- This topic has 0 replies, 1 voice, and was last updated 8 years, 7 months ago by
.
-
On Sunday, 65 Piranha’s raced the first of our 2016 National Series Strategy Races. We were the best represented club in Carlow (2nd Belpark Tri with 50, 3rd Kilkenny Tri with 28). That’s an outstanding turnout and we were rewarded with great racing conditions (glorious sunshine and little wind), 2 podium places and a number of age group placings!
There were 467 racing in total (319 men, 148 women) split into 6 swim waves. The water was a balmy 13.5 degrees (about 2 above the Irish Sea at the moment) and the flow on the river didn’t seem to be too strong. The swim was to be 250m upstream and 500m downstream. In reality is was probably 150 up and 600 down. Most will say it was a pretty rough swim to get to the turnaround point but after that it seemed to open up and was straight forward to get back to T1. Some notable swims from the Piranhas came from David Bradish (9 mins 12 seconds and 2nd overall), Patrick Loughnane (9:42 and 4th fastest) and Doctor Tom (9th in 9:58).
Onto the bike which was a 20km out and back course. The first 10km is a bit of drag with a slight incline but the way back is very fast with many being able to hit speeds in excess of 60 kph for periods. Although the roads are not fully closed, they was very little traffic which makes this one of the easier, safer and enjoyable sprint bike courses on the TI calendar. Michael Barry (the top county rider on the Rás a few years back) took the honour of having the fast bike on the day in a time of 31:20 (over 38 kph average). Aileen Flynn was by far the fastest lady in a time of 33 mins 5 seconds (1 min and 15 seconds ahead of the next fastest female!). These 2 bike splits set them up for overall podiums on the day. Kevin Beades also has a top 10 bike split in 32:39 and Siobhan Foreman in 37:42.
The 5km run was flat and fast with most of it along the banks of the Barrow River. Although there was a concern that the course might become congested with 450 + runners on the course there were no such issues. The only issue of note were the fact that there were two slightly inebriated young men on the course who found it amusing to try interfere with some of the runners. Although most managed to avoid any contact with them, Ivan Eustace wasn’t so lucky after one of the young men was pushed into his path by his friend. Ivan ended up being bundled over a bush but, showing great restraint, decided not to react (it might also have something to do with the fact he was hot on the heals of Kevin Beades at the time!). Ivan dusted himself off and continued on to a great run split of 20:12. Richard Doyle, Tom McEnery and Killian Nolan all posted top 10 run split times (4th, 6th and 10th respectively) and on the ladies side, Ailenn and Ciara Brady did the same (2nd and 8th respectively).
Michael Barry, in a excellent breakthrough performance, was 2nd male overall and one to watch in the National Series overall. Aileen Flynn was 2nd female overall beaten by only 3 seconds by the first lady home. Aileen, although no stranger to the podium, was racing her first sprint triathlon in 3 years and showed no sign of rustiness.
On the mens side there were a number of age group placings as follows: Rob Keenan (1st in 20-24), Simon Lawlor (2nd in AG 20-24), Adam Goslin (3rd in AG 20-24), Michael Barry (1st in AG 30-34), Richard Doyle (1st in AG 40-44), Ivan Eustace (2nd in AG 40-44) and John Lyons (3rd in AG 55-59). Well done guys.
On the womens side there were two age group placings as follows: Ciara Brady (1st in AG 20-24) and Aileen Flynn (1st in AG 40-44). Congrats.
Well done also to those who were doing their first ever triathlon. I hope you enjoyed it and are excited for the next one.
Full results can be accessed at the following link
http://www.redtagtiming.com/Photos from Sundays race can be accessed here
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1180490348662548.1073741970.180216932023233&type=3The next race up on the Piranha National Series calendar is the Westport Sprint Triathlon on Saturday June 11th. If you haven’t entered yet, why not now. Entries are still available and can be got here http://www.triathlonireland.com/Events/Race-Calendar/
Happy training
Will
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”
Aristotle
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.