RR: Joey Hannon Memorial Triathlon Limerick

By Gerard Vowles.

On a lovely sunny Sunday morning, April 27 2014, the campus of University Limerick was a buzz from very early. Limerick triathlon club had transformed the east side of limerick and the university campus into a triathlon course catering for Junior Tri, Try a Tri, Sprint and Olympic distances courses. With marshals everywhere directions on the where or how questions were quite easily answered and for me on my first ever triathlon there were a lot of questions going on in my head…

Being new to the club it and not knowing many people, only to see them at training, I wasn’t sure how many from the club were taking part, but not to worry, I wasn’t going to let the club colours down.

During the week leading up to the race I managed to get a cycle top from swimkit.ie who posted it out home in time for the race. On the morning of the race goals were set on the drive from home to limerick were simple…

• Finish in one piece- no injuries.
• Don’t get a DQ behind my name wouldn’t be good on the first time out…
• Don’t get a DNF behind the name,

So with that in mind all I had to do was bring my “A Game” ehm ehm, with my 28 year old Marlboro Mirage, 10 speed steel framed and steel wheeled bike pimped up with tri bars and a clip-in pedals, I was definitely turning heads as I passed those with bikes that would be equal to the value of my car.

So after trying to work out where to rack my bike taking into account the best tactical position in the transition zone… I was really trying to hide this antique amongst other bikes in case it was stolen on me, I know it longer than I know my wife so it would have been close to a bereavement it anything happened to it. From here it was onto the pool and changing rooms. With thoughts of how best to put all those training sessions into the A game. Watching the junior and try a tri wave I notices a Piranha tri-suit in the water. It was Grainne Gahan, see picture on right, Grainne on the bike

It wasn’t long before wave 2 was called up – it was 9:30am time to get into the water. It was jostle time with the other competitors, they were all about their time and where they should be in the line-up going out, being the quite reserved and shy individual I am I said I would let the experienced tri people lead out. The rules were simple, if you got tapped on the ankle, you pulled in at the end of the land and let the person pass, overtaking was allowed in the lane from deep to shallow but not the other way around, and when you had 100 mtrs to go they would tap you on the head with the float. So off when the horn and out of the huddle in shallow end when the swimmers one after the other. So off I went like a greyhound out of the traps, it was on, here I was 25mtrs in and looking to get past number 8 in the lane, a good start to say the least, I was hoping that they would get the hint to pull in at the turn, but no, I simply overtook them on the way down, as the race progressed I overtook and other and another, concentrating on technique and breathing it wasn’t long before I got a tap on the head 100mtrs to go, after starting out in 9th in the land I was up to 5th at the turn with 50 to go, quick turn and over the guy, sorry around the guy in 4th to move into that spot, and out of the pool, it was transition time..

Out the side door of the UL swimming pool arena along the path and into the transformed car park to my faithful antique bike, waiting there patiently for me in the morning sun, off the carpet and onto the road surface it was a case of ohh ouch, ooh ouch all the way around. Now this had put a lot of though into, my socks were rolled up ready to roll onto my feet, but this is difficult to do standing up when your feet are wet and covered in grit, so it was have a sit down clean them off and on with the socks, helmet, glasses, shoes and of course my Piranha club cycling top. Whoo hoo, here we go over the mount line and down the road, this was more like it, wind in the hair, and open road in front of me, abiding by the rules of the road of course and not drafting. The course took you out of the university campus through the technology park onto the old Dublin road, with cycle paths in some places we were told to use these where available. Though not all did not abide by this rule. Note the road was not closed but traffic was being managed by the Guards and marshals on the course.

Down past Annacotty, and into the right hand turn across the traffic to Murroe on an undulating course through the limerick hinterland. It was time to take advantage of the turbo session, so it was into the big ring and bring on the A game time. Down onto the tri bars and drive like you stole it… it wasn’t long before I hit the 10k hairpin and was on the way back to the transition zone. I was going great, or at least that was the positive affirmation I was telling myself, I was passing some like they were parked, this tri stuff was great.

So it was back the way I came, into the technology park and still pushing to make up time lost in T1, into the campus and back to the dismount line. Just remembering to get my feet unclipped in time. That could have been interesting otherwise, I would have been doing my beached whale impression, and something tells me that that may not be the correct time or place for it. So last leg of 3 part race the 5km run. In I went, racked my bike then took of my helmet and changed into my runners, or tackies as they are more commonly call in this part of the world. Off through the course around the campus heading past the stables (bar) and down to boat house and around the campus, here I got to know what was meant by a brick session. Just 1.5km into the run the calf on my left leg started cramping up, ffs is all that could be hears, to those in ear shot. So slowing the pace but keeping moving was the order to see if this would work it out. The course has gradual undulations nothing too severe but a little testing. Having slowed down a bit meant I was in the “being chicked” territory. Dangerous territory I believe but hey I’ve been there before and I would always stand back for a lady 😉

2.5 km in and the cramp was starting to work out, after getting water into the system, I suddenly realised to myself, I had not taken on enough water during the cycle, I was so busy cycling I forgot to. So off I went, despite slowing the pace I had kept a number of competitors in sight for the last 1km, from my running training I was always told finish strong that’s where the crown is… so with a km to go I started to up the pace, again pushing hard at this stage, I started to overtake them one by one, i ended up in a bit of a sprint finish with one chap for the finish line. It was done my first tri.. whoo hoo. On to celebrate with a bottle of water and a banana, I was really going all out…

Having crossed the line and as the transition are was still closed to people taking their bikes I wandered into the pool, as I walked in I met Giolla Carrol, getting ready for their wave, out on deck was Owen Samuel Percy, I made my way to the viewing balcony and cheered on the other piranha club members.
At this stage Ken Hughes was out on the bike section of the Olympic. Sorry Ken couldn’t find a picture of you anywhere;-((

Overall a great day, well organised and a great first experience, I can’t knock it in any way as I have nothing to compare it to as this is my first time participating in an event as opposed to being a spectator, from a participants perspective, it was good and fair to all. If I was to find a fault, it would be having to go to search for my results, I thought, maybe wrongly, though that they were to be texted out to me at some stage that evening. As I said, this is only thing I could fault, but hey, the suspense was great also. For myself, I wanted to do one to see where I am with my own training and if I actually got a buzz from doing a multidisciplinary sport. I have done some running but that can be very mundane after a while. I’m looking for something different, and before I start getting into the gadgets that go with it, I needed to see if it was for me. Now I just need some new wheels, and a pile of fancy gadgets to look the part.

Finally, apologies to others from the club that may have been present on the day and I have not referred or mentioned to you above. And I didn’t get my own picture taken by any of the course photographers… need to invest in new gear to look more the part me thinks…..