Run - Off Tonight

The usual Monday night run is off tonight so that people can attend the marshal briefing for TriAthy. See you 7:45 for 8:00 and afterwards for a drink at the Killeshin.

TriAthy Duty Texts Today

All TriAthy marshals will receive a text today about the duty I have assigned to them for next Saturday. I am almost certain I have everyone's details correct, but when you are working on over 200 people, there is bound to be a mistake somewhere.

If you cannot do the task given for time reasons, please come back to me.

Also, I am still about 10 people short for the sprint, and maybe 2-3 for the Olympic. If you receive the text and think that you could offer a few hours before or after your duty, then please let me know.

Finally, the times in your text are for course duties. At the end of the race, I am hoping all Trilogy members help each other out to clear the course. There are probably about 30 man hours needed to do this - its easier if we have 30 people helping out for 1 hour, than 10 people helping out for 3.

I hope to see most of you later tonight at the briefing.

Bike Problems?

Hi All,

Do you have niggling issues with your bike, rubbing brakes, slipping gears, bike sounds like an orchestra, and don't know how or have time to fix them?

Well, Murt Keane is starting a little business servicing the main tool of the Triathlon racers equipment. For €30, he will give your bike the once over, and ensure that you get the best out of it, and you will know that it is safe to go at those faster speeds!

So go on, give him a call and take more time out of the cycle!

For more, see here.

Call Murt on 087 2210377.

TriAthy - Notes for Marshals

Please click through to the following page to read some important Marshal notes for our 200-strong team of Marshals.

Notes for Marshals

Test Tri Three - Reports & Results.

The fast times keep on coming this week, with a raft of new PBs and Course Records set today.

In the junior race, Michael Dalton kept up his impressive form to take the course record from Bill Fitzpatrick, who no doubt will be back next month to look for it back. Richard Nicholls and Tadgh Mathews set new PBs, while Laura Ridgeway made her debut and now shares the lead on ranking with Siobhan O'Toole.

Sinead is not yet looking for an engraver who can spell her name, but another huger performance from Wearen has certainly let the rest of the ladies know she has her eye on it at the end of the season. Setting a new PB, beating a long-standing personal abition and setting a new ladies course record makes her worthy of her full points, but behind her Elaenor Doherty chipped down her time also, and aeve Bracken made a welcome return to the course, absent since August 2007.

Over in the Mens senior race, the turbulent conditions on the course did not stop the introduction of new equipent. Aside from the club timing system, Karl introduced his bike for the run, while Mick tested out his 'Good-as-new' knee. Five PBs were set here, including some red-hot perforances by Simon Tsang, Murt Keane and Paul Brennan. The rankings are not so clear-cut in the mens series, and will be well contested over the next three races.

The next test tri is 5 July, plenty of time then to tune up.

Well done to Kevin on oargnaising a perfect event, and to the many marshalls there to help out.

Download the results from here.

Entry List for Test Tri 3

Hi All,

Here is the entry listing for tomorrow morning:

1 Taco Camphuijsen
2 Michael Dalton
3 Sinead Wearen
4 Miriam Geaney
5 Simon Tsang
6 Shane Dealney
7 Mark O'Sullivan
8 Eleanor Doherty
9 Tadhg Mathews
10 Laura Ridgeway
11 Michael Farrell
12 Chris Fingleton
13 Pawel Debakowski
14 Paul John Brennan
15 Murt Keane
16 Noel O'Reilly
17 Maeve Bracken
18 Wesley Reilly
19 Karl McCann
20 Sean McCormack
21 Richard Nicholls

Have a good race.

Tomorrows Test Tri Three

Tomorrows Test Tri is being marshalled by Dermot O'Leary, Mary Fingleton, Niall Kavanagh, Trish Nicholls, Sandra Furney, Willie Fitzpatrick and Robert Grant and will be directed by Kevin Doyle. We've a big field, with 22 down to take part.

Sign-on is strictly before 8am, the race brieing is at 8:10, followed by a short demo of the timing system. We hit the pool at 8:30 for the first wave start.

A couple of bits of news for you. Willie has negotiated the use of the gym car-park with the gym. If you are not already a member, then you need to pay your €10 to Willie at the gate. There is a reduced rate of €7 for Juniors. €10 covers you for use of the pool, car-park while you race and showers afterwards. The gym have been very reasonable with us on this one, and their support makes the test tri happen.

