Overcast, strong northwest winds, 12 ◦C. Dry.
The Derry Northwest Triathlon was completed by Dave Martin, Thomas Walsh, Andrew McGuinness and Marguerite Galvin. The triathlon was held at Templemore Sports Center, situated near the heart of Derry city.
It was a 3 hours 30 minutes drive to Derry city. Andrew and myself drove up on Friday afternoon to avail of some pre triathlon retail therapy and Derry cuisine. It was a bank holiday weekend in Derry so the city was in real party mode when we arrived Saturday evening.
Sunday arrived after lots of sirens and street craziness through most of the early hours of Sunday morning. We resisted the full English breakie for all the healthy stuff. Got to the sports center for 8.30am and joined the registration que. We registered, got our t-shirt, which is the exact same at the Jealous Wall one, only different wording on it. We had a race briefing just after 9am from the event organizer and safety officer.
First of 5 swim waves started at 9.15, all ran to schedule. They were very strict in the pool regarding allocated time to complete the 750m , the first wave were given max 25 min, after that it was 15 – 16 min. Dave was in wave 2 , Thomas was in wave 3, I was in wave 4 and Andrew was in wave 5. After exiting the pool we had to walk down the corridor, down a flight of stairs, run across the indoor sports hall and enter the gravel pitch. At that point of entering the gravel pitch we passed the first sensor which registered our swim time. The run across the pitch to the bike transition was a type of stimulation reflexology. Once you were sorted for the cycle we had to run with the bike out of the pitch side entrance. PSNI officers stopped the traffic for us at that point so we could across main road and mount the bike.
The cycle was 10km towards Letterkenny, turn about and cycle back in. The cycle had few long inclines on the way out and a few roundabouts. The road surface I though was smooth enough. It was a generally exposed main road with a hard shoulder most of the way. The traffic wasn’t stopped so a bit of caution had to be adhered to. The wind was not of much advantage cycling out or coming back in. It had some fine views all the same of the rolling hills and foliage of Doire.
We cycled back in a different entrance into the gravel pitch, dismounted at the dismount sign, and ran across the pitch to our allocated spot for final transition.
The run was out another exit of the pitch and brought us in the opposite direction of the cycle, across the front of the sport center entrance and towards the public green area.
It consisted of two loops of this green area. The surface was tarmac, footpath and crossing the odd road. Trying to avoid the odd kid on their tricycle was involved. The outward loop was a gradual uphill rolling incline however the wind was in our faces on the way back to the finish line. We had to cross through the finish line after the first loop, the sensor beeped and registered our lap time and number of laps completed. So after a second beep at this point our work was done.
After finishing we were donned with fruit, bars, locuozade sport and a silver mini plate engraved with Northwest Triathlon 2009. So nobody went home empty handed.
Athlone triathlon club came out with superb race times considering the height of competition there. Andrew arrived home in 01.10.58, achieving a personal best of sub 20 minutes for his 5 km run, registering 19.43. Dave crossed the finish line @ 01.17.49, Thomas @ 01.17.58 and Marguerite @ 01.30.54.
There was fine grub and presentation afterwards in the conference area. Liam Ball’s daughter presented the awards. Being a newbie triathlete, I got a view of who’s who in the Irish triathlon world. There seemed to an air of familiarity with the winners – Brian Campbell being the first male home @ 01.00.18 and Sinead Jennings being the first female @ 01.08.09. However, the overall person that came second was a triathlon first timer, Ciaran O’Sullivan @ 01.03.26. Just 3 minutes off the winner. An inspiration for anyone to give it socks on your first attempt!.
Overall, an experiential weekend with wonderful achievements by Athlone Triathlon Club members. Big thanks to our fine swim, cycle and running coaches / advisors; Conor - we looked the part in our trisuits; also for all the ‘well done’ wishes we have received since Sunday and last but not least, to Andrew for being my inspirational triathlon D.I.Y. guide.
P.S. Next year is 25 years celebration of the Liam Ball Northwest Triathlon, so put it in your 2010 triathlon diary, it should be an extraordinary event.
