Ironman Galway 70.3 Sept 2011
It started with a conversation in work last September when an Irish group won a franchise to run an Ironman 70.3 in Galway. A few of us agreed that it would be a good idea to sign up for the first official Ironman event to be held in Ireland.
So there I was on Saturday morning packing up the car to head off to Galway while all my friends and family were getting ready for a big day at the Electric Picnic. I was meeting up with Mike, JP and Russell from work and Russell's girlfriend Aoife who had all signed up way back when we made the pact in September 2010. I also knew that a good Trilogy contingent including Wesley Reilly, Liam Byrne, Brian Bonham, Alan Hanly and Dave Murphy had signed up and knew I'd probably see them at some stage over the weekend.
I drove up to Galway and battled the Saturday afternoon traffic on the ring road to get to Leisureland for registration where we were issued with our armbands, multiple stickers and transition bags. Then back to the car to get the bike ready, sticker up and start to pack everything into the T1 and T2 bags. I was a bit worried that I only had a helmet and sunnies in one bag and runners and socks in another. Ran through it again in my head and it all seemed right.
My bike spot was at start of the transition strip so I racked the bike and started to walk down to the very end of transition to drop off my red bag at the T2 tent and then headed the whole way back through transition and dropped the blue bag back at the T1 tent which looked to be about 300 meters from the swim exit. I reckon that transition stretched for at least 1km in total and the whole way through I noticed everyone had put the fancy plastic Ironman branded plastic bags on their bikes, completely destroying any bike porn to distract the eye.
I left transition and took a quick look around the Expo, where I bumped into Wesley who was all set and looking forward to the race. Checked into the B&B (which was just the far side of transition) and then race briefing, pizza, cinema and bed. The biggest worry for now was the westerly gale blowing and the forecast for it to get stronger and to turn more Southerly which would mean we would have a head wind on the second half of the bike.
The alarm went at 5am and was followed by a raid on the B&B kitchen for Weetabix, bananas, and coffee. We stepped outside to what felt like gale force winds from the south. We headed down to transition to set up the bikes and fill up the nose bag for the day. All the locals were talking about the wind swinging around to the west during the day and there was nonsense talk of the possibility of a tail wind both out and back on the bike. Course it never works out like that. Anyway, with my bike all set up, shoes clipped on and nutrition bag full to the gills I headed back to the B&B to suit up and head down to the start.
I was starting to get excited now and a bit nervous as well. Bumped into Wesley again and we both whinged about the wind before wishing each other luck. Walking up to the beach I started to hear murmurs of shortened swim. This was confirmed a few minutes later by the announcer and was coupled with a 15 min delay to the start as they hastily re-arranged the buoys to form a u shaped out and back 750m route. I was a bit disappointed as the weather forecast had been spot on and had said all week that the weather was going to be brutal so not sure why they didn't have a better plan B in place. Anyway, after what seemed like an eternity waiting in the wind on the cold sand, we finally cheered off the pros and my wave was let down to the waters edge.
The hooter sounded and off we went. Water was nice and warm but once I got out about 100 meters I realised that the swell was really big and understood why they had shortened the swim. I could really feel the up and down of the swell and I was glad I didn't have a massive breakfast or I would have been feeding the fish. It took a long time getting to the first big buoy fighting against a strong current. There were loads of people on water safety - every breath and sighting there seemed to be someone on a board or kayak which was re-assuring in the conditions. Straight back into the beach after the second buoy and onto the sand - seemed like a long 750m and a quick look at the watch - 22 mins.
There was a huge crowd cheering us on as we ran up off the beach and down the promenade into transition with the commentators calling out our names as we crossed the matt. Grabbed my first bag, helmet and sunnies on and stuffed the swim gear in and off to grab the bike and then down the full length of transition to the mount line.
