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Mark’s report
Four Carlow TRICW athletes travelled to Kenmare on Saturday 12th September to take part in the ‘Lost Sheep Half Iron Man’ triathlon and were all first timers for a half Ironman. The Lost Sheep Half Ironman Triathlon has, since it’s inception in 2003, gained a reputation both nationally and internationally as one of the toughest half ironman distance races on the triathlon circuit. The event starts with a 1900m swim in the scenic Kenmare Bay followed by an 83km cycle which takes competitors over two category one climbs on the Healy and Caha passes and finishes after an undulating 21km run mostly on quiet country roads in the picturesque town of Kenmare.

The event kicked off at 8.15am and already the heat from the sun was noticable with out late ‘Indian summer’. The swim course consisted of a 900m swim out to a buoy and a 1000m return under the bridge in Kenmare to the exit point at the transition area. First out of the water for TRICW was Mark Whitney (34:12) followed closely by Paul Redmond (35:19), Amy O’Donovan (38:01) and Pat McDonald (39:56). With a quick change in transition into the bike shoes and helmet, we headed out onto the cycle course. The cycle circuit started with a relatively flat first 10km or so. From then on the terrain was very undulating with two category one climbs up the Healy Pass and the Caha Pass to come, which really tested leg stamina. Mark had a cycle time of 2hr54 followed by Amy 2hr59, Pat 3hr16 and Paul 3hr21 which included a puncture stop.The run course on the day was a straight out and back to a mid point at 10.5km at which time the sun was really heating up. The official water stations on the day were greatly needed to keep fluids on board. Paul really appreciated the unoffical station at 5km where a wash basin of water was thrown over him by request by some kind locals. On the return leg of the run there seemed to be a constant sound of ambulance sirens as some of the other competitors in the race were overcome with heat exhaustion. Amy had the fastest run on the day of 1hr44:53 giving her a total time of 5hr25:08. Mark’s run time was 1hr49:18 giving him a total time of 5hr24:31. Pat had a run of 1hr50:52 and total of 5hr56:00 and Paul had a run of 2hr30 giving him a total time of 6hr35:57.

All in all we were all very happy with our performances on the day having first compled the race and second coming in under our own ‘goal times’ we set ourselves before the race.

