With the season coming to end it was time for Eireman X2 and mud, sweat and gears in Courtown!
The happiest club in Ireland.
Barry and David were taking on the individual challenge for the second time, having competed in the season opening Eireman X in May. Jim, James and Peter were also having a second go, this time in the relay. They were joined by Aisling, PJ and club and triathlon debutant Adrian.
Another beautiful triathlon day lay ahead (unlike the last event in Courtown) and the sea was as flat calm as could be. Adrian was introduced immediately to the vagaries of dealing with triathlon equipment when he saw that what goes up doesn’t always stay up. Tyres that is. Luckily Jim was on hand to sort it out for him.
And so on to the swim. After an interesting 1km walk down the road to the start (lots of oohs and aahs) it was time for the off. The Barcelona-bound Jim and Barry had promised a flat out sprint and so it was, with Barry coming in at 16 mins with Jim 30 seconds back. David was next at 18:40, seconds ahead of Peter, with PJ and Aisling close behind.
Barry took a good lead on to the bike section. Jim handed over to James, and Peter handed over the baton to his relay partner Adrian who got out of T1 just in front of David, with PJ and Aisling chasing. Down to the sandy beach and through the river, into some sweet singletrack and quite some hardship. More oohs and aahs, lifting of bikes, running up hills, falling over. At least there was no mud this time. David soon forged ahead of Adrian and James, and started in hot pursuit of Barry. He was showing a clean pair of heels though. Further back PJ was cutting a swathe through the field with Aisling close behind.
Barry was flying now and looking possibly at a top 10 finish. David exited T2 knowing that just like in Clogherhead, PJ would soon be breathing down his neck. James handed over to Tony (making his first appearance since TriAthy!), and Adrian and Aisling further back.
There was no catching Barry now as he finished in 14th place. David was hanging on grimly, but had enough time in hand to stay clear of PJ; finishing 27th and 34th respectively. Next home was Adrian’s team (56th) followed by Tony’s team (83rd) and finally Aisling (93rd).
At the risk of sounding cliche’ed this was another great day for our young club. Barry had a marvellous performance to finish 14th (actually 12th individual) with David in 27th (24th). Both improved greatly on their first Eireman X performances, shaving 11 and 9 minutes respectively from their times. PJ as usual put in a solid performance for another high finish and Aisling showed that the summer of early morning swims and late evening mtb’ing was worth it after all. The relays also put in strong shows, well done especially to Adrian in his first triathlon. Incidentally, the event was won for the second time by Adam Kelly of Wicklow Tri Club in atime of 1:14:33.
Thanks to the support crew – too many to mention this time!
Full results: http://eireman-x.eireman.org/sites/eireman-x.eireman.org/files/EiremanX2_Results2009.xls
Photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/racing795/Races
Vimeo footage
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