Lorraine, Padraic & myself travelled up to the NAC in Blanchardstown yesterday for the Fingal Sprint Triathlon.
The swim was in the 50m pool, something which none of the three of us had ever swam in before and with 11 in each lane, 10 lanes and 4 waves things were going to be busy. Padraic's brother Eoin trains in the NAC and told us that the 50m pool would add 1 minute onto our 750m time from a 25 m pool. I think this worked out to be true, although I thought I'd swim much faster but then I always overestimate my swimming abilities
Lorraine took an extra 50 seconds than her Nenagh time so sounds true enough.
Everyone was a bit nervous before the swim, Lorraine for being in the fastest wave, Padraic and me cos it was our first swim of the year, and the three of us looking at the 50m pool. Myself and Padraic were both in wave 3 so had a nervy chat beside the pool beforehand and then into the water. One lad in my lane was determined to go last so I went second last. After a lot of splashing about it was time to head off for the bike. Transition was well spaced out with plenty of racks and lots of room between each rack, minimum of fuss and I was off.
Lorraine and I had drove the bike course when we arrived which made a big difference for me anyway as I knew exactly where I was going on each roundabout (there were 10!!) and knew what was coming on the road ahead so was able to get the head down. The bike course was really well marshalled with lots of Gardai too keeping motorists in check. The route was nice and flat, and whilst a bit lumpy in spots was generally a good surface. A very tight turning area at the turnabout and lots of gravel at one of the junctions (though not on the racing line) were the only small gripes. It was a windy day so we were made to work hard.
The run was another simple out and back along the footpath but after getting back to transition we had to run onto the grass and spin around the NAC grounds by the perimeter fence for a few minutes before crossing the finish line.
Race seemed well organised, I read that they had 80 marshalls on the day, and there was a good spread of competitors with about 150 beginners up to some of the best senior and junior triathlon talent in the country.
Here are our results from the day:
Place Surname Name Wave AG Sex Swim S_Rank T1 Cycle C_Rank T2 Run R_Rank Finish
87 Dempsey John 3 30-34 M 0:18:07 (233) 0:01:22 0:35:58 (38) 0:01:14 0:21:55 (112) 1:18:36
99 George Padraic 3 35-39 M 0:18:26 (247) 0:01:50 0:37:20 (64) 0:00:53 0:21:17 (94) 1:19:46
206 Byrne Lorraine 4 30-34 F 0:15:49 (141) 0:01:55 0:42:55 (218) 0:01:12 0:26:32 (264) 1:28:23
And we even got a chance for a cheesy photo afterwards:
Although what Lorraine is doing with her right hand I don't know
Full results are here:
http://fingalsprint.3dtri.com/
Maybe they’ll add a few photos later