2018 NS – HOOK OR BY CROOK AND WESTPORT NS SPRINT TRIATHLONS – 16-JUNE

Howdy,

LONG INTRO
At first long awaited, and by now fully unexpected, Hook or by Crook NS report is out! Plus an appendix on Westport NS sprint, aka “Mister top 10 and Dara is back”.
It might seem contradictory that for the one race I’ve first hand information in a while (I’m back too!), it takes so long to deliver. Well, it was easier to talk about many of you I didn’t know (or I didn’t know that I knew) -and likewise-, and now they do have a face, feelings … which gives me even more ideas!

Also wanted to experiment with the “racer’s memory paradox”, i.e. how the perception of a race mutates over a short period of time (sometimes in a matter of minutes), and the amazing transformation invariably happens: from the “what I’m doing here”, “I shouldn’t have”, “Never again”, “I’m done with this”, “I forgot how hard this is”, “How am I gonna do an Olympic in 3 weeks time”, “how these crazy people can face an Ironman in two weeks” … to the etched-for-life in our brain “Yeah, that was a great race, I’ll be back next year”, “I actually did ok”, “It was so much fun”. And … it happened again!

All that f* frozen barefoot climb up from the beach to T1, the “harmless” rolling terrain on the bike, the neutralised (thank God) climb back to transition, hitting the wall (literally) coming out of T2 with HR maxing out, the ebb and flow of a seemingly 36 hole golf course, and those bloody Piranhas, strategically located, shouting at you 100 m from the finish line “this guy behind you!” with the subsequent unwanted sprint (invariably, the instinct reaction to feeling chased kicks in) … now is summarised and packed away in a few neurons as “fun and games”.

There were a few things that caught my attention:
– Nikki H.C. (Hate Cycling) might have lured a friend (forgot her name) to go for a spin with coffee+scone break, and ~170km later they showed up at Dunmore East, just like that. On Saturday she “only” placed 5th in her A.G. and 13th Female overall… Perhaps Fridays “warm up” was a bit short???????

– Poor Barry McIntyre had been nursing some kind of chest cold / bronchitis -this is not a joke-, and had to retire on Saturday half way through the swim leg, he couldn’t breathe with the cold. As he knew beforehand this could be an issue, his pre-race preparation was thorough on Friday evening, downing a few cold beers to acclimatise. That strategy didn’t work, but at least he had a good time…

– Fully focused on the road ahead, and much later plodding on the grassy terrain, I couldn’t spot Marlon (even if he could have played in the NFL, one of those guys that crush quarterbacks) but still could hear his hummingbird voice from miles away, encouraging us all…

– Captain Ross flew from afar for the race, all meticulously planned, and left shortly afterwards in a whirlwind -after collecting 1st A.G. placing and 13th overall- to catch the next plane. Youth is a bliss.

– John “I’m not in good shape yet” Wallnutt destroying the AG with another 1st (and top 50 overall). I think once Ivan “definitely not in good shape” Eustace comes back from retirement, the dynamic duo will feed off of each other -others call it drafting- and … there is no hope for us mortals of certain age and condition.

– Siobhan “I pretty much race every weekend” Forman yet again completing a blistering bike split, showing many of us how it’s done.

– The top 10 female trio: Becky W. (3rd), Brianne M. (5th), Shannon K. (6th), finishing within 2 minutes of each other, this is going to be exciting…

– Dr. Tom been doctored. That would deserve a section on its own, but feck it! One paragraph will do. He’s always on top of the field, no matter what: so smart, so fast, so smiley…
In short, uncharacteristically he panicked at T1 when he locked horns with some loser (I’m talking about their bikes) and couldn’t get it out -transition was pretty crammed-, then rushed out of T1 and first slipped when he jumped on the bike, slicing his foot, and subsequently I think he had a kind of a fall. Anyway, still managed a top 10 and 6th fastest run split “with a pool of blood” in his runner (don’t miss the video mentioned below). Well, something like that.

