Maja writes her first race report from the hills of Connemara....
One of these days sun will be shining while I am racing!!! That is what I have been repeating to myself just before my trip to Connemara for the Carna race. After 3 races this year on horrible weather I thought I deserved some sun. We South-European people like to complain about the weather here J.
It looked like not too many Piranha’s were heading to Carna so I have to admit I was feeling a bit worried and lonely. Luckily Gill volunteered to travel with me and give me a moral support during the race, for which I will be always grateful. Triathlons are not events you can do on your own (or at least I cannot).
We arrived to Carna late Friday night, I was glad we did not get lost, there was no road signs along the way, and those few existing ones were only in Gaelic, not much help to me.
We woke up early Saturday morning and looked through the window of our B & B. Sun was shining, still a bit shy but it looked like a promising start. Gill and I decided to check the bike course before the actual race so off we went around the hills of Connemara. Of course we missed the right turn along the race course. We continued on a bigger road and missed a small turn leading to a narrow and hilly road with grass growing in the middle of it. I turned to Gill who was driving and said: “This surely can not be it!! It is too small!!” Gill agreed with me and we continued the journey till we reached the main road to finally understand how terribly wrong we were. The small and hilly road WAS part of the actual bike course. Time did not allow us to explore the whole bike course so I left that little narrow road to be a nice surprise for me during the race.
In a mean time weather was getting more and more sunny. I did the registration, Carna is a small village, town council/school was hard to miss.
Transition area was in the harbor, at the bottom of a VERY steep hill. I did not see any elevators to bring us up from the transition so presumed we will have to use our own power to climb it. The transition area looked nice and small, only 100 and something bikes there, so it was easy to set everything ready. Gill helped me with my transition area organization, knowing that my transition times were the longest in the history of the triathlon. All set and one more look at the crystal clear sea and sunny sky. I knew, at least, I will enjoy the swim part.
The race started on time. Sea was really clean, almost transparent. The swim part was smooth, easy and enjoyable. Ok, I do admit I got a bit lost on a second buoy but managed to push harder into the right direction very soon. Last few hundered meters all I was thinking was :”How on earth will we pull ourselves from the transition area on that overly steep hill!!!???
Well, at the end, that steep hill was not that bad on the bike. I was wise enough to put my bike in a very low gear so I managed to get out from it easily. So, for all of you who are reading this and planning on doing Carna: ”Put your bike in the lowest gear, allow your body for a quick rest in the transition area and you will be grand!” We were told before the beginning of the race that in the last year race people were falling off their bike because they tried to battle with the hill in a higher gears. Not wise!
Bike course started nicely, on a good road but soon turned in more of a challenge with narrow roads and hills. Sun was shinning all the way during the bike course and the view was magnificent. On top of one hill one could see all the area and the sea, and it reminded me of my home country. Beautiful!!
It is not very heavily populated area around Carna but there were quite a few locals cheering on the way. I did not know that before I started racing but cheering ACTUALLY helps! Last few kilometers of the race we were back on the local main road and the finishing part of the bile section was easy. 
The last part was the most challenging. The run started from the hilly transition area and continued for 2.5 km into a very steep road. The torture continued all the way through. As I just battled through my first 3 km I saw Elena coming back. Nice to see a familiar face. She did not look too tired. Lucky her. At that stage of the race I could not even enjoy the view anymore, all I was thinking was: “I am not doing this madness ever again!!”. Main goal at this stage was to finish the race. Last 2 km were down hill and seeing the RTE camera crew at the finish line helped. Stomach in, chest out, head up, smile and speed up!!!!! Finish line! And all the tiredness gone! Gill was there waiting for me. It is worth a million having a friend waiting for you at the finish line.
Guess what?!!??! Yeah, I did say I am not going to do this madness ever again but everyone has right to change his/her mind. Steep hills of Carna here I am next year!
Congratulations to Elena for yet another great win, to Sharon and to all Piranhas who did the 2007 Carna.
Maja
PiranhaTri
http://www.piranhatri.com/article.php/20070807122633341