Amy’s report

I was very nervous about my first half ironman as I drove down to Kenmare on Fri evening. Before I left Colin in the hospital in Kilkenny, I him I was aiming for Swim 45, T1 3, Bike 3.15, T2 2, Run 1.55 and kept trying to figure out if it was possible. The same doubts kept going around in my head. That I would take forever in the swim, that I would get one (or more) punctures, that I would have an accident going down the Healy pass, that I would not have enough energy left for the run, that I would have a bad result. On the plus side, I was telling myself that the forecast was good, that I’d cycled the bike course once before and that I’d been happy with my running the last month or so.
I was quite tired arriving in Kenmare where Paul had kindly offered to have me stay and even had dinner ready. As we walked into registration, the first thing we noticed was a video of last year’s race playing and there was Colin heading up the Caha pass. I took this was a good sign for some reason. We bumped into Pat & Mary and Mark & Edel after we registered and sat around waiting until 9pm for the race briefing where we got a serious lecture on littering from the TI guy. Mark & Edel were suffering from some technical difficulties in the camper and came back to Paul’s house for the night. We spent an hour or so sorting out all the gear for the morning. I put 2 gels and a chopped up energy bar into my bento box, made up 1.5 litres of energy drink, taped an extra tube to my seat post and packed my bags while Paul and Mark tried to figure out how to put a bracket on Mark’s bike.
We were up at six and drove down to transition with our gear and before going back to the house to cycle the bikes down. Transition was jammed. I was trying to decide what to wear. I’d planning on putting a cycling jacket on over my trisuit but it looked like it was going to be a great day so wasn’t sure what to do. I decided to go with a running top and was careful with my transition setup as I’d a top, socks, gels and sun glasses that I wouldn’t usually have. Just before 8, everyone started walking down to the pier in Kenmare. Myself and Pat chatted on the way down and I think it distracted me a bit from what lay ahead. But I was still very nervous.
The swim was a water start at the pier – swim 400m or 500m out in the sea direction, do a u-turn around the buoy and then back past the pier, under the bridge and out at the far side. It seemed to take me a long time to get out to the buoy (busy veering to the left as usual) but once I could see some orange hats around me I didn’t mind. I found sighting very difficult on the way back as we were swimming into the sun. As I got close to the bridge, I was getting tired and kept veering to the left. But I was thinking it doesn’t feel like I’ve been in the water THAT long. When I saw 38mins on my watch I was thinking this is a good enough start.
I was slowed down in transition trying to put socks on wet feet and still deciding about the extra top. I could see Paul out of the corner of my eye putting on his cycling top and we left T1 around the same time. On the way out the road, I sensed a different sort of atmosphere from other races that I’d done. The pace on the bike was (semi) relaxed and people seemed to be having little chats with each other. I was very conscious not to over exert myself and watched that my heart rate didn’t go over 85%. A lot of people flew by me and I had to stop myself speeding up, especially if it was another female. All was going well until I went to drop a gear for the steep kick at the end of the Healy pass. But I didn’t have another gear and I heard the horrible sound of my chain coming off. I got it back on quick enough but all I kept thinking was how am I going to get started on this hill without falling off. Luckily I got back on without making a show of myself and got to the top. I had been dreading this descent. I took my time going down, almost stopping before some of the hairpins and was conscious of the guys speeding by me. Then it was the long hill up before the lovely spin into Glengariff. There was a water station there but didn’t stop and went straight for the Caha pass. I seemed to have loads of energy going up and passed a lot of people who seemed to be feeling the earlier pace. This descent and knowing that the two bad climbs done was really enjoyable. At this point I was starting to feel the effects of not having opted for extra cycling shorts like the lads and struggled to keep going an even pace. My neck was killing me so I couldn’t go down on my tri bars and my heart rate was dropping and I was wondering had I eaten enough to give me energy for the run. I was sure I’d seen a sign that said ‘Kenmare 18km’ but after what seemed about 10km, I saw crowds and guys running and it the realization hit me that I was back. I was a bit hyper going into T2 as I thought I still had 20mins or so left on the bike. I grabbed my gels and sunglasses and got out of T2 as quick as I could.
The run course had been changed from previous years and was a straight out and back. I knew there were four waters stations at 6k, 9k, 12k & 15k and had a gel with me for each. My legs felt good on the way out but my heart rate had gone well over 90%. I was watching my pace and when I saw I’d done the first 3k in just over 15mins I decided to try and keep going at that rate. The hills were tough and I was badly in need of a drink. A guy from Carrick club offered me some water on the way and was never so grateful to someone. As I was running, I kept thinking can I keep this up but I was feeling pretty comfortable and gaining one or two places every km. I passed Mark going in the opposite direction as I neared the turnaround point which seemed to have taken forever to reach. As I made my way back towards Kenmare, I passed Pat and then Paul going the opposite way which was a relief. Paul and myself had been around each other on the bike until Glengariff and I was wondering where he was (I found out afterwards that he had gotten a puncture and Pat had stopped to give him a canister). There were also a few guys collapsed on the side of the road from dehydration who were waiting for the ambulance which gives you a horrible feeling. I took my last gel and two cups of water at the last water station and faced into the last 6k knowing I wouldn’t get anything else to drink. I was slowing a lot on the hills, gasping for water and starting to get very low in the last 3km. Just keep it together for another 10mins was all I kept telling myself. Throughout the run, I had just been watching my run time so when I turned in towards the finish line and saw the clock ticking towards 5:25, I got one of the best feelings I’ve had in a long time. Mark had just crossed the line ahead of me (5:24) and as we waited for Pat (5:55) and Paul (6:35 – 1 puncture), I was feeling sick, desperate to get out of the sun and worried about what was happening in the hospital in Kilkenny. But I still couldn’t stop smiling to myself

