London Duathlon – UPDATED 2021 – Route, Distances & More!

Taking place on Sunday 25 April 2021, the London Duathlon is one of the biggest duathlon events in the UK. With a beginner-friendly course for the novice and a fast route for the experienced, the course suits a wide range of people. Each year hundreds of athletes flock to Richmond Park to tackle this famous event, will you be there this year?

London Duathlon 2021 – A Complete Guide

The London Duathlon 2021 takes place in the picturesque Richmond Park. The unique multi-sport event has been held since 2005 and continues to grow each year. With the stunning surroundings of the largest royal park, athletes get to race through a landscape of hills, woodland gardens, and grasslands.

The event caters to all types of athletes, from elite to age groupers and teams. The London duathlon offers three distances for the athletes to enter, a half duathlon, full duathlon, and ultra duathlon. For teams that want to enter, you have the relay option that can be experienced with your work colleagues for a great team-building exercise.

With the amount of participants entering the event every year, its becoming more and more competitive. The duathlon winning time in 2019 was a fast 02:01:06, and the ultra duathlon was won in under 4 hours with a 03:54:17. These times are nothing to be laughed and just show the level of athletes that turn up.

Since the event is so popular each year, participants will benefit from closed roads during the race. Since the park is closed to traffic only a few times each year, it can provide an experience of racing on closed roads.

London Duathlon Route

The London duathlon route is one of the most picturesque routes of any event in London. Participants get to encounter some 650 roaming deer in Richmond Park and run past the famous ornamental woodland garden. While the route isn’t extremely hard, participants will see an elevation gain of just below 40 meters on the first run. The bike on the other hand will climb just above 50 meters, before finishing off the last run at the same elevation as the first.

The route is a fast course that will see many elite athletes set new personal best times across the distance. The beginner participants on the other hand are greeted with a novice-friendly course to help them finish their first duathlon.

London Duathlon Distances

Since the event caters to numerous participants, the London duathlon distances suit a range of fitness levels. From the half distance event for beginners, to the ultra distance for the experienced athletes. The event offers a total of three distances for the individual, and for the team, a duathlon relay.

Half Duathlon – (5k run / 22k bike / 5k run)
Duathlon – (10k run / 44k bike / 5k run)
Ultra Duathlon – (20k run/ 77k bike/ 10k run)
Duathlon Relay – (10k run / 44k bike / 5k run)

Each event during Sunday 25 April 2021 tackles a slightly different course that will challenge the participant over each distance. With hundreds of athletes entering each event, you will be motivated to push yourself through to the finish. If you are looking at entering the half distance event as your first try, our 10-week training plan can prepare you for the 5k run, 22k bike, and 5k run distances. Alternatively, if you are entering the standard distance of 10k running, 44k biking, and 5k running, check out our plan here.

 

London Ultra Duathlon – What You Should Know?

If you plan to enter the London Ultra Duathlon make sure you are well-prepared. The distance of running 20 km, cycling 77 km, and running another 10 km is no joke. You will need to fuel during the first run correctly to help you get through the 77 km bike unscathed.

The Ultra event takes the winners just under 4 hours, while the average person should expect to finish the event between 4-6 hours. You should be well-prepared in your running and cycling to take on this distance and should have some brick training behind you.

Make sure you constantly fuel with 50-60 grams of carbohydrates per hour, this will help keep your energy levels up later in the event. And don’t forget to drink 400-600ml per hour to keep your hydration on point throughout the race.

Credit: Images from @LondonDuathlon
www.londonduathlon.com