Swim Pool Training underway this week + Sports Complex Reduced Rate Swimming

SLIGO REGIONAL SPORTS COMPLEX HAVE AGREED A GREAT DEAL WHICH MEANS THAT ALL SLIGO TRIATHLON CLUB MEMBERS CAN USE THE POOL FOR €4 INSTEAD OF THE NORMAL €6.

You may be asked for your triathlon ireland membership card if the staff don't know you. The pool also has good deals on monthly swim cards which depending on usage might work out cheaper for some people.


Swim trainging kicks off tomorrow night at 9:50pm in the sports complex pool with a second session in the same pool on Friday at 7pm.

Note that these two sessions are completely booked out and if you haven't registered in the last two weeks and paid in full for your place please do not arrive expecting a swim, we simply don't have the room.

We've also confirmed a new sunday 8am coached swim session in avina in ballysadare, there are a couple of places left on this contact sligotriathlon@gmail.com for more detail on this.

Don't forget your fins check blog for more info on those.

We will be doing a video analysis session for all swimmers again this year which was very helpful and informative last year along with a brief swim theory lecture.

Blacksod Point Challenge Race Report

The weather turned nasty for the last triathlon outing of the year for club members with a strong headwind testing the bike skills of the Sligo team of Eamonn McAndrew, Tommy Sheridan, Stewart McKenna, Jason “Skinny” McMorrow, Adrian O’Connor, Cecilia McGuinness, Sean Flannery, Caoimhe NiMhuruchu, Pauric Deery, Brian Sexton and Jonathan Fahy. See the photo of Tommy outside the "b&b" for an idea of conditions. With Belmullet being a long drive from town and a Friday night sign-on the club arrived the night before, opting for bed and breakfast accommodation before the race, with the exception of Pauric and Sandra who stayed in the team HQ (campervan) and Tommy and Jason who used the (Ford) transit motel near the transition area. At about five am on race morning the wind picked up with strong gusts and heavy rain, which would set the tone for the race itself.

Following a two hour wait in heavy rain the race began on the 500m out, 1000m across beach to pier course. Stewart used his swimming skills to storm the (slightly shortened) course in 19 minutes flat, closely followed by Jason, Caoimhe, Cecilia and Eamonn. Unfortunately Cecilia suffered a puncture at the start of the bike section which put and an end to what looked like a strong performance. Meanwhile Eamonn rode up through the field to a top ten finish with Stewart and Tommy also using the bike section to gain ground. The run section took in the trademark dunes which sapped the energy of competitors before the descent into Blacksod pier. The club had three finishers (Eamonn, Stewart and Brian) in the top twenty as was the case with Eamonn, Gary and Colm in the last national series race in Lough Key. With Eamonn improving in every race, and a back to form post Ironman rest Stewart, it is only a matter of time before the club gets a podium placing in one of these events. The event has a reputation of being one of the toughest in the country and lived up to this on the day, however this did not stop club members posting strong performances, all coming home well into the top 50% of this final national series race of the season. Full results are on the Triathlon Ireland website, well done to all who travelled.

Blackrock Lighthouse Swim

Well done to all club members who took part in today's Blackrock Lighthouse Swim.
Conditions were a little misty with moderate winds and the swimmers took advantage of the channel on the way out. The swim back was more challenging with lots of currents to contend with and difficult sighting. Club member Rory O'Connor took second place with Shane O'Doherty first ashore. Niall Melvin put in a strong swim to finish well up the field and John Hanly completed his first 5km swim. There was a consensus that the swim was tougher than the strandhill swim due to the currents. Thanks to Paul Rennick and Water Safety for running what was a tough but enjoyable event. The swim may be from Innismurray to Streedagh next year

Swim Fins for Coached Sessions

For the coached swim sessions we're all going to need to use swim training fins. They're different to the ones you might use for snorkelling/diving in that they're shorter and more flexible and don't require booties like some diving ones.
They're essential for some of the drills we will be doing. I've used a few over the years and found the TYR split fins to be the most durable, comfortable and functional of the lot.

If you have your fins from last year then you don't need to get any, but for anyone who does need some i recommend these. Normally you'd buy a size smaller than shoe size to give a good fit and they will stretch a little with use.

Our friends in Chain Driven Cycles in Sligo Town are getting in some TYR fins next week. I don't have their price yet but they will do a 10% discount for club members. I'd encourage people to get them there as Stephen has sponsored amongst other things the bike time trials and made wet suits available for the fitting session we did in April. As a club we like to keep our money local, it's grand buying stuff on the net but our club will never get sponsorship from a website.

www.chaindrivencycles.com

Early Morning Sunday Swim?

The club is looking to gauge interest in a Sunday morning coached swimming session, similar to those taking place on Tuesdays and Fridays. It would start the same week and run for 12 weeks.
We would have a qualified swim coach running the sessions with a video analysis session during the term.

The proposed session would take place in the Avina pool in Ballysadare at 8am on Sunday mornings which may not suit some people but if it's something you'd like to do contact sligotriathlon@gmail.com with "Sunday Swim" in the email header. If there are sufficient numbers we will run the session.

North Channel Swim Report

Club member Kieran Fitzgerald recently formed part of the support crew for Annemarie Ward's successful north channel swim. This invovles swimming from Ireland to Scotland and is as daunting as it sounds with only 10 crossings to date. It's rated as more difficult than the English Channel which puts it into perpective, it really is a massive achievement reported in the national press and further. The main challenges are the low water temperature, currrents and jellyfish which can be found in massive numbers in those waters. Swimmers cannot wear wetsuits and rely on grease (goose fat i think) to provide some insulation.