The cycle started off directly west towards Barna and then up to Oughterard with the wind behind me so felt OK apart from the cold. My shoulders and fingers were freezing and my feet were numb. The amount of people out supporting us was amazing - old ladies out in their dressing gowns, a huge mob in Moycullen village with vuvuzelas and people dotted all along the route with cow bells and big cheers as I went by. The support was all the more impressive given it was 8 ish on a Sunday morning in the cold and wind and rain. The route was undulating with a lot of water on the road so we needed to be careful. I made it out to the turnaround in about 1 hr 20 mins - well under half of my target of 3 hour but I was under no allusion as to what I was in for on the second half of the cycle. This was confirmed at the turnaround where the full force of the southerly met me in the face. So I put my head down and pushed hard back to Oughterard convincing myself that the route was more sheltered after the that and the wind might let up.
Mike passed me by at 55km mark and shouted some words of encouragement as he quickly disappeared from view up ahead. I went through the feed station which was very well organised with lots of people spread along the road handing out bottles and gels. I replaced two bottles and put the head down again with 30km to go. The wind seemed to be even stronger now and my average speed was dropping all the time. It seemed like there were a lot of uphill sections now and it was a real struggle to keep the speed up. This was the hardest section and a real battle to keep focused, keep pedaling. At least the feeling that I was going to get pneumonia had passed.
I hit the 80km mark and the average speed was down to 30.5 kph so knew I needed to push on to beat 3 hours. Started to see the signs for Galway and I was glad to pass through the university and onto Salthill road towards transition with plenty of noise and cheering and of course the cow bells! Nice quick dismount and straight in to rack my bike and the then the long run past all the other bikes to get to the T2 tent. Helmet and sunnies off, socks and runners on and I was out on the run.
My legs felt good on the first couple of Ks and the crowd were phenomenal with everyone cheering me on and loads of people calling out my name. I looked around the first few times to see if I knew them but then realised that my name was printed on my race number. The wind was in my face running into Galway on the first lap but seemed to have swung around and was against me running back out to Salthill. The flags on the promenade proved this and the wind was now directly from the west. Some lucky buggers in the later waves would have had a very pleasant tail wind for most of the bike course.
I kept focused on my running form and tried to keep a sub 5 min km pace which was really difficult into the wind. I got stuck into the flat coke at the aid stations and that and the crowd gave me a real lift and I soon collected my first wrist band and the first lap was over. I meet Brian Bonham on the second lap and we had a few choice words to each other about the wind. I hit halfway at around 51 mins and thought I might beat 1.45. The last 3 km of the second lap were into the wind and seemed much tougher this time and I really had to push and push to keep the Km lap time down. I kept telling myself that next time I pass this spot I'll be on the home straight. Arm band number two collected and a gel at the aid station and off I went on the final lap cheered on by the super Galway crowd.
I saw Liam Byrne in the distance and he looked really comfortable. The run into Galway was OK but the legs were tired and the speed was dropping. Through the last aid station and I had another Coke and then on the home straight. The next two Ks were really hard but I concentrated on using my arms as much as I could - I felt bad about asking the legs to do much more. 19k mark and a little over 2ks to go and this is where the legs started to tell the brain enough's enough. Speed dropped down to over 6 min km and a lot of the last two Ks was the sea side of transition so I didn't have many supporters to push me along. I was in real pain now but there was less that 1K to go.
At the end of the transition fence I was greeted with a massive cheering crowd on Salthill road and soon I was running up the chute with hundreds on either side and the commentator announcing my name and all the crowd shouting it out as well. It really was an overwhelming experience and gave me a real buzz.
After I crossed the finish line and waved the medics away, the hyper ventilating passed and I checked my watch - 5.18 which I was chuffed with. I met Mike in the recovery area and he had done 4.30 and later got his Las Vegas spot so fair dues to him. I didn't see any of the rest of the Trilogy crew but checked the results and saw that Wesley, Dave, Brian, Alan and Liam all had good races so well done all for putting in solid performances in those conditions. The organisers did a great job for such a big event in the first year and had loads of volunteers on the course and I hope the event goes from strength to strength for the next four years as it's a great showcase for Ireland. The biggest plaudit goes to all the supporters and the people of Galway who made the race very special.
Roll on next year cause I'm definitely going to ...... the Electric Picnic!