NOT AN IRON-MAN
“YET!!!!!”
The day before the the big day had arrived and we were on our way for the race briefing, looking around the room at the other 65 triathletes, there is a thought that I am out of this league. Everybody there looked fit /athletic and in good shape , then there was me, not a good thought to be having 14 hours before the race start.
The organisers appeared and done nothing for the nerves of any of the first timers. The briefing was short and sweet with a warning that the swim could be cancelled due to weather conditions. All the first timers had the same thought, if we don’t do the swim is it still classed as an Iron-man race? The simple answer is NO. An Iron-man is a 3.8 K swim / 180 K bike / and 42 K run and no matter what was said by the organisers, if one is left out it is not an Iron-man race. A lot of people were disappointed that all the training would be for nothing, but the general consensus (in the true sense of Triathlon and looking for hardship) was that we were here and lets get on with what ever is thrown at us. With that in mind I started to consider nutrition and went and had my ideal dinner of a large fish and chips. (Not one of my greatest ideas).
Got up at 4.30 and went straight to transition and the waiting started. Swim was not cancelled until 5.45 and then it was decided that we do an 8K run before the bike so that we don’t have a mass start. As this was discussed a New Zealander came up with a great idea which everybody jumped at, which was we start the bike at 30 sec intervals starting at your race number. Nobody fancied doing 50K in one day. A lot of confusion from then on with the start time changing from 6.30 to 7.30 so that the marshals could get in place.
As I was just about to start, The Marshall closest to me was advising everybody to be careful for the second half of the bike as the weather was to get worse, I could not believe my ears as I looked out at the wind and rain that was falling and heard the word “WORSE” ringing in me ear. The doubts appeared but were soon forgotten about as the marshals let the cyclists on their way.
No wind to the duel carriageway and my thoughts were this is not to bad, On the carriageway and was flying along at 45-50 K per hour and again thought this is great, turned at 12k and knew within 10 minutes at 10-15k per hour that this was going to be hell, the words of the marshal jumped into my mind ” weather was to get worse for the second half of the bike”, he did not mention how tough the first half was going to be, the wind and rain that fell was unbelievable with the weather getting worse with every lap. Done OK for the first three circuits @ 4h 30m for the 130k mark, I was estimating about 1h45 to 2h for the last 50K but this was my undoing, the weather got worse and came in off the bike @ 6h55m.
Free wheeled into T2 and there was nothing left in the legs and dreading the run. My mind started to race and all I could think was what type of a fool was I to attempt my first marathon on the back of a 180 k Cycle.
Changed into running gear and came out to start of the run and got a great lift from the roars of all the family / relations and of course the TriCW crew, whom without there encouragements I would not have finished the race.
Started the run, with the first 2.5 k in the forest, which was very hilly, wet and hard work, the next 2.5 k was as hard but on the road which was a help but only just, The last 5 K was a nice, flat run that did not take too much out of you. The return 10 K was the same and the legs started to seize up which meant a stop at each aid stations for a drink / a gel and a stretch of the calf and thighs. At the 19K I was in the forest and hit what I believe to be the wall, legs went heavier, head went light and every negative thought that I could have, entered my mind and I had an idea to stop and not finish. As I entered the 21k mark and turn around point, I heard the roar from the Carlow crew which gave me such a lift I had no choice but to go and attempt the last 21k no matter how bad I felt. Again ” THANKS for that lads and ladies” . For the remainder of the last 21K every negative and bad vibe you can get or give, every curse you can put on somebody (Mick McGrath was cursed the most for having the idea of the two of us doing the Iron man and then going on tour with the army and that’s not a band either) and every promise you can make to anybody that is listening goes through your head, along with this you know that every step you take, gets you closer to the end and the thought that it will all be over soon.
As you approach the last 2-3 km, you have a little secret smile to yourself as you think “YES, I’am going to make it” and this brings a small quickening of the pace and you even start to feel good again and as the last corner is turned and 150mtr in front of you is the finish line. The feeling at seeing that line and then to hear the family / friends and TriCW crew roar is something that will be burned in my memory forever.
This was a day to be remembered forever, like the day you get married or when your child is born, you don’t and never will forget your first attempt at an Ironman. As we all write some form of report for whatever races we do, there are people that are forgotten and I have to mention the greatest family ever in Clare and the kids Jessica/ Chelsie / Jade & Chloe who have had to see me walk in one door and out the other on so many nights to do some sort of training over the last six months. Thanks for bearing with me. Also the training partners / advisers and the phone calls of support from the TriCW crew in Aiden / Colin / Charley / Amy / Paul R / Joe F/ Hilary / Clive / Paul M / Madeline / John N and all the others whose support was brilliant and without which I would not have gotten through one of the hardest days of my young life.

