2016 National Series Races

As National Series Coordinator for Piranha, I am pleased to announce our National Series Strategy for 2016.

The primary measurement of the success of the National Series Strategy is to increase the number of members who complete the regulation 4 (or more) National Series races. We will also measure (i) our performance in the Super Series (ii) our performance in the Vodafone National Championships (three distances) and (iii) our performance in the male, female and mixed club championships and (iv) the number of National Series Age-group podium positions at the Annual TI Awards. Note that TI Awards includes the Duathlon (April 2th in Mondello) and Aquathon (TBC) National Championships.

To deliver on this strategy, I (with assistance of the Bernard Hanratty and John Wallnutt) have identified 7 out of the 25 National Series races that will be designated as ‘Club Races’. There are two Standard, four Sprint and one Middle distance races. We are also proposing that we have three ‘Club Away Weekends’.

The Club Races are:

It is likely that Pulse Port Beach will be the Club Championship – with a club night out in Dublin that evening.

The races have been selected to encourage the maximum participation of Piranha members. They are either relatively close to Dublin and / or usually get a very high participation rate from our members.

For each Club Race, we will seek to do the following:

– Race Directors: for each race we will contact the Race Director and confirm with him / her that Piranha has selected their race as a “Club Race”. We will ask to be kept informed of Piranha registrants and also to receive advance warning if the race is approaching its maximum capacity.

– Registration: we will publish key opening / registration dates for each race. Note, The Hell of the West (1st round of entries) already opened and sold out on 2 January. The second (and final) round of online registration for HOTW 2016 will open at 7am on Monday, 1 February.

– Transport: we will promote car-pooling through the Piranha site

– Accommodation: We will research and recommend hotels and / or houses for away weekends and pre-book restaurants

– Event Co–ordination: We will work with the Events Officer (i.e. Judy) to arrange official Piranha night’s out after some of these club races

– Warm-up: we will organise a formal warm-up for Piranhas prior to the race and provide last minutes tips / pep-talk for peak performance

– NS Points Tracker: we will report on the NS points performance for all Piranhas and celebrate successes as they are achieved

– Race Coordinator: For each of the races identified above we will appoint a race coordinator to help with booking Piranha accommodation (where applicable), securing an allocation of race entries from Race Directors for Piranhas, book group dinners (where applicable), post up information on race entries and logistics. If you have interest in being a “Race Coordinator” please let me know

Through this strategy the club aims to increase the number of Piranhas completing the required number of Super and National Series races, and consequently improve our performance in the NS Club Championships and in the TI Awards.

To this end, we have appointed a Male Captain, William Owens, and a Female Captain, John Wallnutt. We will be responsible for getting as many Piranha’s to sign up for at least 4 National Series races in 2016. With the talent in the club we fully believe that a male and female Piranha team can be on the podium at the TI Awards next year.

So what should you do now? The following….
(i) Commit to completion of the regulation 4 National Series races (1 Sprint, 1 Standard, 2 more of any distance)
(ii) Review 7 NS Strategy Races below
(iii) Decide which of the Club Races you can do and put them into your diary now
(iv) Look out for posts about race entry, and arrangements for away weekends.

We look forward to your participation and welcome any thoughts / comments you have on the strategy itself.

William Owens
National Series Coordinator