Race Report: Hell of the West

By Tom McEnery

This was going to be my first triathlon of the season and first in Piranha colours. Coming from just down the road in Ennis I had somehow never done the Hell of the West before either. Ellen pounced on me early on to commit to a race report. She isn’t someone you want to
disappoint; controlling as she does access to the coveted ‘scrolling photos’ on the Piranha website (hint hint)

I spent the night in Ennis at my family home and carb-loaded on mum’s spag-bol. Nothing like it. High-tailed it to Kilkee in the morning at the crack of dawn but still only managed to bag an extra-large jacket at registration. Going to have to hit the Creatine supplements hard to fill that one! The weather was looking miserable at this stage. Kilkee bay is relatively sheltered but still looked pretty choppy. I must confess the idea of all those uber-bikers being washed around in the Atlantic surf did give me some satisfaction. All the Piranhas seemed to have been placed together in transition which was a nice surprise and a good crew had turned up.

The swim start was the usual sheep-herding ordeal and probably rougher than typical. I tried to get away early and joined a small group to draft off. Getting into a rhythm was difficult in the rough conditions however and plenty of sea-water was swallowed. All was made more bearable by the thought that others were probably suffering more than me in what is my strongest discipline though.

Out in a reasonable 20 minutes and entered transition in a group including Shane Scully and Trevor Woods. “Stick with these boys and you can’t go wrong” I thought; this lasted until the first hill, after which they disappeared from sight. At this point in a triathlon I’m usually clinging on and praying for the cycle to end while proper cyclists blast past me faster than the motorcycle marshal. I think the swim had upset people more than most though as I was alone on the roads for the first half of the cycle and felt like I was making reasonable time. Things were going well. I had managed to forget that we had a tail-wind on the way out. Turning into the wind and over the undulating course back to transition brought abject misery. Gradually the inevitable; overtaken by several cyclists in suspiciously tight pace-lines. Curse them with their pointy helmets! I committed to shaving my legs as soon as I got off this miserable bike.

Finally transition and the refuge of the run! Things were not going to get better. The run quickly turned uphill into the wind. My morale was boosted as I quickly passed 3 or 4 and calculated that I was probably in top-twenty position. Usually after the first kilometres the legs loosen out and I find a rhythm. I started to cramp however. Expecting to seize up at any minute I slowed to a jog. I don’t think I have I contemplated stopping in a triathlon with such seriousness before. The thought of a DNF next to my name and of having to do that cycle again to get into this position again next year decided it though; I pushed through. Luckily this coincided with the turn-around point. Downhill with wind behind you and anything is possible! I saw Richard Doyle not far behind me, followed by James Hoare. Gavin Noble has probably clinched first place by this stage but at least first Piranha could be mine! The bonus of being part of a club became clear as I started to see other Piranhas on the outward-leg. Their encouragement was phenomenal and I crossed the finish-line in 2:18 (and change).

The post-race atmosphere was fantastic. I made a couple of passes through the cupcake tent for some excellent glycogen-replenishment. The volunteers and organisers really put on a great race. It was good to see a really strong showing from Piranha with lots of good performances put down. By this stage the sun had come out and we all had a nice afternoon by the seaside. Peeling off the triathlon suit revealed the dreaded triathlete-tan though (or rather triathlete-burn). I would have liked to stick around in Kilkee for the night but Ennis beckoned for more spaghetti and a friend’s Stag Party. All-in-all a reasonably successful start to the season!