WILTSHIRE’S Chris Roxburgh and James Coleman are hoping to form a dynamic duo when they team up to take on the world at next week’s Duathlon World Championships.
Roxburgh, from Staverton, and Coleman, from Westwood, will both be jetting off to Canada to represent Great Britain in the 25-29 age group in Ottawa on August 10.
The Wiltshire duo met at last year’s London Duathlon and Roxburgh, who races for Total Fitness Bath/O2 Creation UK, is hopeful of securing a place on the podium in Canada after finishing 17th at the 2012 world championships in Nancy last year.
“Last year was all about getting the experience of going to the worlds but I think I was over-trained because I just did every event I could,” said Roxburgh, who works for the South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust and is also sponsored by Compressport UK and Proto-col.
“I’ve got a new coach called Andy McKenzie, who’s an ex-Great Britain pentathlete, and I feel like things have been going well this year.
“I met James at the London Duathlon last year, where I finished second overall and he was fourth, and when we got chatting, we realised that we were from the same area. It was his first-ever race.
“We both qualified for Canada at the Dambuster Duathlon (in Rutland Water, Leicestershire) in March and it’s great that we’re going together. I think that we’ve both got a really good chance of making the podium.”
Coleman, who works in London for market research agency OnePoll, who are also sponsoring him, is looking forward to his world championship bow after taking up the sport less than a year ago.
“I’ve done a lot of mountain biking in the past and eventually decided to give duathlon a go.
“Qualifying for Canada shows that it’s amazing what you can achieve with a bit of belief,” said Coleman, who races for Cadence Bike Shop in Bath.
“I was encouraged to give qualifying a go by Chris when I met him and I’m a bit nervous now that I’ve set the bar so high after doing it for about ten months. I’m proud to be going though.
“I’ve been doing a lot of events and my tan lines are pretty rigid. I come back to Westwood a lot and when you compete you have all of those local voices in your head spurring you on.
“There are two of us from the area going out there and I guess we’ve both got to do well for the west.”
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