Racing 795

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 14^th place. David was hanging on grimly, but had enough time in hand to stay clear of PJ; finishing 27^th and 34^th respectively. Next home was Adrian’s team (56^th) followed by Tony’s team (83^rd) and finally Aisling (93^rd).

At the risk of sounding cliche’ed this was another great day for our young club. Barry had a marvellous performance to finish 14^th (actually 12^th individual) with David in 27^th (24^th). 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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The inaugural Eireman Long (Ironman) /Middle(Half Ironman)/Olympic/Sprint Triathlon took place on the 23rd August 2009 with great anticipation for the 795’ers on their relatively local turf.

Some of our crew in sunny Courtown

In all 8 from Racing 795 completed the course namely Jim, James, Peter(Half Ironman) Martin (Olympic), Barry, PJ, Aisling and Siobhan (Sprint) took part.

The gales that blew on Saturday didn’t bode well for Sundays’ race and so it came to be…. the much anticipated swim was cancelled by the RNLI Coastguard to gasps of disappointment from some and quiet sighs of relief from others. (Anybody want an unworn recently acquired wetsuit?).

And so triathlon became duathlon- the swim was replaced with a 4 km run for the Half Ironman setting off 2 hours late at 8.30am and a 2km run for both the Olympic and the Sprint setting off approximately 2 hours later with staggered starts.

So first off the Half Ironmen of James, Jim and Peter did their 2 laps of the block to replace their swim, James kindly stopping for the paparazzi and to give interviews on his way into T1 and onto the bike leg on the closed motorway of 90, 93 or 97km, depending on your source. Jim completed the run in 18.32 and Peter in 19.38.

Meanwhile the Olympic race began with Martin completing his 2km starting run in just over 6 minutes and out onto the 40km bike leg on the motorway.

Back in the Sprint, competition was fast and furious with ‘Rubberman’ Barry and PJ psyching each other out at the start line. For the first 2km run leg Barry completed in 6.30, PJ in 6.31, Siobhan and Aisling in 7.31 and 7.37 respectively.

The wind tunnel effect of the motorway – not quite the flat fast course we expected, meant that the bike leg was a testing duel of mind over matter with no drafting (or any) marshals on the motorway to prohibit same. On a positive note, the closed motorway was great to ride on, if a bit grueling. Martin completed the bike leg in 1.07 for the Olympic distance, in the Sprint PJ in 38.12, Barry in 40.07, Aisling shedding her non aero-dynamic jacket on the motorway to complete in a time of 45.35 and Siobhan in 47.24.

(Incidentally, PJ Dunne maintaining his title of ‘Transition King’ earned in Clogherhead with the 4th fastest T2 for both Sprint and Olympic distance- at an astonishing 35 seconds- PJ we all want lessons!)

The run leg was through Courtown wood- a good location, with a vertical- yes, really- climb which was personally easier to go up than come back down, but with 4 races running concurrently, a bit crowded with some collisions along the route- some athletes not being able to work out what ‘keep left’ meant. Martin completed the 10k in 46.33 for an overall finish in 13th place in a time of 2.01.52.

In the Sprint, PJ ran the 5k in 26.13, Barry in 30.49, Aisling in 32.09 and Siobhan in 35.34.

In the Sprint race PJ finished in a time of 1.12.31 in 10th place, with Barry completing in 1.20.00 in 50th place, Aisling in a time of 1.27.46 in85th place and Siobhan in a time of 1.32.57 in 96th place. Out of a field of 142 finishers, the 795’ers are moving well up the ranks.

Back with the Half Ironman (Middle) distance, Jim completed in 5 hours 31 minutes after a gruelling 3hours12 min bike and a sub 2hr half marathon in 84th place out of a field of almost 220. Peter finished not far behind in just over 5 hours 46 mins after a 3hr18min bike leg and just over 2hrs half marathon in 117th place, James deciding to focus his Ironman efforts on sunny Barcelona in October instead of rainy Courtownin August.

Well done to all particularly PJ and Martin who both achieved top 20 places. For what was a tough days racing it’s great to see the efforts paying off. For the Racing 795 view on the Eireman Festival itself, judging from reports, the experiences didn’t appear as negative as some ofthe other athletes. Hopefully Eireman will happen again next year in some form, it was great to be so close to a race when you usually travel for hours – but perhaps lessons will be learned from this years’ event to make it more successful in 2010.

Siobhan Mimnagh

Note: All results provisional as per Eireman website

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