Test Tri 6 and Final Rankings for 2009

High winds and road blocks made PB-setting at today's Test Tri difficult - but as five of the 22 finishers today showed - by no means impossible.

Keith Galbraith managed to knock the biggest margin off his PB (apx 5 mins), while Siobhan O'Toole, Michael Dalton and Eleanor Dohert continued their trend of setting new PBs practically every time they race. Mick Farrell, the most experienced of the PB bashers finished off the test tri season with a great time of 48:13; (word has it he is doing the course again on 3 October and is determined to smash 48 mins).

At the head of the field was a battle for top three places in season rankings, but Willie showed a huge amount of class to hold off the determined efforts of Shane Delaney and Karl McCann, both of whom had a mathematical chance of taking the trophy before today's race.

Willie crowned the title with a superb double first on the cycle-run legs, challenging the course record, while Delaney and McCann ended up just 9 seconds apart, Delaney's margin on the bike and run over McCann too much for McCann faster swim. Delaney's third place in rankings this season will certainly improve next year, judging by the huge leap he has made since 2008 (6th place rank).

Trish Nichols early departure from the race with a flat tyre didn't impact her season ranking of second, and Sinead Wearen had been already safe as 2009 No.1 since Test Tri 5; so third ranking place 2009 was down for decision today.

Eleanor Doherty's new PB and ladies no.1 finish today secured her the coveted place as third overall lady this season - great going for a newcomer to the sport and to the club. Helen Rothwell, another new beginner and Mary Fingleton finished strong and secured 4th and 5th places in the season rankings.

The junior ranks did not change a whole lot since last test tri, Siobhan O'Toole and Michael Dalton's PBs were really just icing on cakes; Jonathon Robinson, certainly one to watch for the future, moved into the top five, not bad for a single finish. Bill Fitzpatrick, Richard Nicholls and Tadhg Mathews took the other top 5 places.

Finally, a big thank you to today's helpers (Sinead, Alan, Dermot, Susan and Taco), and to Paul Brennan who kept the whole show on a nice even keel. The realy team entry today will hopefully yield three new competitors next year, and I think we will all look forward to the first test tri in April 2010.

Results and full season ranksings are now available to download.

Susan Wall has some nice photos also - these will be online in the coming days.

Waves and Numbers for TT6

The waves and start times for tomorrow are posted below. When registration closed, just 19 had entered, we now have 25 people. A lot of unseen work goes into planning the test tri events, and late entries double this as each name makes for a lot of re-work. So if you are one of the six, do say thanks again to Roy tomorrow.

Helpers for tomorrow are: Maeve Bracken, Sinead Wearen, Taco Camphuijsen, Dermot O'Leary, Wesley Reilly and Susan Wall. The Test Tri will be run by Paul Brennan.

There are 5 waves of 5 each, and the usual times apply - register by 8, briefing and timing demonstraton at 8:20 and poolside by 8:45.

1. Pawel Debakowski
2. Trish Nicholls
3. Keith Galbraith
4. Eleanor Doherty
5. Helen Rothwell

6. Niall Kavanagh
7. Mark O'Sullivan
8. Peter Dobbyn
9. Aishling Fitzpatrick
10. Jonathan Robinson

11. Willie Fitzpatrick
12. Siobhan O' Toole
13. Murt Keane
14. Chris Fingleton
15. Alan Hanly

16. Michael Dalton
17. Shane Delaney
18. Richard Nicholls
19. Roy Atkinson
20. Mary Fingleton

21. Karl McCann
22. Stephen O' Toole
23. Mick Farrell
24. Catriona Marshall
25. TEAM Edward Brennan / Tom Marshall / Richard Marshall

Two important announcements - Racing for Ireland 2010

If you are planning to race in Athlone (Euro Champs) or Budapest (Worlds), please read on.
1. If you are also doing Dublin this weekend, please contact Karl re: a possible fast track to qualification.
2. Most people will be using national series points to qualify for international selection in 2010. A few people have errors and missing points from races they finished. Triathlon Ireland will try to make any corrections to this years results if you contact them before next Monday 31 August. If you leave it after this date, you will not be able to claim later. See your points here
and read about claiming missing points here (note - article says 24 August, this has been extended to 31 August, plus Caroline Kearney points are not loaded for anyone yet).

One other thing. Both Budapest and Athlone will have sprint options. You do not need to race Olympic like was the case in Lisbon.

Reminder: Register for team Budapest.

Test Tri 6 Registration

Pre-registration for Test Tri 6 (this Saturday morning, 29 August) is now open. Volunteers/Helpers can also register here.

Registration closes Thursday at 7pm. Volunteers registered to help are just Sinead Wearen and Maeve Bracken. We need more, and if you haven't helped so far this year you have up to 300 points to gain by doing so. Please help if you can, or bring along others if you can.

All new members, this registration is critical, no registration no race. Also, to race you need to have TI membership, filled in and signed the Trilogy membership form, and a helmet for the cycle.

We meet at 7:45am in the car park of the Heritage gym. Registration is from 7:45am to 8:15am. Briefing 8:25, first wave of swimmers starts in the pool 8:45am. Then a loop around Portlaoise on the bike, and a shoter loop for the run.

For more details see here for the cycle and here for the run routes.

The race is 10 lengths of the pool in The Heritage in Portlaoise (220m) approx 14km cycle and approx a 3.5 km run.

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

Full Race Report, Results & Photos

There is a full race report, a link to results, and as promised, a photo gallery from todays event. Click here to read the report (with a link to the pictures), or the photo below to go straight to the pics.

