County Wexford is the place to be this summer if you’re looking for exciting racing. First up on 23rd June is Éireman X, the now familiar Courtown Triathlon and Duathlon. Full details available on the Éireman X website.
Later in the summer we have Wexford Tri Club’s Pikeman Triathlon to look forward to, then it’s our very own Tri795 on 5th August. So no excuses, get out there and give it a lash in Wexford this summer.
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Ross goes hunting – photo by Ballyhoura MTB Club
[Report by David Conway]
There’s always great banter and camaraderie on the start line of an XC mountain bike race. The riders line up, there’s a little argy bargy over position but it’s all good natured. Everyone is friendly, the craic is good, we’re all in it together. It was probably the same for the gladiators just before they ran out into the Colosseum to fight each other to the death.
The starter calls 10 seconds to go. No more chat. All you hear is the clicking of cleats into pedals and the beeping of Garmins, then BANG! Suddenly it’s all panting and grunting and mashing of gears and tyres crunching gravel. The anaerobic dash to the first singletrack funnel is on. Banter and camaraderie me ar$e, team mates me ar$e, showtime!
That’s just how it was on Sunday when David Furlong, Ross Moorhead and I lined out in Ballyhoura for the 5th and final round of the Munster XC series.
DF did the driving once again. Joy had put the foot down so no fancy new car this week, we had to make do with the elderly Laguna. We made the best of it and it only took us a few minutes to straighten up after the long journey.
Pre-race routine is always pretty much the same. First sign on. (These Munster races have only 2 senior male categories, “Male” and “Elites”. We entered the Elite race. Sounds good doesn’t it?) Then tog out, practice lap, bite to eat, visit the portaloo, head for the start. All went smoothly and before we knew it we were having the craic with all the other gladiators on the start line. Then BANG! The red mist came down.
As always I started way too hard and was under pressure almost immediately. Still, I managed to keep the momentum and put in a decent first lap. The course was a well balanced mix of fire road climbs, trail centre descents and a few stretches of homespun natural singletrack. Nothing too technical on it but you were always flat out.
Ross was well away and out of sight after the first lap. DF was somewhere behind me. I suffered a bit on lap 2 so I wasn’t surprised when DF passed me early in the 3rd and final lap. I managed to stay in touch and then found a second wind towards the end of the last long climb. I decided to attack – if I could make it to the next singletrack section before DF I reckoned I’d have a good chance of staying ahead. As I passed by he muttered something about blowing a gasket. Excellent news I thought so I pushed harder, opened a gap and made it stick. I continued to push hard all the way to the finish line where I was pipped in a sprint for 9th by a cute tactician from Killarney!
Ross was already home in 4th place, I managed 10th with DF not far behind in 11th.
Then it was post race analysis all the way home. Thanks to my fellow travellers for a great day out and well done to organisers ULMTB & LMTB, it was a well organised event, no fuss, no faffing, no hassle, just great racing.
PS. Thanks also to Lynn Hayden who dropped by to spectate and support us!
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[Report by PJ Dunne]
I have a rule if it takes longer to get there than your going to be racing it’s too far! Valentia island triathlon is the exception . Stunning location and the idea of swimming from the main land to the island sounded appealing.
The road trip:
Roll on Friday morning and another epic road trip. Frank and myself were travelling together, Don coming down later in the day. Shared driving was the order of the day as by the time we had got to Portlaoise I’d heard all about how driving effects Frank’s medical condition. (Won’t mention it as I don’t even know what it is!)
Got to the B&B after lots of forced rest stops by the boss late afternoon. Dump bags and catch car ferry over to the island (your man is still counting the €6 Frank gave him in 5cents)
We decide to do recce of the bike & run route, just as well as there’s an awful rattle coming from my rear end and quite a few very sharp downhill turns. Time well spent. Return to car and check my bike, turns out my cassette is very loose. Of course we didn’t bring any tools. Will sort Saturday morning.
Down to registration and we meet Don there.
The two lads are hungry so we head for food. Just as well I’m not hungry because there’s fish, fish and more bloody fish on the menu! The two more refined 795ers tuck into smoked salmon and brown bread. I sip water as we all look out window at the sea. Eamonn Tilley had been in for a dip that evening and had said that the current was very strong, he had to aim way over to the right. Frank and myself I’m sure looked worried.
Retire to room which turns into a bike workshop with Frank changing tyres and all sorts of things. Now that I think of it what was that battery pack for? An engine?