Thanks to Kieran for providing this insight for the blog.
"7.20 am-Met with Annemarie and her team in the Clarion Hotel in Carrickfergus and had some breakfast.

7.50am-Made our way down to the harbour and started loading gear and supplies on to the ‘lucky lizzy’ the main boat and the two ribs.

8.10am- Left Carrickfergus harbour on route to’ The Gobbins’, north of Belfast Lough. The crew and boats for the swim consisted of

RIB 1 Ryan Ward and Noel Brennan.

RIB2 Derek Flanagan and Joseph Devenney.

‘Lucky Lizzy’ Gus O Driscoll, Ivan Irwin, Brendan Proctor and myself.

Sea conditions ideal, not a ripple to be seen! Water 12.9 degrees. Sky a bit misty, air temp. 12 degrees at a guess.

Annemarie starts to grease up.

8.25am-Arrive at ‘The Gobbins ’ .The good news is there are no jellies to be seen!!

8.30am- Annemarie crosses to Rib 2 which will take her to the rocks where she will start.

8.34am- Annemarie enters the water and swims approx. 15 meters to shore

8.36-Annmarie touches the shoreline and waves, THE SWIM BEGINS!!!!!!!!

9.00am-Stroke rate 62

9.35am-1st feed , 2 and a half scoops of ‘High Five’ to 500ml of water, all well!!

9.45am-stroke rate 63

10.35am-2nd feed, all ok .Conditions very still, but no sun yet. Full six hours of tide with Annemarie starting.

11-00am- Stroke rate 63.

11.35am- feed, 7km covered from shore.

12.05pm-stroke rate 64.

12.35pm-feed. Mouth wash this time also.9.25km covered. Sun comes out!

12.48pm-stroke rate 63.

1.37pm-feed, all well. A few jellies around!

1.55pm- 62 stroke rate.

2.35pm-feed Annemarie in good form, crew inform her that all is going to plan

3.00pm-stroke rate 62

3.36pm-feed, with mouth wash. Annemarie fine.

4.00pm-stroke rate 63, water temp 13.3degrees, slight south easterly wind.

4.38pm-feed, Tide starts to turn against Annemarie

4.46pm-Gus informs me that 11.76 nautical miles from shore,8.24 nautical miles to go!!

5.16pm- 62 strokes per minute.

5.35pm-feed.

5.53pm-stroke rate 63

5.58pm-Annemarie ups stroke rate to 68!!!!!

6.35pm-feed.

6.58pm-stroke rate 68!!!

7.35pm-feed. Crew ask Annemarie to slow stroke rate!!!!Brendan asks Annemarie to leave ‘some in the tank for later’. Starting to drift north of Portpatrick, due to tide.

8.35pm-feedwith mouth wash. Getting dark Noel enters the water to put two light sticks on Annemarie. Derek put two light sticks on side of rib. Annemarie asks to change feeds to every 45 minutes. Worst of strong tide against Annemarie over Still 5.3 nautical miles to go.

9.20pm-All ok 4.6nm to go, starting to make progress.

9.58pm- Batch of jellies some big, Ryan acts as lookout with whistle.

10.12pm- feed. 3.58 nm to go. Brendan Proctor makes us some welcome soup!!

10.55pm-feed. Told Annemarie only 3nm to go.

11.00pm- Stroke rate goes up 66 strokes per minute.

11.40pm- feed. 2.6nm to go. Stroke rate 62.

12.25am- feed 2nm to go, Annemarie in good form. Stroke rate 62.

1.10am- feed, a few jellies around!1.3nm to go.

1.40am- feed.

2.13am-last feed, .75nm to go!!!!! 60 strokes per minute.

2.53am- Another feed, .4 nm to go, talking a little longer than expected.

3.00am- Ryan, brother of Annemarie enters water with light stick attached, not long now!

3.30am-Nearly there , approx. 100m to go. Beam lights are shining to guide Annemarie and Ryan.

3.36am-Annemarie finally clears water and waves to the boat. THE SWIM IS OVER!!!!ANNEMARIE NOW JOINS ONE OF THE WORLDS MOST EXCLUSIVE CLUBS.

3.42am-A delighted Annemarie, is helped firstly onto a rib and then onto the Lucky Lizzy’, for the journey back to Carrickfergus.

Job completed time 18hrs59min26 sec. one heck of a swim!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

KIERAN FITZGERALD I.L.D.S.A OBSERVER.

CHAINDRIVEN TT - League final results.

A chara

The league winners final results are below for each division. They are based on your best six events plus 20 points for marshaling. You must of participated in a least one hill climb to score off six events. The presentation of prizes will take place at the end of season awards night/AGM. The date will be decided at the next club meeting.

Ladies (2 prizes)

1st) Cecilia Mc Guiness 79
2nd) Kate Hawney 73

Rookies and Novices (3 prizes)

1st) Ciaran Clancy (MSC Tri) 78
2nd) Ronan Brennan 69
3rd) Neil Dwyer (68)

Intermediates (4 prizes)

1st) Tommy Sheirdan 75
2nd) Decaln Byrne 72 (Sligo AC)
3rd) Trevor Hunter 66 (Sligo AC)
4th) John Walsh 57

Seniors (6 prizes)

1st) Micheal Devins 80 (Eire og)
2nd) Alex Carey 64 (Eire og)
3rd) Brian Sexton 62
4th) Colm Casey 61
5th) Sean Flanery/ Stephen Mullane 60 (Wheelers)

The prizes will be a combination of trophies, vouchers (chain driven) and cycling equipment. No cash prizes.