I hope to use the new timing system tomorrow, so there will be a short demonstration at the race briefing. The system is simple enough if you follow two rules - make sure you pass close to the transmitters and don't fiddle with the watch while you race. We will time in the usual way also as back-up.

Roy will paste up the swim heats and start times here at around 8pm.

TriAthy Volunteering - Another Update

The Good News is that The Olympic Race is now secure. A few unfilled places remain, but I think these will be filled OK. The Sprint Race is still a slight concern, with 12 marshall points still unmanned. So I ask you to please keep up the efforts to fill it.

I'd like you all to know that we will definitely surpass the funds raised from last year (as you can see from the chart), and look like we may also beat the target for this year.

But - please - do not give up. I still need 12 more bods with a focus on helping out after midday for between 4 and 8 hours. Anyone who mentioned to me that they 'might' have another helper, or needed tocheck with someone, please do so and get back to me.

Test Duathlon 4 - Results

You wouldn't have had to be be there to know that the racing last night was good. The Sub-40 club welcomes a new member, Patrick Marshall; the mens winner, Shane Delaney, shades O'Toole into second place and sets a new personal best for the course; Michael Dalton continues to improve, setting his 3rd PB in a row and taking the Junior Course Record, while Sinead Wearen claims the same distinction for the ladies course, shading 10 seconds off her previous best.

Download Results Here.

Thanks to Terry and to all the marshals there to help him. Just two more left now to make a difference.

Bike Problems?

Hi All,

Do you have niggling issues with your bike, rubbing brakes, slipping gears, bike sounds like an orchestra, and don't know how or have time to fix them?

Well, Murt Keane is starting a little business servicing the main tool of the Triathlon racers equipment. He will give your bike the once over, and ensure that you get the best out of it, and you will know that it is safe to go at those faster speeds!

So go on, give him a call and take more time out of the cycle!

Call Murt on 087 2210377.

Test Duathlon 4

Guys,

As you are all aware, Test Duathlon 4 is on tonight. Here is the starting order:

1 Susan Wall,
2 Mary Fingleton,
3 Chris Fingleton,
4 Roy Atkinson,
5 Denise Murphy,
6 Wesley Reilly,
7 Maeve Bracken,
8 Patrick Marshall,
9 Eimear Mathews,
10 Mark O’Sullivan,
11 Trish Nicholls,
12 Murt Keane,
13 Sinead Wearen,
14 Karl McCann,
15 Stephen O’Toole,
16 Michael Dalton
17 Shane Delaney

Weather forecast is dry and sunny!

See you there!

Roy.

Test Duathlon 4 Tonight

Tonights test Duathlon goes ahead at the time of 7:30. Participants must sign on before 7:00pm.

Tonights Duathlon Helpers are: Dermot O'Leary, Stephen Irwin, John Fox, Pawel Debakowski, Noel O'Reilly, Simon Tsang, Helen Rothwell, Paul Brennan and Willie Fitzpatrick (Director: Terry Wearen)

A starter list will be up here shortly.

I am not sure I can make it with TriAthy commitments, so the event will be timed on paper. I am still hoping to trial the timing system on Saturday, (with dual timing). More details to follow Friday.

TriAthy news

Do we still need help? Yes! Olympic is almost there, but Sprint is still shy about 30 helpers. Thank you to the many of you who are doing double shifts and those of you still recruiting.

Don't give up on me now! Keep them coming. Please get in touch if you haven't responded to date or if you are racing without providing another helper.

Racing or not, you might be interested in the SwimAthy event this Sunday. Over the same course it is a great way to do a safe outdoor timed trial swim. Entry is e10 online, why not bring the bike and do the cycle afterwards?

Juniors Do Us Proud

The activities and goings-on of the Junior club are all too often kept to the Junior page and not so often mentioned on here. Sinead and Eimear are doing outstanding work with under 18's and it is with some pride that we can all say we have the biggest active junior club in the country.

Of course, the pride doesn't end there.

Last Sunday most of the junior squad swung out of bed before 6am and headed for Dublin; arriving there they got the news that they would be racing double the distance they trained for. And against odds like these they came out triumphant with several first places travelling back to Laois.

The Sunday before 25 Juniors travelled in the opposite direction to Mullingar, but with similar results.

You can read Sineads reports from both events at the links below. There will also be photos to come.

