If you want to find out about joining the club, need more information on the training programme, have questions about subscriptions or club dues or have questions about online payments the best way to contact the club is to contact any of the committee members by sending them a PM through the site. Please see a list of the committee members below.
Meet the Committee
Chairman
The Club Chairperson is responsible for coordinating the running and operation of the club, organising and chairing committee meetings with a view to defining and achieving club goals and objectives, and acting as an official club contact and representative.
email: chairman@piranhatri.com
I am honoured to be Chairman of Piranha Tri Club. The words that capture my philospohy are Passion, Integrity, Commitment, Structure and Fun. My objective is not only to evidence this philosophy in my role as Chairman but also to embed it into the spirit of the club and for it to be embraced by all members.
The club aims to provide expert coaching in Triathlon, a unique support network and value for money.
As one of the largest clubs in Ireland I do believe we have a duty to lead by example. We should seek to have more Level 1 and Level 2 coaches than any other club, and ensure that those coaches are engaged to help members exceed their personal goals. We should provide our fair share and more of Technical Officials to referee at Triathlon Ireland sanctioned events. We should embrace the focus on youth talent and develop a junior section to the club. Finally, we should ensure we have a strong voice in the management and direction of Triathlon at a national level and internationally.
Although I bought my first book on triathlon on my 40th birthday (read “mid-life crisis”), it wasn’t until 6 years later that I completed two sprint races in my first season. That year I trained on my own – swimming more than 50M in one stretch for the first time in my life. The following year I joined Trinity Triathlon Club (I had met the Club Captain at my daughter’s 21st birthday party), but the training regime structured around the academic year and student timetables did not work well for me.
I joined Piranha in late 2010 and I haven’t looked back since. I love this club. I love the physical benefits of being fit and I love the mental health benefits of exercise and competition. I love the wide network of friends that I have developed within the club and the social life that comes with that. And in addition to all that, my times have been improving from year to year. As my friend Eamonn Tilley would say “Happy Days”!”
Club Secretary
Duties include:
- The Secretary maintains the minutes in a club record book, which serves as the official record of the club’s activities. Member attendance records of both regularly scheduled and special meetings are maintained by the Secretary.
- The Secretary also acts as an additional contact point for the Club and attends to relevant administrative tasks, communications on behalf of the Club and liaison with Triathlon Ireland.
Phil Sykes
email: clubsecretary@piranhatri.com
My first Tri was the Slateman in North Wales in 2011 – I challenged some friends to do it and they told me to “go forth and multiply” – so I did it on my own. When the pain had subsided, I decided to do the Dublin City Triathlon and met quite a few friendly Piranhas at the post-race Burger fest. I realised that ploughing up and down the local pool on my own and jogging around the park wasn’t going to get me much further, so I joined the Club at the beginning of 2012 and was made to feel really welcome from the off. I have done a few Sprint and Olympic Distance Triathlons since joining Piranha, but have not stepped up to the longer distances: maybe 2015 will bring on a Half IronMan. This year I focused on some National Series races and, despite a few injury niggles, came 5th in my Age Group, so I’d like to improve on that next year. To that end, I intend to focus my training a bit more over the early part of the year to build a better base. I have also undertaken a Triathlon Ireland Level 1 Coach training course and am looking forward to being able to help out with training sessions. As Secretary, I also like to do my bit to help maintain the success of the Club – as a competitive yet friendly place for triathletes of all abilities to meet up, train and post great race results, while having a bit of craic at the same time. If you are looking at our website and wondering if Piranha is the club for you, why not come along to a session and find out? You’ll get a friendly welcome and will find a training level that suits you fairly quickly.
Events
The main roles of the Events (Social & Gear) officer are –
- Organise variety of social events during the year (Xmas party, JD post run, Club Champs afters, T.I. Awards night and any other random social activity that may arise.)
- AGM – organise nominations & prizes/trophies for all awards, locate and collate presentations.
- Organise any other random ideas that arise during the year!
- Gear – two orders per year – winter and preseason. Link with PR officer to activate gear shop & treasurer re payment & discounts, coordinate distribution of gear to members
Emer Tighe
email: events@piranhatri.com
I’d been swimming and running for years and triathlon just seemed like a natural progression. Joining Piranha has afforded me the opportunity to participate in some quality training sessions, although tough, made all the easier by a great group of people.
