This weekend we remember our friend and club member Martin Mimnagh as we help fulfil his Grand Plan, Tour de Frank. Good luck to all, and stay safe.
Visit the Tour de Frank Facebook page to find out more.
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TriGrandPrix Kilkenny, 27th July 2013
Posted on July 31, 2013 by racing795
Niall, Louise, Mike, Adrian, Colm and Raging Bill in sunny Kilkenny
[Report syndicated by the legendary Niall O’Muirí]
BORN TO RUN.
Kilkenny was buzzing, Bruce was in the air, Born to Run was blaring from street side cafes, As 1200 tri athletes racked up in the majestic grounds of Kilkenny Castle. Where else would you want to be on a sunny Saturday morning in July.
We linked in with Adrian anxious to clock a good Olympic post Athy. Louise, her fourth Olympic of the year, sporting Number 1 on her vest, and Number 1 Wave….no pressure. Raging Bill drifting in, easy and laid back…while Mike Colm and myself opt for the “recreational” sprint, as Mike referred to it!! (Man, ye are going to be impossible to live with after ye complete an Ironman).
We travelled over the evening before, parked at Paddys Pub and cycled the 10k into Kilkenny covering the cycle route to registration. Thanks be to jaysus I checked out the river the previous evening, otherwise I was a deadman drowning. Because once you enter the water there’s no going back. There’s no messing with the River Noir, its dark and deep and slow moving its high walls hem you in, you have no choice but to swim…(It was reassuring reading John Dempseys report on The Beast of the East and their collective experience of the swim, even the good swimmers have a scarey moment). And as I entered the water, I swear I could hear Bruces “The River” playing in the distance… But Kilkenny was well organised, the swim waves were small and lacked the chaos normally associated with the swim section,Throughout the day our paths crossed, with shouts of encouragement, Colm on the road out as I was on my way in, Mike just exiting T1 as I entered T2 and Raging Bill our paths crossed as he started his second lap of the olympic run, and I headed for the finishing straight… The cycle route flat and fast, and there to cheer us on at the turn around Frank with his bike and 795 jersey and his gammy shoulder!!…well in the running for “Club Fan of the Year” at this years Christmas Party. The only problem was traffic on the edge of town near the shopping centres, but the bike lanes gave you loads of room and a feeling of security. The run was a nature trail through the manicured castle grounds…passing bemused walkers and tourists…and me with me heart attack head on me…
At days end, tired and emotional, we all made it home, Adrian happier with his times and days work, lays the Athy ghost to rest. Louise, disappointed and hurting, after struggling on her run. But as Dena posted on Facebook, just put it down to a tough training session, and live to race another day. Raging Bill first home, drifts of into the sunset happy and content, till we meet again at the next big event, Colm, under pressure heads home to put out fires and collect the child from the babysitter. And as me and Mike head for the car, we reflect on a wonderful day, a great event, in a beautiful city……and for Mike, a date with “The Boss” later that evening…
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The Beast of the East – Lough Dan, 21st July 2013
Posted on July 23, 2013 by racing795
Beastie Boys 2013: John, Bill, PJ and Mike.
[Report by John Dempsey]
Five 795ers made the trip to Lough Dan last Sunday, Bill, Mike, PJ and me (John) to race. Frank cycled the 70km odd to cheer us on.
This is always a very well organised race and is a great credit to Wicklow tri club. The course itself offers a little something different too. A daunting 1,500m swim in a peaty / boggy mountain lake set amid the stunning scenery of the Wicklow Mountains. A gruelling cycle with a nice sharp climb at the start to wake you up, and another one and a half climbs at the end to finish you off!! The run then takes in that first climb off the bike again to leave you feeling well and truly beat up and needing your BBQ burger at the end.
Transition was moved slightly this year to accommodate a bigger crowd, but I think it was a better location for it. The racks were pre-numbered which is always good as there is no fighting with aul wans trying to squeeze in beside you where there’s no room!! As with previous years all competitors were grouped by club which is another nice touch so the four of us got to rack up beside each other. On the way into transition with your bike (and out again afterwards) you were stopped for a photo. This is a really simple thing to do but adds a nice bit of security for your bike.
