by Claire McEntee (aka Rasher)
How do you fit 4 birds, bikes, wet suits and the rest in a yaris???????…..
Despite being known for my jibber jabber tendencies.. making peoples ears sizzle and drop off their heads.... I have failed to submit a race report in a really really long time. In a bid to rectify the situation I have made a stab at ‘covering’ the shenanigans that took place on the island of Valentia this weekend at the National Sprint Championships… brace yourself folks this is going to be a long one and Im wreckless with full stops!
Disclaimer: Apologies to the articulate. I don’t do grammar… I write like I waffle.
FRIDAY:
6 in the am I bailed across the city with my tri gear in the back. over the years you would think I have the ‘packing for tri’ routine down like a German…. nope… I had not unpacked since Black Sod 2011
…ANYWAY! Mood dawg had kindly agreed to take my tri gear to Valentia for me so that I could travel down in the yaris with Ellen, Petrina and Louise. There were tunes to be played and chats to be had so with the bonnet sparking off the ground and much hootin n hollerin, we hit the road for the first tri of the season….dirty dancing soundtrack may have been blasting. 7 hours of banter, some savage Raleigh driving by shillers and a truly epic rendtition of Bohemian Rahpsody saw us rock into the metropolis of Valentia in time for registration and a feed. Louise O’grady your in the wrong job… best lasagne I have ever eaten!!
Piranha HQ consisted of 2 mega houses side by side overlooking the bay ( thanks Aileen and moody for organising!) and 1 malahootin house that housed the madzer piranhas a little further out of town 😉 the evening consisted mainly of, unpacking, tyre kicking, blah blah. At about 6 oclock the sea started mocking me and the internal flap dance began. Not gona lie… I was cacking it.
Saturday:
I have been messing about with this triathlon lark for a couple of years now and I can count the amount of times I have woken up to tweety birds and sunshine on NO HANDS!!!!! I don’t know who made what phone calls to who but from the bottom of my freckles… I THANK YOU! sauntering down to transition with the sun splitting the stones being hit with the BANG o sunscreen???!!! Are you having a laugh!?…. COME ONNNNNN!!!!!!!
Transition ran like clockwork fair play to Valentia tri it was the chilled out relaxed way they did it that was so impressive. No stressing or flapping and it all went pretty much to schedule… no goody bag but a nice tee and no faffing with leaflets.. its all about the swag people!
The club participation was a sight for sore eyes, a massive mix of newbies, oldskies, and everyone wearing the club colours. Pre race nerves mean that I am usually to be found rocking, but from my spot in the corner I can report that the pre race banter was on point..smack talk and slagging… moody testing new material..Just after the race briefing we were ushered down to the ferry in 3 waves to be taken over to the mainland for the race start. I was in wave 3 so I headed over with the newbie blogger celebs Leo and Joanne, Linda, Fionnuala, Albha, Joey ( with jelly babies in his swim hat LEDGEND!!!) Roderigo, Louise, all on top form and making the hideous lead up a little more bearable! Having swum 750m twice in the past 2 months and not wanting to use any of my quota until the race started I opted out of the ‘warm up’, took up residence on a stone wall and proceeded to have a heart attack… with 2 waves off and my beloved bike on the bloody island.. it was a case of game on.
T1
The swim went by without incident, coming back from an elbow injury my main aim was to avoid swimming in circles, stay out of trouble and get to the other side…. slowly. Once I regained feeling in my face this became doable. I hate swimming but you could see to the bottom and it was very blue… which was ..nice if you like that sort of thing. I exited the water… not last..It took about 4 days to get out of my wet suit. It never ceases to amaze me how useless my limbs are after a sea swim. But eventually I was re-united with Anto my beloved bike and we bailed out of town as fast as we could… it became quickly clear that the engine needs work… With the weather being so epic and the place being so gorgeous it made for a nice bike..eventually, I found a rhythm and in the words of the pied piper of piranha…rode it like I stole it 😉
T2
went quicker… not hard! Exited in time to see my club mates blowing the a*rse out of the race with Matt Coughlan sailing over the finish line in 13th that’s how its done folks….directly behind Matt came Bob thundering down the hill with Rory, James, the nutt, mood dawg and then it was just a blur of red blue and white! aileen flew by feet not touching the ground coming 2nd in her age group, Ellen and Linda were hot on her heels, and there were massive performances all around with many completing their first tri, Aishling marked her bday in spandex and making it look good! John walnut also placed 2nd in his age group ( Congrats JOHN!) all in all a savage race.
T3
By far the slickest transition of the day Piranha HQ was transformed into a party mecca for the bbq birthday extravaganza. The shtyle had to be seen to be believed.. its fair to say the piranhas scrub up well! Both Aishling and Steven were celebrating big birthdays and we were more than happy to help them with burgers and booze…. and some choice chooons provided by mammy mac and some deft work with the ipod and the tv, cheers bob and joey!… needless to say madness ensued. DJ kerr pink was a no show…there was bitterness…. I had high hopes for the position of mrs potatoe head…sob. that being said maniac 2000 was played, shots were had, and we all made it home in one…ish piece.
Conclusion… Valentia I will be back in 2013 when the weather will be once again sunny, fellow piranhas… a slow clap for a very impressive weekend effort….full results to be found here: http://www.triathlonireland.com/index.php?id=107&;nid=757..and dj Kerr Pink you will be mine.
The rest …. I take to the grave J
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