Well how do I build up into this? This wasn't supposed to happen! After 2 successful years of getting the club over to TriAthlone in 2018 and 2019, followed by 2 years of Covid 19 limbo we were all set for another stab at TriAthlone this year. In this context I convinced my friend Carwyn that this would be a great idea to do for his first triathlon as he would be back from work for a long enough spell to bring some training into an event. Water confident enough to swim breastroke from cliff to cliff while coasteering, but unable to swim frontcrawl for any length of time, the swim was his main concern. "No problem!" I say, "TriAthlone is but a river swim. You shall float down with the flow of the river and just have a bike and something else after that and the craic will be mighty" [paraphrased]
Then a bit of a spanner was thrown into the works. TriAthlone cancelled. Oops. I managed to find another event, the Harbourman, in Ireland the same weekend (July 3rd, as this was what my training program was leading me up to) but it was Olympic distance only and a sea swim - a bit of a jump, and thought it might be a bit much. SO I found another tri on the race calendar Skerries Sprint Distance triathlon, sheltered bay swim, a closed road flat 20km bike course along the Irish coast, and a flat 5km run along a beachside promenade. Lovely... but not a river swim, so myself and Carwyn had some work to do!
So... Carwyn got home on Monday 9th of May. On Tuesday 10th of May I met him at the pool and gave him some breathing tips so he could essentially swim more than length. Thursday 12th of May (1 calendar month before raceday), he did the 800m club TT! Talk about a baptism of fire... extinguished by throwing him in at the deep-end! And he did a valiant effort too - most importantly finishing it with a continuous swim but also a decent time of 24 minutes (considering he couldn't swim 3 consecutive lengths two days previously)!
Meanwhile other developments were happening. My ever exuberant German lodger Chiara got very excited about timekeeping the 800m TT as she had never seen a swim race before (this confused me). Then, after helping with timekeeping she was very excited about doing the 800m TT the following Monday (this confused me also) - so she joined the Tri club and she swam an impressive 17 minute TT despite having not swam since January. The less than a week later after being a member of my little travelling supporters crew at the Llanelli Sprint triathlon, Chiara , (who didn't have a bike, trisuit or sea swimming wetsuit) had signed up for Skerries too!
From here it was a tale of two triathletes - Carwyn slowly (but not really that slowly at all) accumulating all the tri gear necessary (and not necessarily necessary) for his first triathlon and taking on the prospect of every discipline and transition with the thought process you'd expect of an engineer, and Chiara accumulating everyone's kit from everywhere and preparing for her random decision by randomly doing whatever she randomly could at whatever random opportunity as only a Chiara randomly can.
After a tricky first sea swim session (I won't go into it, but if anyone finds a pair of DHB Fury goggles down on Freshwater East Beach, please get in touch with Carwyn), every swim represented a new & satisfying breakthrough and this triathlon was looking more & more not a completely crazy decision for Carwyn to make and with each day that passed Chiara showed that literally anything could happen, triathlon related or otherwise with her in the lead up to this event. So the last 4 weeks had been a series of progressive sessions, swims with Carwyn and bikes with Chiara (whenever she appeared from wherever she was), culminating in a joking triathlon in Angle (TriAngle?!) the week before the event.
We were ready. Or something. Something was definitely going to happen. Somewhere.
Oh yes. I was doing this too. Me background.
I also had a bit of history with this event. It wasn't remotely intentional, but this year actually marked 10 years since my first triathlon. And where was it? Skerries. I had randomly signed up for it on short notice (sound familiar?) in the lead-up to what was supposed to be my first ever triathlon in Athlone in 2012, it was the event were I really felt I made a breakthrough in running the following year in 2013, and I had also did well on it in 2016, the first year of its new flat closed road course - so I had fond memories of this triathlon. I had shared my race report of this first ever go with Carwyn as it seemed quite relevant, but it was nice to read back on it after all these years and see how green I was back then, and how little I have learned since.
I had also been training pretty consistently the past 3 years, and after a few good performances in the club TTs in the lead-up I was feeling a bit plucky for this race. I was previously gunning for maybe a podium place, something that didn't seem too unrealistic measuring my best splits against previous years results, but this expectation had to be managed somewhat when I found out it was to be part of the National Series, so there would be actual Speedy McSpeedyface triathletes there. But I was still really looking forward to going to an event , trusting in my fitness and just going to give it a good go!
The weekend buildup
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| Packed & Ready to Go! |
So the weekend had arrived and we had somehow arranged the chaos of 3 triathletes and a travelling supporter into one car for the ferry on Friday. Carwyn had in the last week bought a frame and built up a TT bike. Chiara was going to be using my hybrid (from which Carwyn had removed pannier rack & mudguards and had replaced wheels with road wheels and road tires) and Flo's recently acquired sea swimming wetsuit. She would also be wearing one of my old tri-suits, continuing the time honored tradition of there being more than one labelled B Keane on the course of a Pembs Tri travelling triathlon - who would the real one be? The one with the great figure, or the one with the German accent?