Bill was off with all the fishies in wave 1, Mike, PJ and me together in wave 2 ten minutes later. Getting into the lake the water was noticeably warm, not that surprising with all the fine weather lately, but water level was also fairly low meaning a long way to wade across rocks before it was deep enough to swim. As usual a deep water start treading water and then we were off. Swimming is by far my weakest sport so I was determined to hang back and to the side and let the bunch round the first buoy without me. Whatever I tried though I still found myself in the middle of a scrum and got swam across by another lad as we were going round. Not being a confident lad in the water my head went and I struggled to get going again, taking a little breather on my back before catching a rest off a nearby canoe to gather myself. After a long internal debate about whether to swim on or abandon I said I’d give it a shot and pushed off again, taking it easy to start before gaining confidence and building the speed again. It’s pathetic how crap my swimming is, just gotta work on it. It’s still a great swim and when you see 1,500m laid out in a big rectangle like that it’s an impressive sight.
Bill and PJ both seemed happy enough with their swims; Mike said he got a bit of a hammering also.
Swim times and rank (out of 316 starters) were:
Bill — 28:12 – 123
PJ —- 30:43 – 192
Mike – 32:44 – 247
John – 41:35 – 303
The run into and out of transition was fairly long, but the mats were right at transition so the extra bit got added to the swim / bike / run respectively.
Onto the bike and the best thing about being such a crap swimmer is that you have almost the entire field ahead of you waiting to be passed out!! Once I was over the first climb it was time to get down on the tri bars and take my frustration out on the bike. Funny thing is that tough and all as these climbs are, they didn’t seem near as bad as two years ago. On the way out of Roundwood I see a Racing 795 jersey coming back the other way and start thinking “what’s wrong there?” Turns out its Frank and he sends me on with a big shout of encouragement. From Roundwood it’s almost entirely downhill to Laragh where the Gardai are doing a great job marshalling traffic on a very busy junction to allow the cyclists through unimpeded. The only issue here is it gets a bit dangerous trying to over / under take very slow moving cars, but got through alright. Out of Laragh and heading towards Roundwood and the turnaround point. The road surface along here is awful, and would nearly be enough to put you off going back at the race again. There are some nice sweeping turns and short climbs to keep it interesting, but in the main it’s just a really awful surface that stops you putting down any sort of real power at all. The cycle goes out and back past the entrance to Clara Laragh. Late morning on a sunny Sunday Clara Laragh is busy, but despite a single marshal on duty got through here unhindered.
I hit the turnaround and soon after found myself kind of half dawdling on the bike. Sometimes I find that I just go too easy on myself during races and don’t push hard enough so a few quiet words later and it was head down tongue out again. Back through Laragh and the dreaded left turn DON DON DONNNNN!!!
Luckily I knew what was coming and geared down accordingly. Now most bike snobs out there turn their noses up at a triple on the front, but I absolutely love mine. All the mega hard lads and ladies up out of the saddle and grinding their way up the big hill producing lots of sweat but not much forward momentum. Me on the other hand had my bottom nice and firmly planted on my seat and sailed past them all as I spun past them Chris Froome style to the top (probably had that maniac looking grin on my face and all). I just don’t understand why people think they can power up a long hill like that any quicker than spinning would achieve, my legs would be absolute toast if I tried it.
Across the top of the hill, down a nice quick little descent and then it was time for the sneaky bonus hill before the final descent. This is a no pass zone which is fair enough, but it was made even more dangerous by the one or two marshals who deciding that waving a flag was not quite pro-active enough and opted to create additional hazards by standing in the middle of the effing road as we came hurtling down waving their hands screaming slow down.
Round the bend, and back to transition. Nice shout of encouragement again from Frank, no major issues in T2 and back out to slog though the run.
Everyone was fairly happy with their bike splits, PJ having a moan about the Clara Laragh entrance, and everyone mentioned the one or two peletons that seemed to be making their way round (cheating eejits!!)
Bike splits and ranking as follows:
John – 1:17:59 – 99
PJ —- 1:18:40 – 109
Mike – 1:21:47 – 156
Bill — 1:22:13 – 165
Onto the run, uuggghhhh. Shut up legs, keep going, it’s not that far (really it wasn’t – short run course!!). Out from the Scout centre and across the bridge. A couple of yahoo’s had commandeered a fire engine and were spraying all out going and incoming runners with water to cool off. They ruined my hair, I was raging!!
Up, up, up the hill. Sure did seem a lot longer this time round. Over the top, no thank you to the lovely folk at the first and second water stations, and across to the turnaround point. Got passed near the top of the climb, but as he was the only person on all of either the cycle course or the run course to pass me out I couldn’t complain. I love these turnaround cones because they always seem to give me a boost going round them. Picked up the pace and back though the second (now third??) water station and turned left for the bit of a loop. I’ve stopped taking water on the run recently as I find that I have to slow down to get my stomach to swallow it or risk making myself sick. Once it’s only 10k so seems to be working fine so far. Again no water at the 4th table, and continuing to pick up the speed feeling good and passing strong. At the fifth water table (5 on a 10k run!!) I finally take a sup to pour over my head and set about getting down that big hill as fast as I can.
