Kenmare 05

Monday, September 26 2005 @ 10:01 PM IST

Mary writes in with the following race report:

Kenmare - last race of the season and my target for 2005. Kenmare was going to be the toughie and while not easy by any stretch of the imagination, I think for me it was probably my most enjoyable race!

I had myself worked into a bit of a state beforehand, mainly due to the downhills on the bike. In the end, it all just kind of came together on the day and as I ran past the finish line, I actually had (mini!) tears of joy in my eyes - I was a half ironwoman!

Race briefing the night before - lets just say if a) you didn't know the course and b) were not from from Cork, you'd have difficulty understanding John. I noticed the top guys weren't at it, all in bed no doubt at that stage...

Early start on race morning - of course I was up way too early with the nerves, oh the nerves. I remember two things re breakfast that morning a) huge pot of porridge and mini bowls (why always tiny bowls in B&Bs and self catering houses?) and b) Ray doing strange moves on the kitchen floor at 5.30am. Ray O'Neill is obsessed with the phrase 'Shake it like a hot potato'. And Ray - you weren't even staying in our house, what were you doing in our kitchen, eating our porridge? (Bit of 'Goldilocks and the Three Bears' going on here!)

Tummies filled with porridge, we cycled to the start, good warm up. Interesting to note that while there was a very long queue for the gents, we didn't have to queue for the ladies! Now girls - what more of an incentive do your need to do Kenmare next year?! Having said that, one very bold boy nipped out of one of the ladies loos - none other than Brian Crinion. Now us females are allowed to use male loos if female ones are busy but not vice a versa! Ok - enough about that - back to the race.

Very little hanging around down by the water, we headed down and it just kind of started.

Nice swim, I found it easy enough to navigate for most of it. I actually stayed well away from the main bunch & just swam my own race. Into T1, far less frenetic than normal and off I went for my cycle. I was THRILLED at this stage that the rain was staying off. If it stayed dry, I'd be a happy camper. Rain meant a) slippy roads and b) possibility of going cold. At about the half way stage in the cycle, I began to feel a little tired but continued to eat and was grand again. You need to be eating regularly on the bike - really important.

Arrived back to T2 and had managed not to a) fall off bike on downhills and b) get puncture so to be honest, I'd have run a marathon in wellies if I had to, I was so grateful. I had enough to feed a growing family in the back of my top and used none of it!

The run - well lads all I will say is that it is HILLY! And the downhills are not nice either. We all managed to get through it though! It was along a very narrow boreen and a girl who lived up this boreen chose this same day to get married. So all her rellies and herself in her big, wedding car had to get through all us runners.

Then on the homestraight and as always the last 2ks were a killer but the end was near. I would finish it and did in 5hr. 49 mins. A massage and change of clothes later and sure I was a new woman! Many managed to sleep that afternoon but that was impossible for me, I was on a complete and utter high.

A few things on the race and preparing. I managed to get in a few long bricks over the summer. I think this helped enormously both physically and psychologically. I knew that I could cycle (slowly mind you) for over 3hrs. and still get my legs to move afterwards.

Took smiley Steve's advice and took it handy on the bike which meant I was able to do a good run. I looked on the cycle as a means of checking out the scenery and was just not in a rush. This stood to me on the run.

I took Mark Riseley's advice and made sure I consumed three bottles on the bike (also meant to my utter shame I had to go for a pee but this couldn't be helped). I also ate regularly and as I was about to finish the bike section, ate a little more for fear that I wouldn't manage to eat on the run. This worked a treat as I couldn't manage anything on the run other than water and so had something left in the tank to get me through it.

Of course, as us Piranhas know, no triathlon finishes after the triathlon, we're only warming up then! Nice dinner in a lovely Italian restaurant later that evening (called Prego should anyone be visiting Kenmare - very good looking waiter and a grumpy waitress), followed by drinks in a little pub. Of course, in typical Tadhg fashion, he was best buds with the owner in 2 seconds flat and he gave me 20 little glasses to share out the bottle of champagne we had. (Piranha girls had won the team prize in Kinsale and it had been on ice for us till Kenmare!) Can you imagine going into a pub in Dublin and saying 'Brought my own drink thanks, but can I have glasses to drink it? And sure we'll just take up all your seats too so no one else can sit down'.

Dirty burger consummed by many and off to the local nite club. I had faded earlier so don't have any of the sordid details of what went on there.

And that was it more or less. Most headed back to Dublin on the Sunday with the sun splitting the stones, last Irish tri of the season over and time to think of what you'd start doing now that you had a life again! And so I wondered - the next challenge? And then Mark (baldy, broken collar bone Mark) informed us that there is a race where you do an ironman a day for 10 days (yes - so that is 10 ironmans one after the other) and the most insane part is that the cycle and the run is the same one mile lap, you go around, around, around, around and around. And there I was, thinking I was the bees knees just having completed my first half ironman!

Related Links
Club photos from Kenmare
Triathlon Ireland Photos
Triathlon Ireland Race Report
Race Results

Club Results

Place	Name	Swim (rank)	Bike (rank)	Run (rank)	Overall (+penalty)
23	Eimhin McManus	00:29:05 (17)	02:51:46 (5)	01:49:27 (77)	05:12:07
54	Ray O'Neill	00:30:46 (37)	03:09:40 (53)	01:45:17 (60)	05:29:23
69	Jim Gilmartin & Bren Smith	00:38:21 (-)	02:54:39 (-)	01:57:09 (-)	05:38:31 (+6)
89	Mark Healy	00:26:22 (6)	03:27:15 (123)	01:47:55 (71)	05:46:05
90	Anna, Loraine & Emily	00:26:35 (-)	03:31:55 (-)	01:47:08 (-)	05:46:05
98	Mary Horgan	00:30:31 (34)	03:43:52 (168)	01:32:22 (14)	05:49:09
103	Tadhg Sullivan	00:35:46 (108)	03:10:43 (58)	02:02:44 (128)	05:52:10
106	Niall Smart	00:32:46 (64)	03:18:10 (96)	01:57:17 (115)	05:54:21 (+2)
116	Peter Coughlan	00:34:50 (91)	03:27:56 (126)	01:48:30 (74)	05:56:53
131	David Leonard	00:37:19 (135)	03:24:00 (111)	01:58:07 (117)	06:06:09
157	Fergal Coen	00:39:22 (159)	03:37:23 (148)	02:06:09 (140)	06:26:38
202	Grainne Ring	00:39:54 (167)	03:57:43 (190)	02:14:08 (164)	06:57:26
206	Chris Rafferty	00:31:57 (53)	03:47:55 (174)	02:27:11 (185)	06:58:33 (+6)
213	Ronan Daly	00:36:45 (124)	03:56:03 (189)	02:33:19 (188)	07:09:52
	Steve Cleary	00:34:54 (92)	02:59:41 (24)

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