Race morning:
I find a nice man from Cork who gives me the cassette tightening tool I need, but in my haste to get it done quickly I lose the quick release spring! Drama. That same nice man from cork gives me one from a spare bike we has with him. Drama over.
We set up in a numbered transition with minutes to spare. Meet Don and we just chill. Sea is like a swimming pool ,not a ripple. 5 ferry trips later and we are ready to go.
Don is off in wave 1 me in 2 and Frank in 3. Only 3 minutes between each wave which is nice. Don reports after that there were mass brawls at the start. We all concur that the water wasn’t near as cold as Courtown.
Before we all knew it the swim was over, Don gliding across in 10:52 Frank a pb of 15:51 And me 14:30. Happy days.
Transition was long and narrow (easy now) so a good 200m run from the water.
I think Don must have a PA in transition he’s so quick. Meanwhile Frank & myself shower and change clothes!
The first 4 km of the bike is up a hill. Roads are narrow and with 550 or so competing and 3 waves there’s people everywhere. Frank reckons he passed about 200 on the bike but with his counting who knows. But he did put in the quickest bike split of the 3 of us and had the 10th quickest spilt of he day in his age group. Don will have his work cutout for him to stay with Frank on that fast white bike this year.
Franks bike 32:04 Don 32:32 PJ 34:16
T2 was a breeze for everyone with Frank getting his now customary calf cramp .
The run was an out & back, 2.5 km up hill 2.5 down simple!
Saw Don when he had 1.5 left in the run and he was giving it socks.
Got to the turnaround and it was all downhill from there. Opened up and let fly for 2.5 km.
Saw Frank coming up the hill, shite he’s not that far behind and the big lanky legs will get me coming down the hill! I open up some more turns out I did the 2.5 km in 9:08. Beat that Hogan!
We all cross the finish line empty but happy.
“Great triathlon will definitely do this one again” was the consensus.
Weather gods also helped. Ideal conditions, sunny, little wind and 15 deg c.
We pack up and head for home. Just before we stop for food our phones go with the results. Dean Watson Sports Timing on the ball. (they did mtb race and are doing our Tri)
Great discussions (or shite talk) over dinner re times.
Overall:
Don came 65 th in a time of 1:07:43
13th in his age group
Frank 163 th in a time of 1:14:17
22th in his age group
Myself 149 th in a time of1:13:38
30 th in my ag.
Considering the top quality field I think we did great if I do say so myself! Frank and myself will have some right battles this year cant wait. Frank and Don will do battle on the bike splits every race. And Don in the swim well 3 rd fastest time in his age group says it all really.
C’mon we could do with some company, or you will get fed up hearing about he 3 stooges all summer!
Results: Overall | Sorted by Category
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The winning team, Colm McGarvey of EpicMTB and Rudolf Brinkman.
Well done to Rudolf and his pal Colm McGarvey of Epic MTB Club who won the team race in Mad Mac’s 6 hour XC in Omagh last weekend. Here’s a few words from the man himself
“Well that was a nice day at the office. This adventure started last thursday when one of the Epic mtb lads didnt fancy doing the full 6 hrs on his own. So I said ok, I’ll come along and we do the team option. The race was in Gortin Glens forest park in Co Tyrone. We arrived in the mornimg to set up in the pits with food, spare wheels, coffee etc.
There was no plan made and there was no time for a practice lap so we went with a few other riders on a warm up half lap. The down hill section through the forest was deadly. Drop offs and jumps followed by rooty single track. 11.00 am was the start. With no idea what to expect I was off first and went for it on the first lap.
First it was the “waterfall ” climb which was super steep but short. After that a long fire road climb to the middle section which was called ” no mans land”. This was a boggy open mountain singletrack section. More climbing to come after that which brought you to the “Hells Ally” a super fast narrow gravel swooping decent. A short fire road brought you into the forest single track which I described earlier. Back over the finish line and into the pits to swap the timing chip to my team mate Colm McGarvey. He then went off and did the same lap again.
I was waiting in the pits area and getting ready for my next lap. Towards the 4 hrs it became harder to push the gears on the climbs. We still managed to keep consistent laptimes although they became a bit slower towards the end. From the beginning of the race we were in the lead in the team race. There were two teams behind us looking for a chance to take the lead. With no mechanicals and a steady ride toward the end we manged to do 13 laps in 5.40hrs. The 2 teams chasing us were on 12 laps towards the 6hr mark and did not have enough time to complete another lap. 1st place for Colm and myself. This was a great event and well organized. Also great craic in the pits and food after the finish for all the competitors which was needed.”
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Racing 795 