King of the Hill race details

The fourth race on the Club Calendar has arrived!!   Saturday, 25^th July sees over 30 Piranhas participate in the King of the Hill Triathlon hosted by Cork Tri Club.

The links below brings to you to the King of the Hill race website where you can review the recently released race briefing and swim, bike and run routes. Please note that the bike route has been changed from previous years.

King of the Hill Race Website

This note re King of the Hill has the following sections:

• What Piranha’s Are Registered To Race?
• Getting There
• Car Pooling – How To Arrange A Lift
• Piranha Accommodation
• Post-Race Meal And Drinks
• Pre-Race Day Training And Race Day Warm-Up

Who’s Registered To Race?

Above is the listing I received from TI some time ago and I know there have been some transfers since then. Judy van den Ancker, Rachel Hayes, Brianne Mulvihill and John Wallnutt are all racing too I believe.

Getting There

I am assuming that most people will have travelled to Kinsale  on Friday.   Registration is open Friday 24^th July from 6.00pm to 8.00pm at the Edge Superstore , Kinsale Road Roundabout.

The link below will give you directions to the Dempseys Hostel, Kinsale. It assumes that you are leaving from O’Connell Street.   Essentially take the N7 or M50 to the N7 / M7 towards Naas and follow the directions from there. With a fair wind you will make it there is a little over 3 hours but as lots of us will be leaving Friday afternoon in Dublin traffic, it is likely to be closer to a 4 hr journey.

 Directions to Dempsey Hostel in Kinsale from O’Connell St, Dublin

Car Pooling – How To Arrange A Lift

It is a 280km, 3 hour + drive to Kinsale.

So, it makes a lot of sense to car pool both for company and sharing of petrol costs.

If you are looking to share please post up on the forum. I have created a car pooling spreadsheet on the following forum https://www.piranhatri.com/forum/topic/king-of-the-hill-anyone-driving/ but at this late stage I expect everyone has a lift arranged.

Piranha Accommodation

Piranha’s are staying in various places around Kinsale this year. Although I tried to get somewhere that could accommodate most if not all of us, I’d left it too late and most places were fully booked. This year lots of us are staying in Dempseys Hostel which is great location wise but may not be the most luxurious! Last year everyone stayed in the Blue Haven Hotel so next year we (or I!) should try to be a little quicker off the mark to book in there. With Dempseys, I haven’t checked yet if they have a secure location for us to store our bikes so if you are in doubt, please call ahead of bring a good lock with you!

Post-Race Meal And Drinks

Judy van den Ancker has kindly arranged a booking for 20 Piranha’s in the Steakhouse restaurant which is ranked the No.1 restaurant in Kinsale on Tripadvisor! There might be a few seats left so if you would like be included in our dinner plans (and you haven’t been in touch with Judy already) please contact her now by DM.

After the meal we move onto some bar. Judy will provide further details at the meal!

Pre-Race Day Training And Race-Day Warm-Ups  

Pre-race day drills:

Swimming: If swimming in open water:

• 10 minutes aerobic front crawl swimming- focus on open water skills- sighting/turning around buoy-
• 4 x 20 seconds hard with 30 seconds recovery
• Another 5-10 minutes very easy swim (Mixture of front and back crawl)
• Stretch

or

If using pool, 20 minutes easy swim to include,

• Warm up: 200m as 50m front/50m back easy
• Main set: Include 4 x 25m at higher intensity with 30 seconds recovery between each 25.
• Cool down: 5-10 minutes easy front or back crawl

Bike: 30 minutes easy cycle, with 3 x15 seconds at zone 4 Hr (effort 8/10) in the middle of the session- separate each of these efforts with 90 seconds easy spinning. Keep to a flat route today, and focus on maintaining high cadence.

Run:   5 minutes easy run with 3 x 7 second strides at increased intensity at the end.

Tip 1: for the longer distances, do these sessions early on Friday, and then keep off your feet to get recovery before Saturday morning

Tip 2:  Focus on hydrating by sipping water throughout day

Tip 3:  If doing swim in open water (recommended if possible)- Hang your wetsuit out to dry early. A dry wetsuit will be a lot more comfortable in the 15 minutes before race start.

Race day warm up

Cycle:     Before you rack your bike try to get 10-15 minutes easy cycle- this will give you a feel for you race position, changing gears and pedalling technique. Keep this cycle at easy intensity- This can be a couple of hours before the race start and the purpose is to give you a feel for the bike (Use run/swim as warm up before race)

When racking your bike:   Do a couple of jogs through the transition and visualise where you have to enter and exit for T1 & T2. Know actually where your bike is – memorise how to get to your bike quickly.

Run:       After racking your bike and setting up your transition completely- I’d recommend to do run warm up next- complete 10-15 minutes jog with 5x 10 strides seconds at intensity of 7/10 (see link below)- try to be finishing the run warm up approximately 20-25 minutes of starting your race – then get wetsuit on for swim warm up below.

Swim:   I would recommend dynamic movements of your arms and shoulder e.g. circling your arms and practicing the swim motion then get into the water for at least 5-10 minutes if possible for swim. Start with some aerobic swimming and add 4 x20 seconds at race intensity, with 1 minute easy between each.

Any questions then please contact me on the numbers below.

Happy racing,

Will Owens



National Series Coordinator



M: 087 997 6190 | PM: Willo | Email: williamowens1@gmail.com