Well doen to all finishers, and to Mark and his marshals for putting on a fantastic race. Results are available to download here. Check back later for Elaines photos (I've seen them, they're fab!).

Wave Guide for Heritage Challenge Triathlon 2009

The Wave Guide for Saturdays race is now available, link below to download. Please note that entries made via the Heritage will appear on the final wave sheet (available at registration on Saturday).

The Heritage Chellenge Triathlon is a Triathlon Ireland sanctioned race. Non-members may race under a one-day licence fee which is available for €15 at registration. Members of Triathlon Ireland will need to produce a 2009 Full Racing Licence (Purple) showing their photo, or pay a One Day Licence fee to race. No other ID is acceptable.

Wave guide download here

Heritage Challenge Triathlon

Just a note to say that the race will close for entries this evening at midnight.

Also, please note that the 'dry run' of the cycle and run sections, taking place tonight, will now leave at 6:30pm from the back of the Heritage gym, Portlaoise. This is to allow us get back before it gets dark (around 9pm). If you only want to run the run, then meet in Killenard at 7:20pm. It is also a good idea to let Willie know you ar planning to come along (phone or text 087-6565424).

Simons Wedding

2010 World Championships - Be There

Today Trilogy Triathlon launches Budapest 2010, our crusade to race for Ireland at next years World Championships. The club is supporting members and supporters by subsidising the trip by over €5,000.

The World Championships is the largest triathlon event in the World, and you could be there to race your age group in Irish colours. Many of you are already on the way to qualification for Athlone, and qualificaiton for the Worlds is along the same lines. Even if you don't qualify or can't race for Ireland, you can come with us to race the local event in Budapest, or just come to support the team.

The really good news is that everyone travelling - competitor and supporter - is being subsidised by the club, which is committed to paying anything above €320 per person. This includes flights to Budapest, 5 nights accomodation around the race date (7 September 2010), bike transit to Hungary and race entry fees. Juniors are more than welcome also, but must be joined by a parent or guardian.

Payment will also be by monthly direct debit, meaning that you will be able to go for as little as €20 per month.

So what do you need to do next? Have a read of this page. At the end you will find a link to complete The Application Survey. This sets everything up for you.

Results of Test Tri

A good day out, with lots of PBs. Well done to Michael and Tadhg in the Juniors, Susan, Helena and Siobhan in the ladies and to Patrick, John, Murt and Damien who all set new PBs. Results are now available to download.

These results now include bonus ranking points for people who have helped out during the series. The difference between helping out and not helping out is up to 350 points (100 for helping, plus series points of 50 per finish are only awarded to people who have helped out).

If I have missed a helper out, please let me know ASAP and I will adjust before the final event in 3 weeks time. Those points make a difference to final ranking places!

Finally, thanks to Willie and the team of marshals today - you should all be proud of a really well run event.

The Hellest Race of the West?

Carna - Harder than Kilkee? Read Sinead's verdict in her Race Report from Connemara.

Test Tri 5 - Starting List

A big thank you to all who responded to the appeal for help at tomorrows Test Tri. Willie will be organising the event, and he will be helped by Robert Grant, Sandra Furney, Kevin Bracken, Emer McCarthy, Alan Phelan, Willie Fitzpatrick, Eimear Mathews, Eleanor Doherty, Shane Delaney, Joe Byrne and Simon Tsang.

We will be meeting 7:30am, and must be started by 8:40. Please do not arrive after 8:15am and hope to take part.

The race numbers and starting waves for TT5 is as follows:
Wave 1 1 - Pawel Debakowski 2 - Tadhg Mathews 3 - Dermot O'Leary 4 - Helen Rothwell 5 - Damien Marshall
Wave 2 6 - Taco Camphuijsen 7 - Patrick Marshall 8 - John Fox 9 - Keith Galbraith
Wave3 10 - Trish Nicholls 11 - Richard Nicholls 12 - Susan Wall 13 - Roy Atkinson
Wave 4 14 - Susan Mathews 15 - Stephen O'Toole 16 - Siobhan Farrell 17 - Murt Keane
Wave 5 18 - Karl McCann 19 - Michael Dalton 20 - Sinead Wearen 21 - Peter Dobbyn 22 - Noel O'Reilly

Carna Photos for You

See the great photos below from Carna. These are presented with thanks to Elaine McCann and Catriona Marshall. Click the photo below to start. There are also rumours of a race report floating around, hope to have it on here shortly.

Test Tri - More Help Needed to go ahead

Maybe your injured, maybe your not fit, or maybe you can't take part for another reason.

If you are available and can give an hour, we need help on Saturday morning for what is certain to be one of the biggest test tri's ever. So far we have 3 helpers - not enough to hold the test tri - we need 3-4 more.

If you can help, or if you know someone who can (parent, wife, husband, friend, etc), please bring them along.

Contact Karl or use the volunteer link to add names.

All the Best Mark

Training away quietly on his own, Mark o'Sullivan leaves this Thursday bound for Prague, where he will join the Irish team racing the European Long Distance Championships.

Long Distance racing is over a 'triple-Olympic' distance, 4km swim, 120km bike and 30km run. (Course Details here).

On behalf of the club, Mark, I'd like to wish you all the best in the Czech Republic.

Heritage Challenge Triathlon - Closing Soon

Entry for the Heritage Challenge Triathlon will close next Monday night, 10 August. If you would still like to race, please click the logo on the side of the page, and on the homepage to get started.

Photos in the Pipeline

Keep checking back here over the next day or so. There are some great pictures from Athlone and Carna in the pipeline and I hope to have them uploaded early this week. Thanks to Elaine McCann and Catriona Marshall for Carna and to Suzanne Robinson for Athlone.