From Chris Locke: "Over 200 athletes showed up on a near perfect day for the 5th Annual God’s Country Duathlon. Ranging from ages 6 to 68 all challenged themselves on the Lawrence River trails and all had seemed like they had a great time. Devil’s Revenge winner Brad Cole made it two in a row as he won over Colorado’s Will Kelsay. Running together during the first leg, Cole and Kelsay put a small gap on the rest of the field. Once they hit the bike, Cole opened large enough gap to cruise the final win and take the win in 1:26:25. Kelsay kept the pressure on and finished just over a minute later in 27:55. 3rd place was battled out between Ashley Oelschaeger and KC Multisport’s Brendon Jenks. Ashley took the final podium spot in 1:32:28.
The Elite Women’s class was won by Amber Mounday. Amber turned in a solid first run to lead 3 time champions Laura Elsenraat after the first leg. Once on the bike, Amber used here cycling strength to open up a sizable advantage and was have to take the win in 1:46:22. Laura held on to 2nd in 1:52:07. Age-grouper Kelly Carlton turned in the 3rd fastest female time in 2:00:15.
The popular event almost didn’t take place. Earlier in the week the Lawrence area again got some heavy storms that caused severe damage to the trail system. There were hundreds of fallen trees along the 9 mile route. According to Event Director Chris Locke, “We were thinking we were going to either move or cancel the event, but the Lawrence Mountain Bike Club came to the rescue and put in over 24 hours of trail maintenance and cleaned up the trails” Together with the LMBC, members of the Cow Town Cycling Team, the hard working Lantern Rouge Volunteer Group the event turned out to be a great success.
Some great pictures are at www.kimmorris.com