Shephard claims silver in World Duathlon Championships

RICHARD Shephard secured a superb silver medal at the World Duathlon Championships in Avilés, Spain.

Competing for Great Britain, the Stratford Triathlon Club member finished second in his age group behind French winner Olivier Fremy.

From the start the pace was exceptionally fast, as is normally the case with these races.

Shephard hung back a little, allowing the majority of the field to run ahead.

It was not until the end of the first of two 5k laps that he started to make up any ground.

The bike course was a little technical but fairly flat, and although not ideal for Shephard, he was still the fastest in his age group.

By the time he got to the T2 transition, he was around 10-15 seconds behind the leader Fremy. He was not able to stick with him on the final 5k run, with Shephard finishing in 2.01.01 just behind Fremy in 2.00.06.