2011 Ironman 70.3 Galway Results (Trilogy Members)
So there I was on Saturday morning packing up the car to head off to Galway while all my friends and family were getting ready for a big day at the Electric Picnic. I was meeting up with Mike, JP and Russell from work and Russell's girlfriend Aoife who had all signed up way back when we made the pact in September 2010. I also knew that a good Trilogy contingent including Wesley Reilly, Liam Byrne, Brian Bonham, Alan Hanly and Dave Murphy had signed up and knew I'd probably see them at some stage over the weekend.
I drove up to Galway and battled the Saturday afternoon traffic on the ring road to get to Leisureland for registration where we were issued with our armbands, multiple stickers and transition bags. Then back to the car to get the bike ready, sticker up and start to pack everything into the T1 and T2 bags. I was a bit worried that I only had a helmet and sunnies in one bag and runners and socks in another. Ran through it again in my head and it all seemed right.
My bike spot was at start of the transition strip so I racked the bike and started to walk down to the very end of transition to drop off my red bag at the T2 tent and then headed the whole way back through transition and dropped the blue bag back at the T1 tent which looked to be about 300 meters from the swim exit. I reckon that transition stretched for at least 1km in total and the whole way through I noticed everyone had put the fancy plastic Ironman branded plastic bags on their bikes, completely destroying any bike porn to distract the eye.
I left transition and took a quick look around the Expo, where I bumped into Wesley who was all set and looking forward to the race. Checked into the B&B (which was just the far side of transition) and then race briefing, pizza, cinema and bed. The biggest worry for now was the westerly gale blowing and the forecast for it to get stronger and to turn more Southerly which would mean we would have a head wind on the second half of the bike.
The alarm went at 5am and was followed by a raid on the B&B kitchen for Weetabix, bananas, and coffee. We stepped outside to what felt like gale force winds from the south. We headed down to transition to set up the bikes and fill up the nose bag for the day. All the locals were talking about the wind swinging around to the west during the day and there was nonsense talk of the possibility of a tail wind both out and back on the bike. Course it never works out like that. Anyway, with my bike all set up, shoes clipped on and nutrition bag full to the gills I headed back to the B&B to suit up and head down to the start.
I was starting to get excited now and a bit nervous as well. Bumped into Wesley again and we both whinged about the wind before wishing each other luck. Walking up to the beach I started to hear murmurs of shortened swim. This was confirmed a few minutes later by the announcer and was coupled with a 15 min delay to the start as they hastily re-arranged the buoys to form a u shaped out and back 750m route. I was a bit disappointed as the weather forecast had been spot on and had said all week that the weather was going to be brutal so not sure why they didn't have a better plan B in place. Anyway, after what seemed like an eternity waiting in the wind on the cold sand, we finally cheered off the pros and my wave was let down to the waters edge.
The hooter sounded and off we went. Water was nice and warm but once I got out about 100 meters I realised that the swell was really big and understood why they had shortened the swim. I could really feel the up and down of the swell and I was glad I didn't have a massive breakfast or I would have been feeding the fish. It took a long time getting to the first big buoy fighting against a strong current. There were loads of people on water safety - every breath and sighting there seemed to be someone on a board or kayak which was re-assuring in the conditions. Straight back into the beach after the second buoy and onto the sand - seemed like a long 750m and a quick look at the watch - 22 mins.
There was a huge crowd cheering us on as we ran up off the beach and down the promenade into transition with the commentators calling out our names as we crossed the matt. Grabbed my first bag, helmet and sunnies on and stuffed the swim gear in and off to grab the bike and then down the full length of transition to the mount line.
The cycle started off directly west towards Barna and then up to Oughterard with the wind behind me so felt OK apart from the cold. My shoulders and fingers were freezing and my feet were numb. The amount of people out supporting us was amazing - old ladies out in their dressing gowns, a huge mob in Moycullen village with vuvuzelas and people dotted all along the route with cow bells and big cheers as I went by. The support was all the more impressive given it was 8 ish on a Sunday morning in the cold and wind and rain. The route was undulating with a lot of water on the road so we needed to be careful. I made it out to the turnaround in about 1 hr 20 mins - well under half of my target of 3 hour but I was under no allusion as to what I was in for on the second half of the cycle. This was confirmed at the turnaround where the full force of the southerly met me in the face. So I put my head down and pushed hard back to Oughterard convincing myself that the route was more sheltered after the that and the wind might let up.
