Kildare County Council Sprint- race report

Friday, October 30 2009 @ 10:08 AM GMT Standard Time Contributed by: eobrien Views: 425 Raymond Rowan -race report When reading this race report it should read as a list of things of what not to do before, during and after a triathlon!!! Firstly, don’t have 10 whetabix pieces 2 hours before the race, don’t take on more water than the titanic during the swim and finally, don’t try to be all fancy and attempt to dismount your bike while moving-it will only end up with a pain in the groin!!! Sunday September 20th was the day of the 2nd Kildare County Council Sprint triathlon in the Curragh camp. My second and last triathlon of the summer. Having only started triathlon in Athy in May and having mortally wounding my right knee during the summer, (maybe that’s an exaggeration) I decided to give the Curragh a shot, a warm indoor swim, a nice 20km Sunday cycle on the flat plains (how I was mistaken) of the Curragh and a calm jog around the camp-home in time for the All Ireland Final. Simple. Piece of cake. Registration was quick and painless, in and out in 10 minutes, got my markings with a big chunky black marker on my calves and arms and now I felt like a triathlete! Transition was lovely and small (as there were less than 100 competitors) right next to the pool, ample space for bikes and all the extra crap that I brought with me (hair dryer, kettle, hammock etc...). The swim waves started at 10.45am with, on average, 3 people per lane with the waves been sent off with the slower waves going first and so on. The minute I hit the water I felt the Wheetabix starting to make a move and between all my splashing and floundering I emerged 17 minutes later. Not a great swim but I failed to take into account the lack of a current and swim suit in calculating my expected time and so was one of the last people out of my wave. Transition was nice and spacious (the parents had made an appearance to shout me along) and out on to the bike course. The roads were open and so we all needed to be cautious. Turning right out of the camp and heading away was all downhill and I felt comfortable-saying that, moving further out along the route, the road narrowed and parts of the surface were pretty rough, potholes in which you could actually do the swim section in and trying to dodge the sheep that crossed the road slowed us down (well that’s my excuse!!). The trip back in involved a horribly steep ascent up a hill worthy of the Tour the France and then a frightenly quick descent on a narrow road-best fun Ive had in years!! On the descent, Rob from Wheelworx passed me buy as he was in the wave after me-just as he passed me, we came to a fork in the road, the lack of a sign to point us in the right direction lead Rob to pick left, me to pick right-all of a sudden I heard the screech of breaks, a plume of dust and Rob changing his mind and picking right. I also heard of some people getting lost on the cycle!! With the parents watching, trying to be fancy, I tried to dismount the bike while moving leading to a pain in the groin-switched to my runners and got on with the run. Run was lovely, nice and flat, 2.5km out and 2.5 back within the camp. There was a water station at the 2.5km mark and some encouragement got me back to the finish line in 1Hr 53mins-not a great time but a great mornings exercise-I wasn’t there to win (that’s next year!!), just to get another tri under my belt before the end of summer and I did!!!!

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