• Trilogy Juniors Beat the Odds - and Win


• Trilogy and the Sun - Both Shine in Mullingar

PS to regular readers ... The reports above, plus reports I have going back as far as Ballycotton in March will appear on a new page for 2009 Race reports after TriAthy.

Timing System Training

The training for the new Timing System will be on the Heath tomorrow (Tuesday night) after the normal training session (i.e. around 8pm). The training will take about 30 mins and is essential if you are planning to take part in the Test events later in the week. It will be slow and run-based, nothing too strenuous. For comfort, however, you might like to bring a change of clothes, especially if you plan to work out hard during the training session!

Note: the previously advised session for Wednesday will not now take place.

Lost Sheep Half Ironman

Guys,

The following members have been registered for the Lost Sheep Half Ironman in Kenmare on the 12th September.

Mark	McManus,
Mark	O'Sullivan,
Willie	Fitzpatrick,
David	Murphy,
Shane	Delaney,
Sharon	White

Oh, Sinead is also doing it.

Cheers,

Roy.

One for your diary - 25 May

There will be a marshal briefing for TriAthy on Monday 25 (8pm). It would be a big help if anyone down to help can attend this as it removes the need to do a briefing on race day morning.

The briefing will be in the Killeshin bar (upstairs) from 8:30pm, with a drink or two downstairs afterwards.

Which do you want first?

The Good News or the bad?

Well, the more urgent news is about the numbers of volunteers for TriAthy. I've spent the morning putting all the volunteers I have into positions, and the state of play looks like this:

-> Olympic - 110 position, 84 Filled, 26 Unfilled
-> Sprint - 105 positions, 55 Filled, 55 Unfilled

So, while we have had a great response so far, with about 80% of the club stepping forward, unfortunately, we are still a little short for the Olympic race and seriously short for the Sprint event.

The original plan was to allow people race if they could marshal the other race themselves and bring along 1-2 extra people. Unfortunately I will be contacting anyone who has not provided additional volunteers and ask them to help out all day instead of racing.

I will also be texting individual members of the club who have said they can help with the Olympic race to give a few more hours and take us through the Sprint event.

Finally, as before, if you can think of anyone who might be around to help then please ask them, all help appreciated.

If that reads as bad news, then here is the good bit. A strong positive response by the club and we should have no trouble making that target for fundraising.

A final note. There are 15 or so members of the club that have not responded to any appeals of help. I still need you, but if you can't make it, please let me know.

Register now for Test Tri 4

Pre-registration for Test Tri 4 (this Saturday morning, 4 July) is now open. We need more help - see below.

The helpers for next weeks events are below. If you still need to register to help, see link below.

Volunteers: Roy Atkinson, Stephen O'Toole, Patrick Marshall(Director: Paul Brennan) Note: We 3 more helpers please

Register to Take Part - LINK
Register to Help Out - LINK

Final results from TT2

See below for link to final results from last weeks Test Tri.

Well done to both Willie Fitzpatricks and to Sinead, and abig thank you to Paul and his team of marshalls - the event went perfectly.

Download Results

Test Triathlon 2

Test Triathlon 2 is on tomorrow, 9 May at the Heritage Leisure Cenre, Portlaoise. Sign-on is before 8am (please observe this), with briefing at 8:15 and the first wave off at 8:30. The wave starts will be staggered, with two lanes being used at all times, and the last wave entering the pool at 8:50.

The tri is being directed by Paul Brennan. Paul will be helped by John Fox, Steve Irwin, Pawel Debakowski, Stephen O'Toole, Helen Rothwell and Elaine Justin. Marshals: Please be at the Heritage for 8:00 for the Marshall Briefing.

Below are the wave and race number details for the 23 people taking part.

Wave 1 – (1). Willie Fitzpatrick, (2) Shane Delaney, (3) Tagdh Mathews, (4) Roy Atkinson
Wave 2 - (5) Taco Camphuisjen, (6) Trish Nicholls, (7) Susan Wall, (8) Louise Mooney
Wave 3 - (9) Simon Tsang, (10) Richard Nicholls, (11) Sean McCormack, (12) Mark O’Sullivan
Wave 4 - (13) Niall Kavanagh, (14) Michael Dalton, (15) Wesley Reilly, (16) Mary Fingleton
Wave 5 - (17) Karl McCann, (18) Dermot O’Leary, (19) Eleanor Doherty, (20) Bill Fitzpatrick
Wave 6 - (21) Sinead Wearen, (22) Alan Phelan, (23) Murt Keane

Remember, you still need to physically sign the disclaimer sheet and be body marked before 8am on Saturday. You are also asked to bring €10.00 with you if you are not a member of the Heritage (Portlaoise or Killenard). This should be paid at reception and is for use of the pool and showers.

