Westport sprint and Athy sprint an olympic
Westport sprint and Athy sprint an olympic
Folks Jarlath completed very well in Westport as did Siobhan, Fintan and Tom in athy. Well done all If I left anyone out apologies. Any snippets of info or indeed reports are welcome, so cmon and get the summer tri season goin on the forum.
Re: Westport sprint and Athy sprint an olympic
Westport sprint triathlon took place on the 11th June 2016 and was second on my calendar for my tour of the island this year with triathlon. This was a triathlon that I had identified early in the year as I could combine it with a visit home.
I travelled down on the Friday and stayed at home approx 50k from Westport. To save time on the Saturday morning, I registered on the Friday evening at the Westport Coast hotel which was located overlooking transition and the swim course which was based on Roman Island an extension of Westport Quays. There were 300 competitors entered with three waves each consisting of 100. I was allocated wave 2.
On the Saturday morning, I returned to Westport for 9.30am. Transition was due to close at 10.15am with a 11am start for the event. The weather was fantastic with a slight breeze from the south west. Parking was very handy, right beside transition. I got my gear ready and set myself up. Decided to give the elastic bands another go, they hadn’t gone so well at Sligo 6 weeks previous but I had put in at least another 15 minutes practice on them in the interim so I decided they must work this time.
While hanging around transition waiting on race briefing, I met a couple of guys I know from home. Both were taking part in Challenge Galway full distance in a few weeks from then. We exchanged some pleasantries and then focused on the race.
The swim was held on an inlet to the rear of Roman Island meaning nice calm waters from the protection of the island. The entrance into the water was quite steep and I felt it might cause difficulty after the swim if jelly legs were a problem. It was a triangular course with all competitors returning back to where they started. The water was quite warm, certainly warmer than what I had experienced at Poulshone but on entering underfoot was quite soft and squashy. Certainly not conditions PJ would be comfortable in.
All competitors entered the water in their waves which started 3 minutes apart. After all the progress that I have made in the last year with swimming under the tutelage of Liam on the Tuesday morning sessions, I decided to brave it and start near the front of wave 2. Then, we were on our way and as Liam had us practicing, I gave it full steam for the first 50m before settling back into a comfortable stroke. The corners at the buoys were quite tight with the amount of competitors in each wave and it was a case of taking and giving a bit of beating here, but apart from that my swim was very comfortable and I exited the water in 14.41mins.
I felt comfortable in T1, off with the wet suit and out onto the bike. Rubber bands worked at treat, thanks Frank, I knew all that practice would pay off. The bike course, just over 20k had an initial dead zone for 150m where cyclists were not allowed pass before it exited onto the main road which headed out towards Croagh Patrick. The wind was in our faces heading out but it didn’t cause any major difficulty. The surface was reasonable and while it was a bit undulating in parts, there were no major climbs. However, it was here that I realised the benefits that TRI795 offers with closed roads. Being a popular tourist destination, traffic was quite heavy and with the amount of cyclists on the road it made for hard overtaking. Both on the way out to turnaround at Croagh Patrick and returning to Westport I was held up behind vehicles. It irked me a bit because on the way back in one of the marshals was shouting at me about drafting…. The feckin thing was holding me up!!!!
Anyway back into transition and via the 150m dead zone again and with my new flying dismount, I was off the bike in 36.07mins, ave 33.7km/h. By the way, it really works, because I passed two people just by using this dismount.
T2 went very well and I was back out running. I felt reasonable for the first KM but then all of a sudden my body began to shut down. I had difficulties with my calves earlier in the week and I was unsure as to how they would hold up for the 5k. However, I got through it in 21.16mins. While I was bit disappointed with the run time as it was a flat course along the Westport Quay and onto the grounds of Westport House before returning to the finish at Roman Island, I was delighted with my overall time of 1.13.33 which was good for me.
Overall, it was an excellent triathlon, well organised and great weather with lovely west of Ireland folk. There was ample supply of refreshments at the finish line together with a medal and all competitors were given the voucher for the Westport Coast Hotel after the event to have lunch. We were also given vouchers to go the Westport Leisure Centre where we could avail of showers, etc before leaving the town.
Thanks to everybody for your kind wishes prior, during and after the event. Well done to Ciara and Eimear who also competed on the same weekend at Schull and Blessington respectively. You both done very well and your reports were excellent. Look forward to competing with you in the next few weeks. Now back to training and onward and upwards to the next events.
