The Dirty Du Duathlon at Three Peaks

The "Voodoo" tree along the Race Course Loop at Three Peaks in Iron County, Utah.

I can pretty much guarantee I'll never compete in a triathlon.

I'm just NOT a swimmer, and I have zero desire to really learn how. Swimming is just not part of my outdoor philosophy which is basically all about getting around in the backcountry (running, hiking, biking, canyoneering) as efficiently as possible in a limited amount of time. Being a fast swimmer just is not seem that useful to my explorations.

Thank goodness for duathlons where you can test your running and biking mettle all in one go. The Three Peaks Duathlon is a newer race held at the Three Peaks Recreation Area west of Cedar City. Three Peaks is one of my favorite places to play and it is extremely underused by folks that live in Cedar Valley.

Top reasons I love this race:
(1) No swimming
(2) Takes place at Three Peaks - a natural treasure in the Cedar City area with great views of the Hurricane Cliffs and 30+ miles of singletrack on flowy trails mixed with granite slickrock. Yes! That's right -- granite slickrock!.
(3) The race is 100% on dirt and about 95% of that dirt is in the form of singletrack.
(4) The race is practically in my backyard.
(5) The entree fee is reasonable at $40 bucks and all of the proceeds go the Cedar City Volunteer Fireman's Relief Organization.
(6) Now in it's second year, the race format is much improved over last year's weird team format.

Not having done any sort of race for quite some time, I was excited to throw my hat in the ring.

The race starts with a 5k trail run, followed by a 12-mile mountain bike circuit. Then comes a final 5k run that covers the same running course, except in the reverse direction.

The following race photos were taken by my wife Susie along with a few photos ripped from the Dirty Du Facebook Page.

My son Ren looks on as I stretch the old legs out just before the start.

And we're off! The first few strides out of the starting gate.  I always go into these shorter races with a plan: conserve energy by letting a few fast guys lead and just hang back within striking distance. And as usual, I completely bagged that plan within the first 100 yards as I quickly found myself out in front.

I was able to maintain the lead throughout the 5k, although a couple of guys were hanging right on my heels.  See all the granite slickrock in the background? The running course included some scrambling on all fours through that section. There was even a fixed rope at one point to hoist yourself up over a ledge. Fun stuff.

Transition #1. So far so good as I was the first to the bike. 

Within a couple hundred yards on the bike, I decided to just make up my own race course!  You see, I had pre-rode the course a week earlier, and so instead of following the current course markers, I operated on autopilot and followed the exact route from a week earlier. I later found out that they had to alter the course at the last second because they couldn't clear all of the campers out of the way. By the time I figured out my mistake, I'd gone an extra 0.5 mile, and several people had passed me.

Despite my mistake, I tried to stay calm. I knew that my many years of mountain biking racing would be a huge advantage, and I was able to quickly pick off the 4-5 guys ahead of me.  Even though I lost my chain twice on the downhill (both times requiring me to stop and fix the chain by hand), I was the first into the final transition. Photo from Dirty Du Facebook page.

At the beginning of the final 5k, I had a guy right behind me. I'm pretty sure he was one of the race organizers though because he seemed to appear out of nowhere and he yelled out which way to turn (very much appreciated) as I was struggling for some reason to stay on course. Soon I was all alone with no one in sight and I ran solo the last two miles for the victory. 

From right to left are the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners. There was some pretty good loot for such a small race. I ended up with easily over $100-worth of gift certificates and gear. Photo from Dirty Du Facebook page.

I can't recommend this race enough. And honestly, I had no business winning this thing. I expect there to be much stiffer competition next year.

Susie and I also got a few quotes in the local paper's coverage of the event