British Duathlon was created to help raise the profile of Britain's premier multisport.
For years Duathlon has been the poor cousin to triathlon and, in particular since triathlon gained Olympic status, it has fallen almost from view on the world stage. Why this has been allowed to happen is not clear, but the sport that brought us such stars as Benny Vansteelant and Catriona Morrison deserves a higher profile.

We hope to use this website to encourage a whole new generation of multisport stars by offering training and guidance in duathlon to anyone with a bike and a pair of running shoes.

Jon Cowell was born in 1963 and educated at Glyn Grammar School & Southwark College. After a disappointing spat with the Department of Trade and Industry (shortly after the winter of discontent when there was no trade and industry in Britain) he joined the Royal Army Ordnance Corps. Successfully achieving P Company with the Parachute Regiment, he served with Airborne Forces in many theatres including Northern Ireland, the Middle East and with the United Nations Assistance Mission in Rwanda. He trained extensively with British and US Special Forces.Despite an enjoyable and highly competitive sporting career, including triathlon, duathlon, football, parachuting,skiing and eating competitions, he remains one of the world's runners up, owning a vast collection of second place trophies and medals.

JC has climbed Mount Muhaburu and area cleaned the upper slopes of Mount Kenya, paddled 180 miles from London to Nottingham along the Grand Union Canal for Sport Aid and organised the Rwanda Dash for Cash, a 264.5km charity run across Rwanda for the Roy Castle Cause for Hope Appeal! These and many other stories are recounted in The Out of Work Actor by Soldier JC. For more information, see www.bluntwords.com.

JC has appeared as a political and military commentator on BBC TV and Radio News, international television, and as an MOD spokesman on BBC and local radio. He has had a number of reports and articles published in various newspapers and journals and is the author of a collection of poems 'Blunt Words from the Sharp End'.

Sarah began her culinary career as a pre-school 4-year-old, helping Mum to roll out the pastry trimmings to make jam tarts. Always encouraged to get involved in the kitchen, by her teenage years Sarah had mastered a roux sauce and was regularly baking cakes for her siblings at weekends. Working as a waitress in one of Lichfield’s two smart French restaurants, while in sixth form, she found out what a dumb waiter was and that the world of cheese stretches far beyond Cheddar and (Red) Leicester.

She spent her last summer break, before starting studies at York University, working in a mountain hotel in the Bernese Oberland, Switzerland, discovering the delights of Bratwurst and Rosti and Swiss traditions such as Raclette, where food is the centrepiece of a social gathering. Sharing a house with 3 other girls in York gave Sarah the opportunity to cook for others. Though on a budget, she tried to retain the ‘3 square meals a day’ mantra drilled into her by her mum. As well as Switzerland, Sarah has enjoyed other opportunities to travel which life has thrown at her and has made more food and drink discoveries along the way, including French breads, American Caesar salad, Belgian moules et frites, Kenyan coffee, Irish Guinness, Greek souvlaki, octopus in Gran Canaria and kumara (sweet potato) chips in New Zealand.

It seems fitting then, that Sarah’s break into her sporting career, relatively late in life, combined running with food, when she ran the Olney Pancake Race in 2000. Just glad to finish, it was another 3 years before she joined Olney Runners and took up running seriously. Always chastised by her coach for being too skinny, Sarah was nonetheless very aware of her eating habits and tried hard to match her diet to her new-found exercise regime, especially as she increased her mileage in the build-up to the London marathon. Suddenly ‘carbo-loading’, ‘protein needs’ and ‘hydration’ were part of her new vocabulary and a real interest in nutrition was awakened.

Sarah then turned her attention to Jon and his nutritional needs as part of supporting him in his Duathlon racing and training activities. Through food composition analysis and a deeper understanding of metabolism, nutrient groups and calorific needs, she helped him achieve a silver medal at the European Championships 2008.

Sarah has successfully completed the Open University Nutrition course and plans to continue her studies, pursuing her interests in food composition, the biological effect of the foods we eat and combining foods for optimum nutrition. Her challenge is to find a balance between her love of cooking and baking, the social pleasures of eating and the desire to eat a healthy diet, geared to fuelling the body’s energy needs.

The home of British Duathlon is also our home and we feel privileged to live in this Grade II listed Georgian town house in the country. Thursby is one of a pair of homes built over 200 years ago by the local land owner for his daughters. With its double pitched roof - from which the view over Emberton and town of Olney is beautiful - the gothic windows, open fireplaces and the local stone walled garden, this is a wonderful base for training, race preparation or just relaxing post race.

We are only 5 minutes walk from Emberton Country Park, and if you continue through the park you will reach the historic town centre of Olney where you can take advantage of the shopping, antique centres, the Cowper and Newton Museum and gardens and the numerous pubs and coffee shops.

We are located here: http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&q=map+mk46+5ja&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&resnum=1&ct=title

Thursby is ideally situated for accessing not only Big Cow races but also those of Just Racing and Galeforce Events which in 2009 include the National Duathlon and Sprint Triathlon Championships and qualification for 2009 and 2010 World and European events.

For more information about Thursby B&B, the location and directions please see www.britishduathlon.org/thursby.

This former gravel works opened as a park in 1965 and has been transformed into an attractive parkland setting covering 200 acres which is welcoming to visitors and encourages peace and relaxation.

Through its various guises, Emberton Country Park has hosted many regional and national triathlon and duathlon events.

Located between Emberton village and the market town of Olney, the park is easily accessed, just 10 minutes from junction 14 of the M1.

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