The May bank holiday was a busy one for Piranhas. We had the gang from Italy returning, some of the newbies having a training weekend in Wexford, a few competing down in UL at Joey Hannan and Peter, Rory, Ciaran and myself flying the flag at the Lisbon International Long Distance Triathlon [aka half ironman]. Overall a fantastic race and a great weekend. A great Irish gang turned out and the ITU races on Sunday were a great addition. Despite some short comings, it is up there on the list of best races I’ve done. See below for Pete’s report. The full set of photos will be added later...
Having gotten over the travel and had a practice swim out of the way on Friday, we decided to assemble the bikes and head out for a test spin on the bikes. Myself and Frank sat and waited for Rory who promptly arrived with a swiss bloke and his BMC “Time Machine”. On asking him his hopes for the race while cycling out the road, he calmly stated that he won the race last year and had hoped for big things the following day. His sponsored bike was the most expensive in the world; we were in illustrious company! This was a trend for the whole weekend where the standard of some of the racers was adding to our pre-race nerves.Rory had attempted to settle his at the race registration by purchasing a new orca shirt for the run, with the moto ‘Swift and Deadly’ on the back; this would be seen by many of his competitors the following day along with a clean pair of heels. 
And onto race day, it was a quick stroll from the hotel down to transition. We were all fuelled up and ready to go. It was at this point that the one blot on the organisational copybook occurred, nobody seemed to have the key to the toilet facilities (the lack of these facilities seems to be a consistent item for any half-ironman I’ve done to date!! You’d have thought the race would be difficult enough). In no time, we were called down to the start and were lined up along the starting pontoon... with the nerves and the banter of all the various languages forming an electric mix. So we were off with elbows and legs everywhere.The water was pleasant and no currents to speak of, a definite change from home. It seemed like no time when I had completed my two laps and was trying to scramble up the exit pontoon. Some major dizziness here and this hit me again when my proud tradition of having drama on the bike course was continued by taking a crash course into a barrier! All the same it had not cost me too much time, and I was on target. Rory had also had a transition drama with a contact lens issue that cost him 6 mins in T1 and earned him the ‘cup of tea in T1’ award. 
The bicycle course was the best road I have ever cycled on, practically a carpet and no more barriers to be seen for the moment as it was on a closed motorway. Just out the road, it became obvious that the stiff headwinds on the bike course would have a major issue on the times posted; nobody told us about this and the hard work ahead! Ciaran Lewis sped past and was looking comfortable., but I saw him again at the foot of the hill leading to the turnaround. He was crossing the motorway central reservation with his bike under his arm. I later found out a rear wheel problem caused during air travel was the cause, and that while turning back onto the homeward leg he had been subjected to a chant of ‘Oi, you f**** cheat...’ from a fellow competitor, talk about insult to injury. It then struck me that I hadn’t seen Frank either and that the bad luck was really striking the piranhas today. He had malfunction issues of his own, but they turned out to be minor and he continued to turn in a storming race. 
While being able to keep track of the leaders due to the lapped course who were going at unbelievable speed, I was able to continue steady progress and was feeling great about 2km from home and mentally preparing for the run. It was at this point that the hiss of a puncture put paid to my plans to achieve a sub-5hr race, but having fixed this and made good use of my CO2 canister I was back and underway and determined to post a good half-marathon. On the way back through transition the local crowd gave you a great lift... the run was flat and temperatures high but all the piranha looked strong on the run, all picking off other competitors on their way. Special mention on the run must go to Philip from Limerick Tri who managed to fit in some Portuguese lessons from a pair of boy scouts running alongside him! A lot of other athletes suffered on the run with a fair amount of walking to be seen but all of us finished strongly, what a race! Buoyed by the sense of achievement we then joined the ITU pros for a cooling dip in the water nearby.. they make their practice swims look so effortless. We later found out that Ciaran had eventually been able to collect his gear and return to the hotel to blame the manager of ‘Team Lewis’.... but he returned to lead us in a round of post-race sangria later on. Just a quick line at this point to wish him and Brendan the best of luck with their race in Ironman Lanzarote.. I’m sure they’ll burn it up! 
What a great race and weekend, it made up not being able to take the week off and go to italy . Especially as we were able enjoy the spectacle of ITU races on Sunday. These athletes are amazing and a great result for the local favourite, Fernandez who won the ladies race. The large Portuguese crowd were lapping it up! Hard luck here to Gavin Noble who couldn’t take part in the men’s race due to some lost race gear and luggage, and better wishes for the rest of his season.