– Who is that handsome guy, with that beard that would look so bad on others, but perfect on him? Oh, Robert Frewen, he still new-ish to triathlon, with a good margin for improvement on swim and bike, but his running background certainly showing with a 10th fastest run overall in a tough course.

– Cathal O’Sullivan around the top 10 again (this time 11th), starting to get consistently ahead of the “chase pack”.

– The “chase pack”: Ross R., Richie D., Diarmuid M., Gareth R., Ian A., Adam G., Rob K. and a few others. Quiet and unassuming, Brian S. sneaking in little by little.

– The tug of war (or the less evocative “rope pulling”) shenanigans, that was fun. And yes, Piranha ladies ruled (in spite of some deceiving footage / montage to make it look even worse for the lads).

Now with some facts: conditions were almost perfect for the race: mild temperatures, at first cloudy then breaking sunshine, just some light breeze… The sea was flat (water on the cold side though, but bearable for 750m)…

Plenty of Piranhas racing at Dunmore East: from the results page 54 + 1 (Barry McIntyre, who likes racing under a neutral flag…), and a good few supporters (the understanding Mags W., having to cope with 4 competitors in the house for a full weekend, several other weekenders and a few who drove down from Dublin on the day -Bernard H., Marlon, Mathilde etc.-).

As of Westport race, well, just the two lads: Killian Nolan and Dara Lawlor. If they want to be different, let them be, don’t be judgemental 🙂

1) HOOK OR BY CROOK (DUNMORE EAST) NS SPRINT RACE
LINKS
– Results
Results: https://www.sportsplits.com/m3/event?c=74&r=387&e=1

Sanitised spreadsheet: https://drive.google.com/open?id=10HOgS_b_2SfDgKnjQkbg8AGn1zb8Qf6Z

– Pics / Videos:
From WhatsApp group: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1lPwh-aM0JWRLH-I-TWNmp8-Mv7noH94E?usp=sharing

From TI FB page:
Gallery 1: https://www.facebook.com/pg/triathlonireland/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1960860950625480
Gallery 2: https://www.facebook.com/pg/triathlonireland/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1960920180619557
Gallery 3: https://www.facebook.com/pg/triathlonireland/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1962396397138602

Finish line video: https://www.facebook.com/triathlonireland/videos/1959567040754871/

Don’t miss the interview with Tom McEnery ~6′ in! Then a brief passing by Ross C. (Cathal missed his minute of glory because Tom couldn’t stop smiling to the camera!), later Richie D. ~9:10 and 30″ later Diarmuid M. seemingly limping across the line. A wee later J. Wallnutt, ~13:20 Becky Woods finishing 3rd woman and JW acting as her agent, and finally Brianne in the last few seconds of the video.

From organisers:
– TI report: http://triathlonireland.com/News/2018/Jackson-and-Murphy-Win-Airpower-Hook-or-by-Crook-Triathlon.html

STATS / RESULTS
Total 614 (10 DNFs)
Piranha 55 (33 Male, 22 Female, 1 DNF), second highest number by clubs.
Other clubes: 72 Belpark, 53 Wicklow, 40 Kilkenny, 35 Clonmel, 32 Waterford, 25 Tried & Tested etc.

Overall race winners
Kieran Jackson (1:02:44), Waterford TC
Ellen Murphy (1:14:01), Belpark TC

Top 10 Piranha finishers
Tom McEnery (9th, 1:08:56)

Becky Woods (3rd, 1:16:13)
Brianne Mulvihill (5th, 1:16:41)
Shannon Kelly (6th, 1:17:55)

Top 6 piranhas
1. Tom McEnery +6:12 from winner
2. Cathal O’Sullivan +40″
3. Ross Condy +27″
4. Richie Dooley +13″
5. Diarmuid Meldon +28″
6. Gareth Robinson +10″