The coaching team are fantastic. It has also allowed me to take up cycling again albeit very sporadically. Not a huge fan of the bicycle unfortunately. It is probably the only time you will catch me when I am uncharacteristically quiet and totally miserable.
Finance Committee Chair
The Finance committee works to ensure that the finances of Piranha Triathlon Club are organised and managed effectively. This includes:
- Oversee the financial affairs of the Club and plan for its ongoing financial viability
- Manage the Club financial accounts, and report on financial status to committee and members
- Operate the Club’s financial process, managing bank accounts and all related invoicing and payment matters for the Club
John Staunton
email: finance@piranhatri.com
I took up triathlon in 2004, my main sport before that being soccer. My initial motivation was to complete the Chicago Triathlon (Olympic distance) that year as a fund-raising charity challenge for Our Lady’s Hospital in Crumlin. I enjoyed the training and the event so much that I was hooked …. and since then have done lots of races and managed to progress up to Ironman distance (Zurich 2010 and Roth 2011) and 10 marathons. For the longer distance events, I’ve learned that if you do the training then it tends to work! I won’t ever be fast but will get there in the end. Fave race in Ireland is probably Valentia in Co. Kerry. Used to have a flash carbon frame bike but it broke on the day before the Zurich Ironman – and am doing fine on an aluminium one since then. Looking for some new races and challenges for 2014.
Marketing
The marketing committee works on the promotion of Piranha Tri Club.The main roles of the Marketing, Web and PR officer is –
- Update the website, activate and manage all accounts.
- Post stories and source race reports.
- Keep Facebook and Twitter up to date.
- All website admin.
- Deal with queries re piranha from members thinking of joining.
- Manage any additions to the website – e.g. bike boxes, gear shop. Paypal account, etc.
- Creating and distributing monthly newsletters.
- Writing & distributing press releases and handling press queries.
- Sourcing and organising triathlon related seminars and workshops.
- Helping out with the marketing of club events – e.g. new to tri night.
Steven Moody email: Marketing@piranhatri.com
Started life as a runner, but got tired of winning everything I signed up for..
So in 2007, I entered the world of triathlon where I have gone from strength to strength which has seen me accumulate numerous awards/achievements most noteably the best race report (joint) in 2014 ….oh that and I am the current club Ironman record holder.
Aside from the above claims to fame – I am a decent enough bloke and if you buy me a coffee after swimming – I will likely answer any questions you have about the sport
Membership
The main roles of the membership officer(s) are –
- Keep membership list up to date.
- Supply Westwood with regular updates of membership list
- Check bank accounts for all SO payments on a monthly basis
- Process any new membership requests
- Make sure all members have TI membership and are insured to train.
Barry McIntyre & Louise Bennett
email: memberships@piranhatri.com
The Membership Officer is in charge of administrating membership applications and dealing with all queries relating to membership.
Barry McIntyre
Started training for triathlon 2003 but only got around to doing my first tri in 2007. I participate in triathlon as my reason to get out and keep training. I find the combination of sports more interesting and I tend to get injured less because of the different sports. I joined Piranha in 2011 and am slowly going further and further in my training and distances. ‘Slowly’ being the operative word. It’s not all about being first. Second is ok sometimes.
Louise Bennett
I had been doing triathlon (at a very slow pace) for a few years, when I decided to join Piranha last winter. It turned out to be a great decision, being part of a club has made triathlon a great social event as well as a sport. The club is great for pushing you when you need it and giving you lots of encouragement along the way. I love the fear factor of a race and that makes me get out and go to the training sessions. Next year I will be attempting my first half Ironman with a group of my fellow sharks, here’s hoping we don’t meet any real ones!
Training
Anthony Mulholland, Brendan O’Brien and Paul O’Donovan
email: training@piranhatri.com
The Training committee strives to provide a successful training programme for all level of athlete. This includes:
- Weekly training sessions in swimming, cycling and running
- Experienced and qualified coaching
- Seminars and workshops
- Warm weather training week abroad
Anthony Mulholland – Training co-ordinator
After a long hiatus from sport during my college days I found myself overweight, unfit and unmotivated at age 21. I made a new year’s resolution to try and lose some weight, quit smoking and reduce my drinking. I took up swimming, a sport which I had competed in at school, and started to do some running. A year later, I was stones lighter and was keeping fit but was in need of a challenge.