TriAthy 2009 Update - Glass Half-full or glass half-empty?

TriAthy volunteering is currently at about 50% of target (see graph, accurate as of yesterday), so while we have come a long way, we still have some way to go yet.

A B I G Thank you to the 70 or so people who have signed-up to help, and thank you for responding to my confirmation texts.

In spite of the big response so far, I know that there is still a great deal of potential left in the club, and that means there is literally thousands of Euros we can still collect as a club.

In particular I would appeal to the following to help out:

Those racing: 'Race one, marshall the other' really only works for the club if you bring someone else along with you to volunteer also. Theres probably a dozen people who've opted to race and marshall but have not yet come up with a second volunteer. Use the link below any time to register your second volunteer.

Club Members not yet volunteers ... I'll be texting you this weekend! We really need everyone in the club to help out, its your duty as members!!

Little going a long way: A few extra people can really make a huge difference. Take Tom & Triona, the Brackens and Mark O'Sullivan. Between them they will be contributing almost €2k to the club because they have asked outside the club for help on the day. That's a massive contribution and our fastest way to get to the target. Thanks Tom, Triona, Kevin, Maeve and Mark.

-> Volunteer Link

Summer training

Hi All,

Winter training finished last week. Summer training starts this evening with a brick session cycle/run at 7 in the heath. Willie is running this one.

I will post the provisional schedule here later, so keep watching.

Roy.

Tri Athy Marshalling

Guys,

We are investing a considerable amount of money in a new timing system for the club. This amount in well into the thousands and because of this, we need to to get everyone marshalling Tri Athy. The timing system is so the test Tri's and Duathlons can be run easier, and get better times, as these events are getting bigger, and we need cant use the old system with so many competitors.

Come on, sign up, give one day to the club. Look at what it has given YOU!

Roy.

Joey Hannan

Hi All,

On Sunday,well over 20 Trilogy competitors headed to the University of Limerick complex to compete in the Joey Hannan triathlon. Both Sprint and Olympic race were entered, and a nice day greeted the competitors. It was a great day again for Trilogy, and congratulations to all competitors who did the club proud. It was great to see so many Trilogy jackets. Several racers mentioned it to me that we seemed to be everywhere! I would also like to thank all the supporters who travelled a long way, and gave us great support!

Special thanks to Sinead and Eimear, who as you can see by the results, has brought on the next generation of Trilogy members so well.

The following members receive special merit:

Stephen O'Toole 1st Vet
Eimear Mathews 3rd Vet
Laura Ridgeway 1st Junior Female
Bill Fitzpatrick 2nd Junior Male
Ross Byrne 3rd Junior Male

Well done to all!

Roy

Joey Hannan

Hi All,

The following Seniors are registered to race the Joey Hannan race on Sunday.

Sinead Wearen	Olympic
Willie Fitzpatrick	Olympic
Eimear Mathews	Olympic
John Fox	Olympic
Stephen O'Toole	Olympic
Mary Daly	Olympic
Noel Territt	Olympic
Simon Tsang	Olympic
Martin Keane	Sprint
Noel O'Reilly	Sprint
Miriam Geaney	Sprint
Roy Atkinson	Sprint
Emer McCarthy	Sprint
Alasdair McCann	Sprint
Steve Irwin	Sprint
Sandra Furney	Sprint
Kevin McHugh	Sprint
Louise Mooney	Sprint
Robert Grant	Sprint
Alison Wellwood	Sprint
Alan Phelan	Sprint
Michelle Duggan	Sprint

We also have the following Juniors racing:

Ross Byrne, Bill Fitzpatrick, Tom Mathews, Alasdair mcCann, Sean McCormack, Susan Gillen and Laura Ridgeway.

Registration opens at 7:30 and closes at 8:15. Due to the small time span for registration, we need to get there early.

Any one interested in car pooling/convoy, please be at the train station in Portlaoise at 6:00, leaving at the latest 6:15, planning to be there for 7:30.

Good luck to all competitiors.

Roy.