After the ferry, the first stop off was my parents house overnight in Kilkenny, where last minute swim tips were given out at the endless pool as well as a lot of unnecessary swim speed ramp tests before heading to my Aunts house in Skerries on the Saturday. Some enthusiastic reccying of the bike course (14km), followed by a leg loosener run (4.5km), followed by a need to just get in the sea (650m) meant we all effectively did a sprint distance triathlon the day before the event. Not exactly best practice, but for various reasons helped us all feel a bit more confident about the event to come.
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| A gentle beach run on the eve of the race |
The next day was an earlyish start, getting up at 6am to get to transition by 7(ish), a decision well justified by the massive crowds that accumulated just after we had arrived, and the pretty relaxed transition set-up.
The race briefing was at 830 and then all that was left was the long walk up the beach to start of the A to B swim course, with some little acclimatisation dips along the way. I gave best wishes to Carwyn and Chiara and made my way to the front of the swim queue. Here we go!!
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| Eyes on the prize .... Or that thing over there |
Well, not quite yet
There was a bit of a delay with the start. No biggy, only about 10 minutes, but it played with my anxiety a bit, for stupid reasons. My watch was set to multisport, but it tends to time out after a few minutes if an activity has not been started, and then you have to set it up and get satellites etc etc. not remotely important but a right distraction, as I kept routinely changing pages on watch to keep it awake, like the slave to technology that I am.
It was to be a rolling start, and because it was a national race series I placed myself modestly in the crowd, maybe 5 or 6 rows of people back (though maybe in the context of only 2 people ultimately starting each go, I was actually about 30-40 people back, so possibly a bit too modest).
Finally we were a go! I can't remember a gun going off but it didn't really matter, as we waited our turn to stand on the timing mat, then run into the sea. And finally, with a run, a skip, a dolphin and a swim I was away.
The last couple of weeks I have been experimenting with the timing of my stroke with swimming, something that has me swimming a much slower more powerful cadence. This had me avoid my usual bat out of hell start and I was actually quite relaxed. The swim technique seemed to be working though, as despite placing myself in the top 10% of the queue, I was comfortably passing people.
The swim course was a L shaped A to B course which started on the beach out about 200m to turn left at a buoy, then follow 3 more buoys in a straight line to the swim exit - a concrete stepped and ramped bathing spot perched on the craggy rocks below T2. About half way along the course, I had settled into things and found a decent pace partner to swim alongside and occasionally elbow in the head. It was hard to trust in my speed with the slower cadence and relaxed nature of the swim, but when I sighted, I could see the swim leaders about 50 to 100m ahead, so I was pretty happy with my lot. Might have been a bit faster but always a danger to wearing myself out.
Out at swim exit, and did my usual routine of turning down volunteers help to lift me out at steps before realising their help was actually helpful. Was definitely at the front of the pack and everyone meant business so had to keep the tempo up as i ran the tight concrete ramp switch back. At least I knew there was a long grass run to Transition , so didn't bother with my wetsuit till I got up there.
Leaving the ramp onto the long grass chute, I got my first glimpse of our travelling supporters - Flo and my parents (who had travelled from Kilkenny that morning) and my brother, along with Flo's now famous motivational signs. A nice little boost! Transition was nicely set up and I got through it satisfyingly quickly, however, to my dismay I had to run down a stretch of poor broken surface tarmac to get to the mount-line which was too much for my delicate little feet. I felt like I was passed by about 80 people here (probably about 3) and finally got onto my bike. My transitions in Llanelli were pretty diabolical, so with that low bar to beat, this was a spectacular improvement, being decidedly average. I still had issues slipping my foot into my right shoe as an elastic had not snapped but was finally getting going about 500m into it.
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| Our travelling supporters waiting at T1 |
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Carwyn, T1, after an excellent swim
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The bike course on paper was quite nice. a little bit through town, then an out & back on super flat closed roads, a technical bit of tight twisty lanes coming back into town taking a right for a second lap. The first out and back was lovely with pretty much an empty road ahead, occasionally swapping places with others, finding my intensity and trying to suss out where I was in the scheme of things. Counting cyclists coming back from the turnaround I estimated maybe about 20th (but this would have also included the Aquabike participants who were doing their thing at the same time) and maybe 2 minutes behind the leader. Not bad at all! Though I did find the turnaround point incredibly tight for my Zoolander-esque inability to turn right, which took a bit of my momentum away. The turnaround was still a boost though, as you could start to see all the people you were ahead off (as long as you avoided the thought that they were all gunning you down).
I enjoyed the technical bit too on the first go too, despite it being slightly different from what we had reccied the day before, then onto the 2nd lap. My oh my, the 2nd lap was different. The bulk of the swim had emptied onto the course and it was super crowded. There was a combination of numbers but also flagrant drafting and possibly newcomer indecision that made for large clumps of triathletes to negotiate with on the first few bends out of town. I passed Chiara just on the last corner out of of town before the out and back. Yes one of the people here because of me made it! Now where was Carwyn?