Bike T2 Run Finish time
06:55:34 00:11:35 05:00:49 12:07:58

TIME TRIAL 3 RESULTS
Well done to those who turned up for our final time trial on Wednesday evening and a big thank you to Gavin for doing all the time keeping.
Boys Girls
1st Colin Pollock 18.54 1st Amy O’Donavan 22.37
2nd Alan Galvin 18.58 2nd Hilary Jenkinson 23.38
3rd Dan Szczech 19.35
4th Sean Duggan 19.37
5th Mark Whitney 21.28
6th Barry Murphy 22.09
7th Stephen Kildea 23.34
8th Derek Coyle 26.15
9th Paul Murphy 27.14

Some very close times and well done to Amy and Colin the overall winners of the time trials

TIME TRIAL RESULTS

It was a bit of a wet evening for heading up the hill towards the statue but 12 hearty bods turned up for the climb. We had 8 members of TriCW and 4 from Carlow Cycling Club. Unfortunately we lost Dan Szczech, he decided to take the route to St. Abbans instead.

Boys Girls
1st Colin Pollock 17.58 1st Hilary Jenkinson 22.58
2nd Sean Duggan 18.16 2nd Amy O’Donavan 23.38
3rd Paul Nolan 19.54
4th Mark Whitney 20.39
5th Aidan Quigley 20.54
6th Pascal Tomilson 22.09
7th Joe Farrell 24.05
8th Derek Coyle 27.14
9th Paul Murphy 27.51

The next Time Trial will be next Wednesday 26th August meeting at the Spar shop on Castlecomer road and taking the route to St. Abbans. Dan has a head start on the rest of us. Meet at 6.30pm to start at 7.00pm promptly as light is against us.

The first time trial of the season kicked off yesterday evening and started from the Kilkenny road to the first roundabout a distance of 14km. We had 9 from TriCW and 2 from Carlow cycling club. The winning time was 19.32 by Aidan Quigley. The record for that circiut is 18.29 held by Mick Mulcahy.

Results

Boys Girls
1st Aidan Quigley 19.32 1st Amy O’Donavan 22.38
2nd Colin Pollock 19.46 2nd Hilary Jenkinson 23.07
3rd Joe Nolan 20.34 3rd Madeline Ronan 23.26
4th Paul Nolan (CCC) 21.01
5th Mark Whitney 21.16
6th John Lawlor(CCC) 22.27
7th Stephen Kildea 22.45
8th Paul Murphy 26.29

The next one is wed 19th Aug and will start at Spar Shop Killeshin RD. 7.00pm is start time so be there before . Spread the word

