Last weekend was a busy weekend for the club and this is the first of a couple of reports from the action. While some of us were skidding (and crashing -with Dathai and others suffering during the outbreak of road rash!) our way around Lough Key a strong contingent from the club was posting seriously competitive times in the Galway Ironman. Congradulations go to Eamonn McAndrew (who has also agreed to post a race report) and Gary Higgins who both qualified for the world championships!
The first of the race reports comes from Alan French, who completed the storm battered route in under 5 and a half hours in his first attempt at the half-iron distance...
Hello Everyone,
For those of you who don’t know me my name is Alan French, I joined the Tri Club this year and it is my first year of triathlon racing. So it made perfect sense to sign up for a half ironman event having only done three sprint distance events before this!!!
I travelled up to Galway early on the Saturday to get registered and get all the admin stuff out of the way. For a massive event of nearly 2000 competitors it ran smoothly and got my chip/ swim cap etc in a matter of minutes. Then it was time to set up my bike and transition areas. Having not done an event like this before and being used to putting all my stuff beside my bike this was different. They used a bag transition system. Basically you had T1 where you exited the water it was a cloakroom tent affair with numbered bags, get your numbered bag and take out your bike gear and put in your wetsuit and a volunteers racks your bag for you, same in T2 which is the far end of transition. The scary part is you have to hand in these bags the day before and have no access to them after that point so if you forget something then it’s tough. The bike park was then just bike’s and oh my god for a bike geek like me it was class, could have spent hours in there looking at all carbon and the Pro’s bike’s. To give you a sense of scale the bike area was the distance between the hotel in Rosses Point to the entrance of the yacht club approximately with bikes either side of the road and in the middle. So after drooling over the bike candy it was time to get fed and watered before the big day and a surprising good night’s sleep.
Race morning:
Up at half four for a seven fifteen start and just wanted to check the bike and put my water bottles on and triple check everything you’d swear I had OCD. Then heard the swim was cut to 750M and delayed by fifteen minutes. Now for anyone thinking that this is now not a full half iron distance (more of an Ironman Ireland 69 and a bit) you’re wrong. I felt a bit cheated when heard swim was cut but after two minutes in the water it was the correct decision, I’m a good swimmer but I found the conditions tough and the distance was 1 KM. But the 500M+ run from T1 to get your bike and exit the bike park x 2 more than made up for the swim being reduced. Onto the bike and it was a good course not flat by any means but no huge climbs. I have to admit a certain sense of satisfaction passing guys on TT bike’s worth €5-10K. The conditions made this race tough, cold and extremely wet I saw a few bad crashes and injuries due to the wet roads plus a tail wind out and head/ cross wind back. Bike went well for me under 3 hours which I was happy with. The non drafting element of the bike was well marshalled in places and they had no issue in giving time penalties to competitors. So rolled into the bike park again and could not feel my feet as I hobbled/ ran to T2. After a little confusion got my bag and got changed. The run was a technical 3 lap windy course by the coast and down past the Spanish Arch, every lap you get a band to ensure you cover the required distance. I thought I may get away with a 1:45 half marathon but just got slower as it went on, felt comfortable just no speed in the legs but getting the third band I knew I was finished. On the last K you get re-directed and run past the bike park but them came out into Salthill where the roar of the crowds was class and up the finishing chute to complete my first half ironman in a time of 5:28.
Overall:
The race itself was expensive but I think you get a lot for your money. Along with the usual t-shirt and medal it was the support from the volunteers that was exceptional. The little things like helping your with your gear, especially in T2 where they were literally putting on runners for people. For the sheer scale on the event if felt very personal, little things like having your name on your race number helps, sound silly but getting your name shouted out and words of encouragement do help. Also it was great to see the lads from the club do so well, Casey, Skinny, McAndrew, Gary and Stew (hope I missed nobody out!!!) were all flying and it was good to see them on the course. When doing an Ironman branded event your paying for the brand but they make every effort to make the day memorable.. For the future, it’s official I’m addicted to this triathlon stuff. As the boys said in previous post’s it’s a lifestyle and it becomes part of you. I was happy with my time but I’m delighted to see there is lots of potential to go faster, my transitions were way too slow and I can improve on the run speed off the bike for the longer distances and that’s the great thing about this sport you can always see things you want to work on. While I’ve got this opportunity would like to thank the club too. This is my first year doing triathlon’s and I owe a lot to the club for running the training events throughout the year and they were great sessions to benchmark your fitness and to meet people in the sport and ask them lots of questions. From the Ironmen in the club to the people who competed their first Tri in Rosses Point this year everyone has been friendly and welcoming, especially Brian Sexton who brought me out for a 65 mile boxing match (aka cycle that felt like a stage of the Tour de France) and a five mile run three weeks before the event. Finally I just want to thank my wife Olive. She understood I needed to go out and get the miles in and we’ve just had a little boy Adam so without her it would have been torture trying to complete something like that.
Full results from the race can be found on the race website.
