Racing 795

Race Report by Peter Coulahan

London Tri was huge. 13,000 competitors over two days. A transition that was massive with some serious bike bling. Two different cycle routes for the Olympic distance race. HUGE!!

I was racing on Sunday afternoon so had been told to rack the bike at the Excel Centre on Saturday night. Did so and then spent two hours in London traffic getting to where I was staying which was only 6 miles away. Sunday morning it took me 2.5hrs to get to the venue, most of central London was closed to for the event so was really pot luck that I found the Excel Centre.

Race briefing was playing continuously on a big screen so watched a bit of that and then got ready and made my way to the swim start. The swim briefing was given by some welsh comedian who was hilarious. He told a load of guys that their swim hats were on back to front and got them to take them off and turn them around; he had us giving each other group hugs, lots of stuff like that….a very funny briefing and took a lot of the tension out of the wait for our swim start. I was in Wave 17 out of about 20 waves with approx. 300 swimmers in each wave. We got into the water for the start. Water was warm and brown and tasted foul. Welsh comedian chap followed us in a little boat still telling jokes through a loudspeaker. Klaxon sounded and off we went…..Swim was nice, no current to speak of and loads of room. Exited the water in around 34 minutes and was handed a plastic bag to put my wetsuit and swim stuff into before being allowed run up a flight of stairs to transition. This added a couple of minutes to my recorded swim time. Transition was well marked and found my bike easily.

There was a long long run from transition to the bike mounting point. Got onboard, narrowly avoided crashing into someone who fell off in front of me and off I went. Course was hilly with a stiff breeze in the face for some of it. It was also hot – 23 degrees. Did two laps of a closed road course. I was on the Tower Bridge route so I seen none of the big London sights. If I had been on the Westminster route I would have cycled past the London Eye and Houses Of Parliament so was a bit disappointed with that. The highlight of the bike course was the Limehouse Link Tunnel with its steep descents into the tunnel, some serious speed achieved on the bike here. Spent most of the cycle chasing and being chased by a guy on a Trek Equinox. He seemed a bit peeved that someone on an entry level Trek was overtaking him on his high end Trek. I dropped him with about 5km to go. Finished the bike in just over 70 minutes.

Back into transition again via a long long run. On with the runners and off. Run route was completely flat apart from a short section into the Excel Centre. Run was around the docks past lots of restaurants and beer gardens where there was huge support from people having Sunday lunch and waving beer glasses at us. Two laps of this circular route. At the end of lap one I got a tap on the shoulder and Trek Equinox guy was there thanking me for making him go harder on the bike whilst he tried to keep up with me…then he sped off. There were 8 water stations, one Gatorade station and one gel station on each lap so no excuses for a slow time! Finished the run in just over 48 minutes.

2.45.57 overall. Happy enough!! Well worth doing once just to experience something of that size.

Race Info

Filed under: Tri Race Reports | Leave a comment »

Sunday morning dawned on the 26th July to gales, monsoon rains and floods. Ok, it wasn’t quite that bad but getting out of bed on the morning of the 2nd Beast of the East didn’t feel like it was going to be a walk in the park, and it wasn’t. Just in time for the start of the race, the rain gave us a reprieve and the beast took the form of a million different beasts otherwise known as midges and I have the scars to prove it.

After a good clear swim in Lough Dan, we exited the water (myself in 32.24 )and we took off on the bike straight into a 1km climb. Thisresulted in the strange sight of competitors walking their bikes up the hill!  The bike course continued over unforgiving undulations into Laragh and at 32kms we were directed up a never ending hill which would compare to any climb on Mount Leinster. Back into T2 after 1hr 21:46, we set off for the run and met the same bike walking hill. It was an up and back course which became a leg shattering down hill into the finish after 46:41 seconds to give an overall time of 2:45:20. Incidentally, the finish was compered by Craig Doyle a fact which has my wife signing up for next year. A tough course but well organised and marshalled and highly recommended.  I’ll be going back for another stab at the beast.

Race Detail and Results can be found here

Martin Mimnagh

Filed under: Tri Race Reports | Leave a comment »

Seven members of the club headed off to Athlone on Saturday to take part in Triathlone. Jim, James, Peter, Padraig and Barry were doing the Olympic distance tri while PJ and Aisling wer out in the Sprint distance.

First in the water at 8.40 was the olympic wave. Bitter disappointment could be seen on all the glum faces at the start line as the swim had been shortened to 750m.

Further disapointment followed with the shambolic start but everybody eventually got away into a fast downstream swim. First out of the water was Padraig followed closely by Jim,Barry,Peter and James.

Padraig, Jim and Barry were keeping a close eye on each other in T1, Jim doing so much looking that he missed his bike and had to run an extra 100m to find it.
Padraig was first away on the bike followed closely by the pursuing gang.

Unfortunately James’s mammoth efforts to make up lost ground in the swim resulted in a broken chain just outside T1. Too much torque I presume.

Meanwhile Aisling was starting her swim in the first wave of the sprint distance. Despite it being her maiden voyage in the new wetsuit she came into T1 well positioned in her group.

Out on the road the battle was raging between Padraig and the three amigos trying to track him down. Nobody suceeded but Jim made a great burst into T2 and briefly led the Racing 795 quartet on the exit from T2. This was short-lived however as the greater speed and youth of Padraig and Barry soon paid dividends on the run.