The toughest thing about the run I found was the continuous changing of up / down / flat. Every time I hit one of the three it took me a few moments to get my stride right to tackle it properly. The hardest part of the whole run course was the flat bit going across the bridge after the big long downhill, my legs just didn’t know what to do. Past the boyos and their fire engine again and the final right turn towards the scout centre. How long is this road, it wasn’t this long on the way out surely?? There’s the turn at last, no wait, that’s only the car park!! On again, where is it, shut up legs, pass them few in front, it’ll be over soon enough you can rest then and grab a burger. I’ll even let you stand in the lake water if you like. Here we are, final push in the long entrance way, over the finish line – done!
Run splits and rankings:
John – 39:12 – 102
Mike – 39:23 – 109
PJ —- 39:45 – 116
Bill — 40:56 – 141
Everyone seemed happy with the run, but it was definitely short!! I’d no fancy watch to measure it but d’internet seems to have it at least 1km short. I also heard reports that a certain Bill Barry collapsed across the line, to be dragged away (against his wishes) as they attempted to give him oxygen. He was definitely hale and hearty when I left him in the car park afterwards though.
Into the lake to ease aching muscles and who do we meet only Padraig George’s two brothers. Turns out they’re three brothers in three different tri clubs!!
We were all happy enough with our times I think, again I just need to swim more but I’ve been talking about that long enough at this stage, either do it or stop moaning says you.
Final times and rankings were:
Pj Dunne ——- 02:30:59 -126 – 00:30:43 – 192 – 00:01:02 – 104 – 01:18:40 – 109 – 00:00:50 – 106 – 00:39:45 – 116
Bill Barry ——- 02:34:26 – 149 – 00:28:12 – 123 – 00:01:15 – 158 – 01:22:13 – 165 – 00:01:53 – 283 – 00:40:56 – 141
Mike Ryan —– 02:35:55 – 158 – 00:32:44 – 247 – 00:01:03 – 114 – 01:21:47 – 156 – 00:01:00 – 162 – 00:39:23 – 109
John Dempsey – 02:40:35 – 182 – 00:41:35 – 303 – 00:00:50 – 50 – 01:17:59 – 99 – 00:01:00 – 162 – 00:39:12 – 102
A great race again by Wicklow tri, only real complaint is that road surface from Laragh to Rathdrum and back.
It feels great to be back in the midst of it again after the year’s hiatus.
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Warrior of the Sea – Rosses Point, 20th July 2013
Posted on July 23, 2013 by racing795
[Report by Peter Coulahan, video from 2012 event promo]
As I’m not doing an Ironman this year this was always going to be my substitute race. Long enough to require some decent training to be done, not too long that the training would take over my life. I did train well for this until about a month ago when I decided I wasn’t going to do it. I had hit a few 4,000m plus sessions in the pool and one 3,000m plus OW session but hadn’t hit my hoped for target of a couple of 5,000m sessions so decided this race was off. About two weeks ago I began to think maybe I will give it a shot…….hence I found myself registering in Sligo on Friday night almost puking with nerves about the swim.
Route was from Rosses Point to Strandhill in Sligo and was broken into 3 sections:
Section 1: 1km across the channel to Coney Island where you exit the water and run across the corner of the island
Section 2. The main part of the swim, 2.7km across the bay
Section 3. The final part of the swim when you turn for the shore – 2.3km
More route details here.
Standing at the start the heat was intense. There was a river of sweat, sun cream and melted vaseline running down the front of my wetsuit. After a warning at the briefing to make sure we put sunscreen on the soles of our feet we were off.
Despite it being a mass start it was very calm. I started at the rear of the pack to the left. I was stroking very easy. There was none of the usual pushing and jostling you get in a tri swim. This was all about energy conservation. The water was warm, the sky was clear and I was loving it. Sighting was going well and the first km passed in a flash and we were out onto a beach where there was a drinks table and then back into the water on the far side of the beach for section 2 of the swim.
