look at the trails in the Glentress Forest at Peebles he had won the first two in the Glentress Duathlon series and with the last one coming up he just wanted another recce. It paid off handsomely! The last race was last week and he won not only the race but also the series. He was second after the bike ride (to a guy who didn't do the run) and then had the fastest time of the day on the run to win comfortably. He had he says 'a really big crash' on the bike and was sore for the remainder of the week.

Yesterday he went to Birnam Hill at Dunkeld where he had won last year. There were 61 runners including the new 'unbeatable' Junior, Robbie Simpson. Prasad led from the start with Simpson coming up on him at the start of the steep climb. Nevertheless P was about 20 metres ahead by the top when, he says, his cross country training paid off and he moved further clear.He ultimately won in a time 2 minutes 20 seconds inside his own record for the race which he set last year! The unbeatable Junior was third a minute behind.

Having raced guys in the past who dropped out at half distance ('I only wanted a hard six' when it was a 12 mile race) it is a practice that I can't abide. They distort the pace for the athletes who are out for the whole distance; in the case of P's Duathlon, the cyclist who raced and won the cycle ride with no intention of doing the run maybe conrtibuted to the fall but certainly had P go faster than he might have done had the guy not been there. Rant over! Well done Prasad!