Race Report: Beast Relay

By Judy Mahon, Rory O’Sullivan and Claire Reilly.

The powers that be had designated “The Beast” as club championship race and it could not be ignored. Since I have yet to reacquaint myself with the concept that triathlon is a three stage event, participation could only take the format of a relay team. Rising early on opening morning I was dismayed to find that Wicklow Tri had decided not to allow any relay teams due to a poor uptake in 2012. My sojourn back into the triathlon world was not to be thwarted at such an early hurdle. A few emails and posts later ensured sufficient Piranha interest and thanks to a very accommodating and helpful Laura from Wicklow Tri – Piranha Relay Championship was on and “JuRoCa” was born…….. a formidable team!!!!

Weeks of team tactic talks began in earnest culminating in the pre-race text from Rory to ensure I had “A game” for tomorrow. This led to me trawling through my childhood memories of long car journeys pre DVD players & iPhones. “Car registrations”; “Car colours”; “I Spy”; “20 questions” too boring and predictable….then lightbulb! thanks to the “Sunshine Kids” I had the perfect game to while away the long journey to Wicklow and wreck their heads! Satisfied I settled in for an early night. Rising with the sun I awaited “RoCa’s” arrival, ready to release the torment of my game, only to discover once again I had misunderstood the instruction! Needless to say as I stood at the race briefing with my wetsuit on back to front there was no sign of my “A” game! Lough Dan is one of the loveliest open water swims I’ve ever completed and I was looking forward to competing in a triathlon again even if it was only a third of one! The gun went followed by the usual “argy bargy” of a tri start – despite Kris’ pool races and Moody’s pointy elbows I had forgotten how violent they can be but I just listened to Kris’ advice – “head down and swim your own stroke” and I loved it The water was so warm that for the last 500m one could have discarded the wet suit but figuring that would only serve to slow me down and “RoCa” were waiting patiently I ploughed ahead. Over too quickly, chip passed on to Rory, job done, I sat back and enjoyed the great atmosphere cheering on the shoals of Piranha’s competing in a great race.

While Ju was enjoying the balmy water, RoCa enjoyed watching some pretty impressive swim performances by the Piranhas in wave 1. Then I had to go take my place and eyeball the competition at the bike rack. Tension was very high but mainly due to the very zealous officials who over-saw the crippled, the sick, the lame and the lazy who filled the relay pen like it was an actual Olympic event! We were told in no-uncertain terms ‘do not touch your bike’, ‘you cannot put your helmet on’, ‘you are allowed to put your helmet on’ , ‘take off your bike shoes’, ‘put on your bike shoes’………. After a great swim I saw Judy sprinting out of the water and got ready to take the chip off her and go. That done I set-off with Judy shouting after me-“be very careful on the down hills and slow right down on the big hill” which while good advice, I felt may have somewhat reduced the effects of my pre-race psyching out of the ‘opposition’!! Having been on my bike twice since last August I found the course a lot tougher than I remembered it being last year when I was actually fit. Turns out there may be something to be said for this training lark after-all!! Anyway struggled around and was very glad to hand over the chip to Clare for the last leg while I went for a burger. JuRoCa power and glory!!!

Now it was only Ca, any misguided hope of success was well beyond reach as the Duffy train had departed, but I held my head high and remembered the words of encouragement that had been parted to me through-out the week- ‘ I want a 41min 10km or else!!’. I set about my Sunday jog. The hills on the course had not been exaggerated, but I powered along to the best of my (limited) ability and gave as much support to my fellow ‘proper’ piranha racers as I could muster between gasps. At the ‘5km’ marker I realised that either Rory had been spiking my dinner all week or this course was indeed well short of a 10km. On the return leg I was briefly returned to my childhood home in Northern Ireland as the fire brigade turned the water hoses on me – but my pleas fell on deaf ears and I was thoroughly showered whether I liked it or not. I turned into the final 500m, a feeble effort at a sprint finish and a glance at the watch 41.15 – not at the full 10km distance but 41 minutes none the less! I had fulfilled my task ‘or else’ would have to wait for another day. I must admit I had lots of fun on the day, it was a nice relaxing way to participate in Triathlon. I may become a professional relay person. Well done to Wicklow tri for yet another successful and enjoyable race. Well done to all Piranha’s who completed the full race.

JuRoCa over and out.