Well done to all the TriCW members who battled The Beast of the East, the toughest race on the calendar. As everyone gathered on the shore of Lough Dan the sun began to peep out and thankfully stayed for the race. There were 2 waves with the girls off in the second one and most of the lads off in the first. It was a bit on the chilly side and the brown bottom didn’t look too inviting but all looked calm and no major currents to battle, or so we thought!! It did seem like a long swim and judging by the times it took people a bit longer than usual. However the effects of an Ironman did not stop Colin Pollock from being the 9th man out of the water on 27.44. Mark Whitney was our next man out of the water on 32.56( and yes I did beat your time ) Aidan and Joe Cogan must have pulled each other out as there was only 2 seconds between their times on the swim. Gavin and Pat McDonald took a little more time in the lake. I think they may have had an encounter with The Beast ( Current). As for the girls well Hilary had a good swim with 29.33, despite falling over the timing mat, and Amy also had a little battle with The Beast and came in on 38.44.
So then it was onwards and upwards onto the bikes and I am not exaggerating the UPWARDS. The first climb of the day came very quickly and it was 2km of a nasty steep drag. I almost threw the towel in. Things improved after that and nothing too drastic on the way to Rathdrum but on the return to Laragh they sent us on the second nasty climb of the day, just when the legs are beginning to scream. And to add insult to the already endured pain there’s another short steep climb before the final slippery decent and the end of the bike spin. However it was only a small challenge to Mr. Pollock who had the best bike time of our lot and of course with the bit between his teeth Mr. Quigley was in hot pursuit and thankfully with no major catastrophes this year came in on 1.16.33. Mark was not too far behind with a time of 1.18.48. Pat McDonald must be doing a lot of sneaky training as he had a great bike time of 1.22.24. Amy also put in a great time on a very enduring course 1.27.10. the rest of us were taking in the scenery!
After a long run into transition it was back out again to tackle that hill again and this time on foot. Although Colin didn’t seem to mind those hills as he cruised in on a run time of 40.43 and finished on 2.24.14.He was our star of the day and finished 14th overall and 6th in his age group. Outstanding for a chap who did an Ironman in 10hrs 3 weeks ago. Thankfully the run course levelled out after the big climb and it was a nice 2km downhill finish. Mark was next over the line for TriCW in a time of 47.09 to finish 2.43.51. Aiden was not too far behind with a run time of 49.52 and he finished with 2.49.24 and yet another Ironman finisher 3 weeks ago. Pat was going from strength to strength with a run of 48.13 and finished 2.59.01. Our first girl home was Hilary finishing on 3.00.21 and Amy had done a good bit of catching up on the bike and run to come in on 3.01.54. Joe and Gavin came in very close together. Gavin on 3.15.19 and Joe on 3.16.41.
It was a tough day for all that took part and a big Well Done to Wicklow Tri Club for running a very smooth event, despite the unforgiving rain and road conditions.

Ten Tricw members travelled to take part in TriAthlone 2009. Gavin Fraser and Mark Whitney competed in the Olympic distance while Katalin Zagg, Amy O’Donovan, Barry Murphy, Derek Coyle, Paul ‘Spud’ Murphy and Richie Walsh competed in the Sprint distance with Adrian Oprea and Louise Nolan competing in the Sprint Relay.

The swim course was changed on the day to 750m all downstream for both events as the river Shannon was deemed to be flowing too fast from the trial swim on Thursday. The cycle course consisted of a 20km turnaround out the Tuam Road for the olympic distance and the sprint distance was 10km turnaround on the same course over relatively flat terrain. The run course wove in and out of Athlone’s streets consisting of 4 laps for olympic and 2 laps for the sprint event with 1 sharp hill on the course. Athlone’s army barracks was used as the transition area for the day. A 400 meter run after both the swim and bike to the transition area over rough tarmac and back greeted athletes on the day which was not too kind to feet.

After an early start leaving Carlow at 5am on Saturday moring and a quick coffee and some porridge, we were all set. First up was Gavin Fraser and Mark Whitney in Wave 1 at 8.30. After a hectic start where 100 people were both in the water and another 100 still standing on the river bank, the hooter was sounded. Mark was first out of the water on 12.26 with a good bike of 1hr 6min and a run of 36.30. Total time 2hr 5.32 mins placing him 41st overall and 18th in his age category. Gavin had a 14.22 swim, 1hr 11 bike and a 47.29 run. Total time 2hr 26.23 and 16th in age group.

Barry Murphy and Richie Walsh had very similar times with only 9 seconds seperating them at the end. Barry had a 11.58 swim, 40.05 bike and 19.16 run, total 1hr21.11 and Richie had a swim of 12.15, bike 39.40 and run 18.57, total 1hr21.20. Transition times os 5.12 and 4.44 for Barry and 5.59 and 4.30 for Richie being the difference between them at the end.

Spud Murphy and Derek Coyle will have to wait to future events to see who is the quicker as Derek had the misfortune of loosing his timing chip in T1 only realising this as he was about to mount his bike. After returning to T1 to look for the chip he decided to “complete a hard training session”. Hats of to him for completing his race. Spud had times of 13.56 swim, 46.45 bike and 22.10 run total 1hr34.18.

Amy O’Donovan had a very good swim of 12.35, a good bike of 40.05 and run 20.42 total 1hr22.37 placing her 33rd overall and 11th in her age category.

Katalin Zagg had a swim of 14.09, 43.12 bike and run 20.31. total 1hr27.41.Kathy was 8th in her age group and finished 68th overall.

