ROADFORD Lake hosted the ‘Equalizer’ race in conjunction with Freak Events on July 3 which saw the men put up against the women.

In a brutal half Ironman event which saw the particpants race in a 1.2 mile swim, 56-mile bike ride and a 13.1 mile run (half marathon), a prize purse of £5000 was on offer which attracted athletes from all over the UK with the ladies starting 32 minutes and 30 seconds ahead of the men.

With some ladies markedly quicker in the water and more than capable of holding their own on the bike, it was certainly going to be a tough ask, especially with the weather almost perfect, leading to some seriously quick times.

Matt Luxton, a local personal trainer and owner of award winning Blast Fitness, took part in the race and was happy to use it as a training exercise instead of worrying about where he finished.

Matt said: “For me personally, I wasn’t at all worried about getting in the top ten on the day. It was all about trying to hit some targets for each discipline and work on a few things that my coach and I have been doing over the last month or so.

“The swim was two minutes and 40 seconds slower than I had hoped for but that really motivated me to attack the bike course.”

With the temperatures soaring and the roads bone dry, bike speeds were always going to be high as Matt found out from his own training partners.

Matt said: “We had worked out that I needed to put out 254 watts over the whole 56 miles in order for me to hit my two hours and 45 minutes target. All was going well on the first lap, it was spot on, but Mark and Rich (Matt’s training partners) were having a blinder and I could see they were edging away from me.

“By the end of the first lap they were already five minutes ahead. Although I dug in, I could feel my power dropping and in the end I finished about eight minutes behind them going into the run with a time of two hours and 49 minutes.”

With the course in tip-top condition, Matt eventually managed to push through the pain barrier to finish 22nd overall, one ahead of Mark Knight and eight behind Richard Martin.

The lead lady, Hannah Drewett who trains along side Olympic athletes Jonny and Ali Brownlee in Leeds, managed to hold off the challenge of the lead male to finish three minutes in front and claim the £2000 first prize.

Matt was extremely pleased with the event and thanked Del Pitcher and Jarad Collard of Freak Events for putting on such a brilliant event that attracted such a high calibre of athletes, especially with such a massive event for him to come down under.

He said: “Well done to Del and Jarad for having the courage to put on such a brilliant event and the course was brilliant. It was a great race and I now look forward to the next event for me, The XXX-Man on Exmoor on Sunday July 31, which is a 1.2 mile swim, 70 mile bike and eight mile run. Then after that I head to Australia for the world championships in September which should be an amazing experience.”