1. Becky Woods +2:12 from winner
2. Brianne Mulvihill +28″
3. Shannon Kelly +17″
4. Siobhan Forman +7″
5. Nicola Hicky Crowe +9″
6. Anne Morrissey +9″

As you can see, very close times…

Top 6 AG placements
Ross Condy (1st, 25-29)
John Wallnut (1st, 50-54)
Robert Keenan (2nd, 20-24)
Gareth Robinson (2nd, 45-49)
Tom McEnery (3rd, 30-34)
Richie Dooley (4th, 25-29)
Aidan Hughes (4th, 54-59)
Cathal O’Sullivan (5th, 30-34)
John Lyons (6th, 54-59)

Anne Morrisey (1st, 55-59)
Becky Woods (2nd, 30-34)
Brianne Mulvihill (2nd, 35-39)
Siobhan Forman (2nd, 45-49)
Shannon Kelly (3rd, 30-34)
Roisin Pakenham (4th, 25-29)
Aine O’Sullivan (5th, 25-29)
Nicola Hicky Crowe (5th, 30-34)

Fastest Piranha splits
Swim
1. Tom McEnery 10:44 (+35″ from fastest)
2. Ross Condy +2:22
2. Cathal O’Sullivan +0″

1. Shannon Kelly 12:00 (+11″ from fastest)
2. Brianne Mulvihill +33″
3. Becky Woods +32″

T1
1. Cathal O’Sullivan 02:07 (+15″ from fastest)
2. Richie Dooley +4″
3. Tom McEnery +2″

1. Becky Woods 02:27 (+14″ from fastest)
2. Brianne Mulvihill +1″
3. Shannon Kelly +3″

Cycle
1. Cathal O’Sullivan 33:21 (+2:00 from fastest)
2. Ross Condy +17″
3. Gareth Robinson +34″

1. Siobhan Forman 37:28 (+2:02 from fastest)
2. Brianne Mulvihill +12″
3. Becky Woods +58″

T2
1. Cathal O’Sullivan 01:37 (+14″ from fastest)
1. Tom McEnery +0″
3. Diarmuid Meldon +1″

1. Celine Clerkin 1:45 (+6″ from fastest)
1. Brianne Mulvihill +0″
3. Becky Woods +5″

Run
1. Tom McEnery 18:37 (+40″ from fastest)
2. Robert Frewen +15″
3. Ian Allen +44″

1. Becky Woods 20:12 (Fastest female!)
2. Celine Clerkin +1:33
3. Nicola Hicky Crowe +5″

2) WESTPORT NS SPRINT RACE

LINKS
– Results
Results https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tUnuTDCqA851aWj5cXhSIl1twnFJSqVh/view

– Pics / Videos:
From WhatsApp group: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1VN6mMa-yb1NAR_2tNUb4eV5sNT1tgqOi?usp=sharing

From TI FB page: https://www.facebook.com/pg/triathlonireland/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1960886190622956

From organisers:
– TI report: http://triathlonireland.com/News/2018/O-Reilly-and-Gallagher-Win-Westport-Triathlon.html

STATS / RESULTS
Total 209 (1 DNF)
Piranha 2 (!)
Other clubes

Overall race winners
Aichlinn O’Reilly 0:59:37
Maeve Gallagher 1:09:12

Top 10 Piranha finishers
Killian Nolan (6th, 1:05:59) – Actually 5th as there was a relay team ahead.

Top 2 piranhas
1. Killian Nolan +6:22 from winner
2. Dara Lawlor +17:33

Top 6 AG placements
Killian Nolan (1st, 30-34)

As for the splits, the two of you figure it out 🙂

Killian, M30-34, Swim 12:12 P27, T1 01:16, Bike 33:30 P8 35.8km/h, T2+Run 18:59, Total 1:05:59

Dara, M45-49, Swim 15:15 P89, T1 01:00, Bike 39:58 P95 30.0km/h, T2+Run 27:09, Total 01:23:23.