Best for carlow on the day was the Sprint team of Adrian Oprea and Louise Nolan who won their event by 100 seconds. Adrian had a great swim of 11.31 with Louise having a great bike of 39.23 and a run of 19.07. Well done guys.

The day had finally arrived Sunday July 5th in Frankfurt, Germany, the European Ironman Championships. Just over 2,300 competitors from all over the world and of all ages were waiting in the water of Langener Waldsee for the off at 7.00am to swim two loops of the lake to make up the distance of 3.8km. The five TriCW members were now all on their own to take part and compete in this race their own individual way.
The first out of the water was Colin Pollick just under the hour at 58.17, not too far behind was Hilary Jenkinson at 1.03.23.The next out was Clive Byrne at 1.11.47 and Charlie Murphy was soon out at 1.14.49, Aidan Quigley who had been a bit concerned about the swim came in at 1.16.20 a very respectable time.
After the first transition it was out on the bikes to begin the 180km which would be the longest section of the race for most of us. The first 12km took you into the centre of Frankfurt and then you began a 2 loop course of 84km heading north out of Frankfurt. It was early in the day but there were already people along the route cheering the competitors along. The first climb was the Beast, a gradual drag which was about 1.5km shortly after this you went through a village with large cobbles and a short steep climb called The Hell. The road narrowed and was lined with supporters shouting “HUP HUP HUP” , bells were ringing and they made the Hell pass very quickly. There was another long gradual climb after this but then came the reward of decent and level until the 80km marker where we came to Heartbreak Hill. On the first loop the legs are still strong and again with supporters lining the streets this hill went well enough. It was then a nice gradual downhill cruise back into Frankfurt to begin the loop again for the last time. The second loop for all the TriCW members was slower than the first. The hills took a bit longer to tackle, the legs were getting a bit tired and the pain element was beginning to appear. Colin Pollick finished his bike on 5.20.22 with only 13 minutes difference between his 2 loop times. Aidan Quigley had a powerful bike time of 5.22.13 with a 17 minute difference between his 2 loops. Clive Byrne and Charlie Murphy were also quite close with their bike times. Charlie came in on 5.51.57 and Clive was 5.55.39. Hilary was enjoying the scenery and finished her bike tour on 6.44.23.
At the end of the 180km at transition 2 your bike was taken from you and you got ready for the final leg of the race, the marathon. The route was broken up into 4 laps which took you along the banks of the river Maine which runs through Frankfurt. Again it was lined with supporters and well wishers and not just the friends and families of athletes ,the people of Frankfurt and it’s surrounds are very proud of Ironman and give great support to all who compete on the day. This support can not be under estimated as at this stage of the race it is their cheers and words of encouragement that keep you going and help to take your mind off the pain. It had been a warm fine day so far with temperatures hitting 28 degrees on the bike and dropping a little for the run. At the 8km marker competitors collect an armband to say that you have completed a lap. When you see people passing you with 2 or 3 armbands you look at them with envy and hope you will be there soon. There were also 7 aid stations set up along the way which provided you with water, ice, pepsi, red bull, snacks and sponges. These aid stations became life savers . After collecting your 4th and final arm band you then take the road to the finish. It is a 500m run right into the heart the city centre. Colin was the first of TRiCW to get to that line after completing his marathon run in 3.37.47 and finishing in a total of 10.06.34,an outstanding time for his second ever Ironman. Clive was the next man home doing his run in 4.25.17 and finishing on a total of 11.43.50, a great time for his first ever Ironman. After a great bike Aiden took things a bit easier on the run with a time of 5.05.14 to finish on 12.08.00, another great achievement for his first Ironman. This was Charlie Murphy’s 3rd Ironman and although his knees were giving him some trouble on the run he finished the marathon in 5.22.38 to complete on a total of 12.45.51. Our last home was Hilary who took her run nice and steady with a time of 5.05.33 to finish in total at 13.14.35 for her first Ironman.
It was a fantastic achievement for all TriCW who took part and they all finished safe and well. The support and good wishes from everyone were a huge help and all those long hours of training paid off to make them all Ironmen. To give you some idea of the atmosphere check out
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hD8pYFBYPRk

There are some pics from the day in Athy, just hit the gallery link on the right hand side, Any more pictures for the site just let me know and i will get them up.
Clive.