I travelled down on the Friday and stayed at home approx 50k from Westport. To save time on the Saturday morning, I registered on the Friday evening at the Westport Coast hotel which was located overlooking transition and the swim course which was based on Roman Island an extension of Westport Quays. There were 300 competitors entered with three waves each consisting of 100. I was allocated wave 2.
On the Saturday morning, I returned to Westport for 9.30am. Transition was due to close at 10.15am with a 11am start for the event. The weather was fantastic with a slight breeze from the south west. Parking was very handy, right beside transition. I got my gear ready and set myself up. Decided to give the elastic bands another go, they hadn’t gone so well at Sligo 6 weeks previous but I had put in at least another 15 minutes practice on them in the interim so I decided they must work this time.
While hanging around transition waiting on race briefing, I met a couple of guys I know from home. Both were taking part in Challenge Galway full distance in a few weeks from then. We exchanged some pleasantries and then focused on the race.
The swim was held on an inlet to the rear of Roman Island meaning nice calm waters from the protection of the island. The entrance into the water was quite steep and I felt it might cause difficulty after the swim if jelly legs were a problem. It was a triangular course with all competitors returning back to where they started. The water was quite warm, certainly warmer than what I had experienced at Poulshone but on entering underfoot was quite soft and squashy. Certainly not conditions PJ would be comfortable in.
All competitors entered the water in their waves which started 3 minutes apart. After all the progress that I have made in the last year with swimming under the tutelage of Liam on the Tuesday morning sessions, I decided to brave it and start near the front of wave 2. Then, we were on our way and as Liam had us practicing, I gave it full steam for the first 50m before settling back into a comfortable stroke. The corners at the buoys were quite tight with the amount of competitors in each wave and it was a case of taking and giving a bit of beating here, but apart from that my swim was very comfortable and I exited the water in 14.41mins.
I felt comfortable in T1, off with the wet suit and out onto the bike. Rubber bands worked at treat, thanks Frank, I knew all that practice would pay off. The bike course, just over 20k had an initial dead zone for 150m where cyclists were not allowed pass before it exited onto the main road which headed out towards Croagh Patrick. The wind was in our faces heading out but it didn’t cause any major difficulty. The surface was reasonable and while it was a bit undulating in parts, there were no major climbs. However, it was here that I realised the benefits that TRI795 offers with closed roads. Being a popular tourist destination, traffic was quite heavy and with the amount of cyclists on the road it made for hard overtaking. Both on the way out to turnaround at Croagh Patrick and returning to Westport I was held up behind vehicles. It irked me a bit because on the way back in one of the marshals was shouting at me about drafting…. The feckin thing was holding me up!!!!
Anyway back into transition and via the 150m dead zone again and with my new flying dismount, I was off the bike in 36.07mins, ave 33.7km/h. By the way, it really works, because I passed two people just by using this dismount.
T2 went very well and I was back out running. I felt reasonable for the first KM but then all of a sudden my body began to shut down. I had difficulties with my calves earlier in the week and I was unsure as to how they would hold up for the 5k. However, I got through it in 21.16mins. While I was bit disappointed with the run time as it was a flat course along the Westport Quay and onto the grounds of Westport House before returning to the finish at Roman Island, I was delighted with my overall time of 1.13.33 which was good for me.
Overall, it was an excellent triathlon, well organised and great weather with lovely west of Ireland folk. There was ample supply of refreshments at the finish line together with a medal and all competitors were given the voucher for the Westport Coast Hotel after the event to have lunch. We were also given vouchers to go the Westport Leisure Centre where we could avail of showers, etc before leaving the town.
Thanks to everybody for your kind wishes prior, during and after the event. Well done to Ciara and Eimear who also competed on the same weekend at Schull and Blessington respectively. You both done very well and your reports were excellent. Look forward to competing with you in the next few weeks. Now back to training and onward and upwards to the next events.
Re: Westport sprint and Athy sprint an olympic
Well done Jarlath, great result and report. The strong winter block of training has paid off and your swim times have improved dramatically, which I told you so. Keep it up.
Re: Westport sprint and Athy sprint an olympic
Well done Jarlath. Nothing wrong with that run time, great swim