At the same time PJ was just entering the water with Aisling well into her 5k run after a strong bike leg on her spanking new Giant Defy.

First across the line was Aisling finishing in 1:36:47 (pos 159 F) followed by Padraig in 2:09:46 (pos 65 M) Barry in 2:10:15 ( pos 70 M) Jim in 2:10:56 (pos 79 M) Peter in 2:16:58 (pos 117 M) and PJ in 1:23:12 (pos 311 M).

Well done to all on great performances. It was great to see the new kit out on display and a big thank you has to go to Lorraine and Paddy for their fantastic support on the day

Info: www.triathlone.com

Full Results

Jim Furlong.

Filed under: Tri Race Reports | Leave a comment »

The good weather gods were looking down again as four 795ers (plus assorted relatives and friends) headed for the 25th ‘Hell of the West’ in Kilkee, Co. Clare.

Barry Byrne was making his first attempt at the famous race, whilst Martin Mimnagh was having his second go, after last year’s tough event. Seasoned campaigners Jim Furlong and James Bodels were both down for the third time. All were confident of bringing home PBs.

Swim Wave One and the Young Lads (Barry and Martin) were off, followed 10 minutes later by the Old Men. Conditions were excellent – flat calm for the swim around Kilkee Bay. The race leaders were out at an astonishing 20 mins – of the 795ers Martin was out just under the half hour, Barry at 31:20, Jim at 33 mins and James at 48 mins. All happy with their swimming. There were unconfirmed reports of jellyfish, but we think it was just a good old-fashioned case of the heebeejeebees and vivid imaginations…

On to the bike then for a brisk 45km. Martin, Jim and Barry blitzed the cycle, all averaging over the magic 30 km/h mark. James gave his red Paganini a second chance having punctured in Athy, and rode steadily for just under 1:50.

They say the ‘Hell’ in the Hell of the West refers mostly to the run. 5K up, 5k down – sounds easy to me! The lads all had a look of grim determination leaving T2 to tackle the hills of Kilkee. 47 mins later Martin arrived back, smiling his way to the finish line, followed in hot pursuit by Jim and Barry. James arrived somewhat later, having picked up a ‘friend’ along the way, as is now customary.

Top performances by the lads, with ‘Hell of the West’ PBs by some distance for Martin (02:41:19) and Jim (02:52:37). Fine performance too by Barry (02:56:16) in his first visit to Kilkee. When interviewed immediately afterwards, he described it as ‘Hell’! James (04:07:02), in Ironman mode finished fresh, and looking like he could do it all over again! Roll on Barcelona says James...

Filed under: Tri Race Reports | Leave a comment »

All roads led to a sun-scorched Athy, Co. Kildare on Saturday last for what is now arguably the biggest day on the Irish Triathlon calendar.

Racing795’s largest contingent yet travelled the short distance to Athy, with high hopes of PBs after a good winter and spring training campaign. Martin Mimnagh, Jim Furlong, James Bodels, Tony Redmond and Barry Byrne were all tackling the Olympic Distance, whilst Siobhan Mimnagh and David Furlong were going in the shorter Sprint Distance event.

First up was Martin in the first (fast) wave making his debut with Racing795. A strong swim by Martin saw him out of the water and into to T1 in just over 23 mins. He put the head down then and 1 hr 10 mins later was back in for T2. An astounding 43 mins for the 10k resulted in a total time of 2:19:49 to put him in 167^th place overall. I hear a few seconds were added to the run due to a ‘Commando’ type roll in the stubble field. A powerful performance all round, with an improvement of 10 mins on his previous PB.

Next in were Jim, James and Tony. Jim had a strong swim in 25:38, with James around the 36 min mark and Tony 43 mins – the strong currents proving a handful for Tony. On to the bike then and Jim ground out a good 1:13 on the bike, with Tony feeling the heat on 1:34. Unfortunately disaster struck James as he punctured with 4k to go. Despite the insertion of some gunk into the dastardly tube, what went down just wouldn’t go up. Rumour has it that a PB was on the cards. Jim stormed home with a 10k of 47:16 to just dip under the magic 2:30 barrier at 2:29:32, and Tony getting in at 3:41:05. Another PB, this time for Jim, taking almost 15 minutes off his previous best.

Next in was Barry, making his Olympic distance debut. A strong swim by Barry had him into T1 at 25:28, and after his now customary lethargic T1 was away on the bike. 1 hr 19 later and back into T2 and on to 50 min for 10k for a finishing time of 2:38:47. A great performance in his first Olympic event, and so happy was he that he was rendered speechless afterwards (for about 2 hours).

Here’s the evidence – http://tiny.cc/Wo895

On to the Sprint event then, and first off was Siobhan, making history as Racing795’s first ever female triathlete. 750m, and a little over 10 mins later into T1, and on to a 47 min cycle for Siobhan. She powered home on the run (all that sneaky lunchtime training paying off) for a total time of 1:33:50. Next up was David and after just under 10 mins in the water exited for T1. A solid bike in 36:50 and a good run in 23:38 had David home in 1:13:38. More PBs all-round!

(Editor’s note – David F wrote this report and has been too modest re his performance – this was a very strong race for him, placing 24th in his age group in a field of over 150)

A great day was had in Athy, with everyone happy with their performances. Great to see a sizeable contingent of 795’ers doing the club proud at such a large event. Thanks also to Declan (?) King for the use of his yard for parking.

Results:

Filed under: Tri Race Reports | Leave a comment »