Mike passed me by at 55km mark and shouted some words of encouragement as he quickly disappeared from view up ahead. I went through the feed station which was very well organised with lots of people spread along the road handing out bottles and gels. I replaced two bottles and put the head down again with 30km to go. The wind seemed to be even stronger now and my average speed was dropping all the time. It seemed like there were a lot of uphill sections now and it was a real struggle to keep the speed up. This was the hardest section and a real battle to keep focused, keep pedaling. At least the feeling that I was going to get pneumonia had passed.
I hit the 80km mark and the average speed was down to 30.5 kph so knew I needed to push on to beat 3 hours. Started to see the signs for Galway and I was glad to pass through the university and onto Salthill road towards transition with plenty of noise and cheering and of course the cow bells! Nice quick dismount and straight in to rack my bike and the then the long run past all the other bikes to get to the T2 tent. Helmet and sunnies off, socks and runners on and I was out on the run.
My legs felt good on the first couple of Ks and the crowd were phenomenal with everyone cheering me on and loads of people calling out my name. I looked around the first few times to see if I knew them but then realised that my name was printed on my race number. The wind was in my face running into Galway on the first lap but seemed to have swung around and was against me running back out to Salthill. The flags on the promenade proved this and the wind was now directly from the west. Some lucky buggers in the later waves would have had a very pleasant tail wind for most of the bike course.
I kept focused on my running form and tried to keep a sub 5 min km pace which was really difficult into the wind. I got stuck into the flat coke at the aid stations and that and the crowd gave me a real lift and I soon collected my first wrist band and the first lap was over. I meet Brian Bonham on the second lap and we had a few choice words to each other about the wind. I hit halfway at around 51 mins and thought I might beat 1.45. The last 3 km of the second lap were into the wind and seemed much tougher this time and I really had to push and push to keep the Km lap time down. I kept telling myself that next time I pass this spot I'll be on the home straight. Arm band number two collected and a gel at the aid station and off I went on the final lap cheered on by the super Galway crowd.
I saw Liam Byrne in the distance and he looked really comfortable. The run into Galway was OK but the legs were tired and the speed was dropping. Through the last aid station and I had another Coke and then on the home straight. The next two Ks were really hard but I concentrated on using my arms as much as I could - I felt bad about asking the legs to do much more. 19k mark and a little over 2ks to go and this is where the legs started to tell the brain enough's enough. Speed dropped down to over 6 min km and a lot of the last two Ks was the sea side of transition so I didn't have many supporters to push me along. I was in real pain now but there was less that 1K to go.
At the end of the transition fence I was greeted with a massive cheering crowd on Salthill road and soon I was running up the chute with hundreds on either side and the commentator announcing my name and all the crowd shouting it out as well. It really was an overwhelming experience and gave me a real buzz.
After I crossed the finish line and waved the medics away, the hyper ventilating passed and I checked my watch - 5.18 which I was chuffed with. I met Mike in the recovery area and he had done 4.30 and later got his Las Vegas spot so fair dues to him. I didn't see any of the rest of the Trilogy crew but checked the results and saw that Wesley, Dave, Brian, Alan and Liam all had good races so well done all for putting in solid performances in those conditions. The organisers did a great job for such a big event in the first year and had loads of volunteers on the course and I hope the event goes from strength to strength for the next four years as it's a great showcase for Ireland. The biggest plaudit goes to all the supporters and the people of Galway who made the race very special.
Roll on next year cause I'm definitely going to ...... the Electric Picnic!
2011 Ironman 70.3 Galway Results (Trilogy Members)
| Member | Pos | AG Pos | 750m Swim | T1 | 90k Bike | T2 | 21k Run | Overall |
| Seamus Fingleton | 356 | 97 | 00:22:42 | 00:05:19 | 02:57:18 | 00:04:20 | 01:48:13 | 05:17:50 |
Comments
Post a Comment