One long drunken conversation with a triathlete friend of mine later and I decided to buy a bike and spend the summer training for the DCT super sprint at the end of August 2011. After a summer of making every newbie mistake in the book I arrived on race day with my bike, tri suit and borrowed wetsuit which I hadn’t swam in. The swim was never ending and once I eventually emerged from the water, shoulders burning, I hopped on the bike and rode hard. Too hard. I bent down to put my runners on after the bike and both my calves locked up! I was in agony and the run was torture (I was informed of brick training after the race :-/) but nothing beat the feeling of crossing the line and being congratulated by my friends and family.
I was hooked! I spent most of the following two years training with various groups but struggled to find any sort of a routine. DCT 2013 brought my first Olympic distance triathlon and after I finished I decided to join a club. I had always admired DCT as a well run and friendly race so Piranha was an obvious choice. A year on and I’ve made new friends, trained hard and had fun at all the swim, bike and run sessions. Training for triathlon is hard but it’s made so much easier when you’re in it together with others and you can have a coffee and a bun afterwards!
I’m looking forward to helping everyone achieve their goals this coming season and have the craic doing it!
Brendan O’Brien – Run captain
Paul O’Donovan – Swim captain
I’d been running for a good few years and like Moody achieved great success on the local scene :-S.
I seen a triathlon on TV and couldn’t believe the speed the guys were running a 10k at after a swim and a cycle. I was inspired.
I figured I could still go on a bike and could probably swim if i was pushed into a pool. I googled “triathlon clubs in Dublin” and decided Piranha was the one for me. So I joined up and haven’t looked back.
Triathlon is a tough but very rewarding sport, joining a club makes it much easier with company, support and advice in training and at races from your club mates.
The swim is probably the most daunting aspect of triathlon. But don’t worry, we have great swim coaches at Piranha who’ll prepare you for your first event, whether it’s a sprint, Olympic, half ironman or maybe even an ironman distance.
New to Triathlon Programme
A rewarding position to coordinate members who are New to Triathlon. Things on your to-do list will include:
- Create a calendar of events for the New to Tri programme (e.g. http://www.cloverock.info/piranha/oldsite/training/new-to-tri)
- Organise events such as: Club Open Night, Transition Training, Coffee Morning, Mini Triathlon in the West Wood
- Track down and harass new members into signing up for races!
- Choose a race for the New to Triathlon Club Championship.
Niamh Tucker
New to Tri programme committee member
I was working in Newry for a couple of years and got roped in to doing the Newry sprint triathlon in September 2013 as part of an office bet. I was dreading it (mainly the thoughts of swimming in Newry canal)! I was new to the sport but ended up really enjoying the craic we had training for it and the feeling of finishing the race.
After moving back to Dublin in April I joined Piranha with the idea of just meeting new people, having fun and trying to get the hang of this whole swim-bike-run business! This summer I managed a few more sprint triathlons but King of the Hill was definitely my favourite as it was a club weekend away to Kinsale where I got to meet more people in the club and have a bit of fun. I’m still finding my feet but I have found that training as part of club as opposed to on your own is brilliant. I also ended up doing the Dublin half marathon in September – something which would not have been possible without Maria’s running sessions and the support of other club members. I hope to do the full one in 2015! I’m really looking forward to the year ahead, Paul and I will be here to help answer any questions that people may have who are new to triathlon or just new to the club! We will also organise some additional sessions on the “New to Triathlon” programme
Paul Mooney
New to Tri programme committee member
I took an interest in the triathlon scene in 2012, however I could barely swim one length without gasping for breath. My first charity triathlon consisted of a 500m swim, 10k bike and 5k run. I swam so far off to the right that the guys in the kayaks thought I wasn’t even participating. My thinking at the time was I’m useless at this….
A year or two later and I’ve completed Ironman, several Olympics and Sprints and never been happier about my choice to stick with it. One of the big attractions to the sport for me is, what appears to be an Individual sport from a glance couldn’t be further from the truth, between clubs and events you meet the nicest of people who encourage at every opportunity.
My ambitious plans are to focus on Ironman and attempt one day to take that Ironman club record off that Moody fella
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