John, Peter, Louise and Fintan
[Report by Peter Coulahan]
Four 795er’s made the short trip to a hot and sunny Rosslare last Saturday for the Pikeman OD race – Me, Fintan, John and Louise (despite what the results say I did not race in Tralee TC colours). I think this was Louise’s first OD race?? Registration was easy, transition had loads of room, the briefing was straightforward enough and the sea was calm – what more could you ask for 😀
Swim was out, along the shore and back into transition. Water was warm and calm although I thought it smelled a bit 😯 . I went of course a bit on the swim but other than that all ok. Out in 22 mins dead; Fintan in 24.38; Louise in 28.55 and John in 32.43. The course looked a wee bit short to me (although I’ve been told it was 1,400-1,450m) and there was a bit of a following current for parts but I’m still delighted with that time.
Into T1 and I could see I was ahead of Fintan, now how long will that last? Out onto the bike and this is where I had to be careful. I’ve cycled less than 50kms since my last Ironman last August, so I wasn’t too sure how the legs would hold up to a 40km ride. Route was as flat as I’ve ever raced on and the surface was great over most of the course. The route took us from Rosslare to the ferry port and back to just outside Rosslare with two laps of this route. Fintan caught me about 15kms into the bike and at the turnaround at the end of lap 1 I could see John and Louise were not too far behind. I took it easy on lap 1 to keep the legs happy and then pushed hard on lap 2. The gaps between us all seemed to be keeping steady. Fintan completed the bike in 1.10.03; John in 1.11.45; Me in 1.13.51 and Louise in 1.30.00. Happy enough with that time considering my lack of training. Bike route was 39.9kms.
Just the 10km run to go and the heat was starting to build. The run course was hilly enough with twists and turns. I just concentrated on keeping a steady pace and making sure I stayed ahead of Dempsey 😉 There was no way I was going to catch Fintan (he ran the first 5km in a few seconds over 20 minutes). There were a few sufferers on the run course, I ran with one lad for a while who kept stopping to puke. Run route was exactly 10kms. Fintan did the run in 40.57; Me in 44.00; John in 44.10 and Louise in 52.47.
Over all:
Fintan 2.17.44
Peter 2.23.21
John 2.30.57
Louise 2.55.34
A great day out and a big well done to Wexford Tri Club for one of the best run races I’ve ever done.
Filed under: News, Tri Race Reports | Leave a comment »
) who was the last onto the beach for his swim, but first out of the water. Wave 2 saw off the aul lads and the women. Serious washing machine/boxing match in first 400m of swimming as no room to swim due to 350+ all heading off together. Conditions were tougher than last year according to race briefing that morning, so swim was very tough swimming out to sea against a west wind. Ploughed on regardless and sighted a lot to reduce the amount of zig-zagging. Very happy with swim and onto bike. Course suited me as non-technical and lots of straight stretches. Passed a lot on the bike and felt good as no cramp issues unlike Athy (kicked a lot less in the swim this time). End of bike was bizarre as there was an accumulation of cyclists on the uphill into the face wind for last 3k, where it was more like a peleton than a time trial, as no one could push on enough to get past. Tried but was swallowed up by the group 1km down the road. Spun into Kilkee having covered 44k in 1hr 19min. Best transition to-date and off on run. Seriously scenic and sun came out. Lots of climbing and steadily got faster as legs gradually felt like my own.After about 3k pushed on getting strength from somewhere, got to 5k turn around and flaked down the hills. Saw i was on for sub 2hr 40min and hit 9k on 2hr 36min on the nose. 300m uphill faced me and then downhill to finish and tried to hit a sub 4 min k finish, but didn’t manage it, however it was a great target to leave all efforts on the course!
Racing 795 