This part of the swim can get very rough, but not this year. It was almost flat calm, or as flat as the Atlantic ever gets. I was loving it. Sighting wasn’t as issue as there were enough of us in the water that I just followed the groups ahead. Once or twice the stroke rate began to go up but I reined it back in. My pacing strategy was to swim with a breath every 3 strokes, I know that if I can swim at this breathing pace then I’m using a controlled effort. The scenery to the left of us on this part of the swim was magnificent, not that I looked at it much, I was too busy swimming. You could see Ben Bulben in all its glory when you looked at the land and this also made you realise how far offshore you are at this part. I was passing quite a few swimmers here. You could see them really clearly in the water and it was interesting to watch the style of the non wetsuit swimmers compared to the wetsuit clad ones. There was a drinks boat located at the buoy marking the end of this section. I didn’t need a drink but had planned to get one in my pre race plan so I briefly stopped for a drink of water and headed on. The gel I had stuffed in the sleeve of my wetsiut remained untouched.
Into the final section of the race and I was shocked to see that I could actually see Strandhill beach. I had been warned before the race though that despite it looking close its still over 2kms away so not to get too excited yet. During this part of the swim I ended up swimming over a large kelp bed in quite shallow water for a bit. The kelp was catching my hands and the rocks looked very close, I was glad there was no big swell and I was happy to leave it. At this point the field seemed to break up and there were fewer swimmers around me. I spotted a skins swimmer and assuming that he would be good at sighting tucked in behind him. After a bit I decided that I was going to speed up a bit as I knew I was getting close to the finish. I ended up veering off course a bit here and a kayak directed me back in the right direction but I don’t reckon I added too much to the route. After a bit I saw the final buoy and headed for it. Rounding the buoy there were 3-4 of us but we couldn’t see which part of the beach to land on. This being Strandhill there was quite a big swell / surf. A speedboat then appeared crewed by 4 bikini clad Sirens whp pointed us in the right direction – I will admit, I did find it hard to concentrate on what they were saying The last couple of hundred meters were the hardest of the swim. It was hard to sight and the surf was throwing us around (there’s a reason why swimming is not permitted in Strandhill) . I eventually got into shallow water and took an age to walk over the stones and rocks to the finish. I could see other finishers coming in along that stretch of beach. I did consider sprinting the last 20m on the beach to over take other swimmers but as no one else seemed bothered I didn’t.
I finished in 1.51.53, 82nd place out of 188 finishers. I was almost 29 minutes behind the winner. I am delighted with that swim. All along my aim was to break 2hrs but I didn’t know if that was possible due to the recent drop of in training. I paced it well (a few quick time checks during the swim suggest my pace stayed constant the whole time), never got tired, had no nutrition issues and felt like I could have gone on for a bit yet. Today I’m thinking that maybe I should have ‘raced’ it after all and pushed harder, but it’s easy to think that in hindsight. On Saturday morning I just wanted to get around. The conditions helped a lot, it would have been a much tougher swim if the weather had been unkind. My overall pace was 1.50/51 per 100m so happy with that. That equates to a sub 1.10 IM swim which has been a target of mine for some time. Maybe I’ll do it again next year when the weather is sure to be much less forgiving.
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‘Two Provinces’ Sprint Triathlon – July 13th 2013, Lanesboro, Longford
Posted on July 17, 2013 by racing795
Fintan, Dena and Paul in Lanesboro
[Report by Fintan Redmond]
Booked this race at the last minute and I have to say it was a good choice. Dena and Paul Hutton also made the long drive. The weather was great and the set up for the race was spot on, transition (grass), car parking and finish line all in one compact area.
There were two waves for the swim, which was in a lake and I think it was heated by the local power station (very hot) could possible have been a non-wetsuit swim. Dena was in the first wave with a time of 14:36 and myself and Paul in the second with 15:45, 15:15 respectively. I have to say this swim was a battle all the way, I got the sh1t kicked out of me, I thought at one stage Bressie had hung around for the second wave as there were a few rugby tackle put in. I think Paul had the same experience after almost falling asleep at the start of the swim J
T1 was good, grass all the way from the water, which is nice for a change. The bike route was nice, flat and fast which gave us all good times but noticeably Dena’s time 35:21, with the aid of her new machine which had a few minor adjustments made before the race.
The run comprised of a little trail run onto the road and back to the finish line with welcomed water spray hoses along the way.
All in all a great day out with Dena taking the day with a super bike time, giving her a race PB and good to see Paul back with an injury free day.
Swim/Cycle/Run/Overall Time
Fintan 15:45/ 33:21/ 18:41/ 1:10:01
Paul 15:15/ 34:24/ 20:14/ 1:12:42
Dena 14:36/ 35:21/ 20:44/ 1:12:52
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