Hi All
For those of you who don’t know me my Name is John Wallnutt and I am the Piranha Ladies Team Captain for the 2016 Season. I have been a member of Piranha for about 9 years and compete in the 50-54 AG.
As the LADIES Team captain for the National Series Club Championships I would like to encourage as many of you as possible to complete 4 NS (national series) races in the coming season. I would like to explain the series and how it works.
Our top 6 Ladies scores will count assuming you have completed 4 National series races during the 2016 season. Of the 4 races, one race must be a Sprint and one must be an Olympic race. The other 2 races can be Sprint, Olympic or 70.3.
For those who do not know every time you compete in a national series race you are awarded points. These points are awarded based on your position and your finish time. For example if you finished 25th overall in a time of 1hr 20mins you might score 109 points but if you finished 25th overall ( same place) in a time of 1hr 19mins (faster) you would score higher points. In this example you have not improved your position but you have improved your time. So no matter where you are placed it is always important to finish as best you can. EVERY single point counts!
In 2015 the top five clubs were as follows
1st GOTRI – 2640 points
2nd Cork Tri – 2563 points
3rd Belpark – 2532 points
4th Trilogy – 2522 points
5th Midland – 2436 points
Piranha Ladies finished 11th with 2195 points which it has to be said for a club our size is disappointing.
Our points tally was made up as follows
Jacqui Dunphey 426.008 (4 races counting)
Linda Clarke 413.724 (4 races counting)
Siobhan Forman 397.795 (4 races counting)
Antje Danneberg 382.263 (4 races counting)
Daireen Gill 291.297 (3 races counting)
Laura Moynihan 284.145 (3 races counting)
As you can see we only had 4 ladies complete the required 4 races. We must improve on this in general to promote Women in sport as well as Women in Triathlon and for our club in general. We had a number of other female athletes who only completed 3 races or had only done sprints and adding in their points we could have jumped into the top 5 if not the top 3.
I feel the Piranha Ladies have a real chance of winning the NS club Championships and I would love to see GOTRI knocked off their perch ! I can see many excellent athletes on the list of names below and I am sure there are some unknowns in there as well. There is a massive amount of knowledge and talent in that list of names.
I would like to set the following targets for ALL the ladies in the club:
1. Have at least 30 Piranha Ladies complete a full National series (i.e. complete 4 races)
2. Finish as the top Dublin Club
3. Win the Club championships but at worst finish in the top 3
Even if you don’t think your points will count, if you are out there racing for the club then the girls ahead of you will want to do as best they can do also. As I said EVERY POINT COUNTS. So if you have not planned your season yet why not pick 4 National series races (see below) and get out there this year and take them on, you know you will enjoy it (well, most of it).
16/04/2016 – North Tipp Sprint [Sprint] / Nenagh, Co. Tipperary
24/04/2016 – Sligo Tri Pool Sprint Triathlon [Sprint] / Sligo, Co. Sligo
22/05/2016 – Tri 795 Carlow [Sprint] / Carlow, Co. Carlow CLUB TARGETED RACE
29/05/2016 – The Gauntlet Half Iron [70.3] / Galway, Co. Galway
05/06/2016 – Up the Creek [Sprint] / Kilrush, Co. Clare
11/06/2016 – Fastnet Eurospar Triathlon [Sprint] / Schull, Cork, Co. Cork
11/06/2016 – Westport Triathlon [Sprint] / Westport, Co. Mayo CLUB AWAY RACE
19/06/2016 – Firmus Energy City of Derry [Sprint] / Derry City, Co. Derry
25/06/2016 – Hell of the West [Standard] / Kilkee, Co. Clare CLUB AWAY RACE & NC
09/07/2016 – I Tri 2016 – [Sprint] / Ennis, Co. Clare
10/07/2016 – Wicklow Town Black Castle [Standard] / Wicklow Town, Co. Wicklow
16/07/2016 – Two Provinces [Sprint] / Lanesboro, Co. Longford CLUB TARGETED RACE & NC
23/07/2016 – King of the Hill [Sprint] / Kinsale, Co. Cork
23/07/2016 – Top of the Mourne [Standard] / Rostrevor, Co. Down
31/07/2016 – Loughrea Sprint Triathlon [Sprint] / Loughrea, Co. Galway
31/07/2016 – Belfast Titanic Triathlon [Standard] / Belfast CLUB TARGETED RACE
06/08/2016 – Sligo Triathlon [Standard] / Hazelwood, Co. Sligo
13/08/2016 – Caroline Kearney [Standard] / Mullingar, Co. Westmeath
13/08/2016 – Lough Neagh Triathlon [Sprint] / Ballyronan, Co. Londonderry
20/08/2016 – Tri the Hook [Sprint] / Fethard on Sea, Co. Wexford
21/08/2016 – Vodafone Dublin City Triathlon [Standard] / Phoenix Park, Co. Dublin
03/09/2016 – The Lost Sheep [70.3] / Kenmare, Co. Kerry CLUB AWAY RACE & NC
10/09/2016 – Blacksod Point Challenge Triathlon [Standard] / Belmullet, Co. Mayo
11/09/2016 – Jailbreak Triathlon [Standard] / Cobh, Co. Cork
17/09/2016 – Pulse Clogherhead [Sprint] / Clogherhead, Co. Louth CLUB TARGETED RACE
Training is ongoing and the first NS race is April 16 in Nenagh (North Tipp Sprint) Entry is now open. It’s a sprint race and in a 25m pool. From my experience it is great to get an early season race done, even if you are not 100% ready, most of the other competitors are not either. As it’s in a pool its also safe and a bit warmer than the sea. I will be doing it myself so why not commit to it now and enter and have that as your first target.
If you intend to do at least 4 races please let me know also. If anyone wants advice about any of the races or even training for the races please do not hesitate to contact me.
John Wallnutt
Piranha Ladies Team Captain
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