As I said the course was crowded now. I tried to keep track of my pacers ahead, but it got quite difficult having to pass sometimes dozens of cyclists at a time. At least the road was closed, but honestly, it could have done with being a single out and back rather than two laps* - it now just seemed too small for the amount of people! I pressed on and tried to let my pacers ahead show the path through the crowds. The technical bit through the lanes at the end of lap 2 was incredibly crowded and slow - but I pressed on through and got to the return section to T2 where our supporters crew were now stationed on the lap turnaround.
*Obviously it should be acknowledged that this was probably the optimum amount of roads that the organisers managed to reasonably negotiate to get closed and everything was fantastically organised, so no real complaint here - it was what is was!
In the first couple of 100m I heard my name being called out by the announcer -"Brian Keane, already out on the run course" which was a lovely novelty and a nice boost, then as I came off the peninsula onto the long beach stretch I had a realisation.....
Where is everyone?!
I could maybe see one person a couple of 100m ahead on the course, but no-one else, and for the first 1.5km or so, no sign of anyone running back the other way yet.... how far up the pack was I?! How many of the people ahead of me on the bike course were aquabikers? My head was starting to run away a little bit, but then people started coming back the other way, about the same time people were starting to pass me. I got to counting, (and then got confused with the people passing me and the fact we had to do a dog leg bit before running back up the beach properly) and estimated I was just about in the top 20... But people were passing me, and as I started to return up the course, I saw the chasing runners, many who looked far more comfortable and gazelle-like than me. I braced myself for a mass overtaking event, but also tried to use it to motivate myself to up the tempo. The running wasn't entirely comfortable and I wasn't really sure how I was faring pace wise - I didn't want to look at the watch either, I thought it might dishearten me, I just tried to hold the feet of the people in front of me.
The end of the run course has a little cruel bit for the last 1km or so where you have to run past the finish line and continue around the peninsula to the lifeboat station before making your way back. This "so close - so far" vibe was compounded by the fact you seemed to come into an exposed block headwind at exactly this point. However I did get a boost in that I met Carwyn coming out to T2 at just this point, the first time I had seen him on the course. Yay! He'd done the swim! And was looking motivated for the run (he nearly broke my wrist with his enthusiastic fist bump - this may have been a theme with him for the day).
So I battled it out to the boathouse, and was happy to say I hadn't been passed by as much people as I would have thought. With this and a returning tailwind for the last 0.5km, positivity was threatening to make a return. Onto the final chute to the finish line - the grass underfoot was lovely despite it being a bit uphill and happy to say I finished strong, and got my fantastic windmill finishers medal.
Then something weird (for me) happened - as we finished, we were all rounded up into a fairly small pen from which there was no escape. It seemed like we were part of a little exhibition for passing walkers to come and gaze upon these salty lycra creatures that had been captured at the finish line, lured by participatory silverware and bananas.... It turns out it was a holding pen for the top people to wait until the winner was established. Ego boost: check! I knew for sure I wasn't in the running, but it was a nice confirmation I was up there and not something I've experience before.
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| Wrecked, & On display in the finishers pen |
23rd overall out of 466, 2nd in Category. 8 minutes behind the ultimate winner, 5 minutes of which he got on me on the run (a ridiculous 16:40 run split!!) and a minute in transitions, so really I can't say I was anything other than delighted with that.
After I was released from the pen, I made my way down to the end of the chute to catch the other guys as they finished up. Carwyn came in and finished strong with a lovely sprint at the end, Chiara came in not long after both finishing on very commendable first tri times. Carwyn managed to get a sub 20 minute swim in - amazing from someone who's first frontcrawl swim over 100m was only 4 weeks previous - even though he found the time to apparently punch Chiara in the face on the swim. He'd also commendably finished 4th beyond all our expectations in the 25-29 Female category for some reason, but hey you can only beat what is put in front of you, as he (she?) demonstrated with Chiara earlier in the race. Chiara had also done fantastic, dealing with a bit of adversity on the day - some dickhead punched her in the face on the swim for a start, her running bib that she was wearing to display race numbers got caught on her earring in a lengthy T1 and she was riding a hybrid! - finishing 2nd in Female 20-24 category. Great work by all!
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| Carwyn, finishing strong |
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| Chiara, getting one last bit of power before the finish |
We lingered on the course after with the supporters banners. I was told the 'Tap for Power' banner, and the amount of people that said 'I needed that that' as they passed made us stay on longer nearly right to the end - ultimately we got cold and hungry & had to go but it had been a great morning.
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| Getting full value out of the supporters banners |
Then, the usual post mortem of the day over a couple of drinks - a few things to be delighted with, a few things to improve on, but all in all a great day. Would highly recommend it for a travelling sprint distance triathlon - great for beginners and long term enthusiasts alike. A superbly well organised event and a great location for a weekend away.
Well done again to Carwyn and Chiara on your first triathlons!!
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