On his way back ...

One of our members, Declan Donoghue, from Ballybrittas, was involved in a nasty accident near Stradbally on Wednesday morning while training on his bike. Declan is currently fighting some serious injuries in hospital as a result. I would just like to ask you to keep Declan, and his wife and children in your thoughts, and especially your prayers that he makes a fast and full recovery.

Last place in Hungary

One spot left. €220. 5 nights and your flights, Budapest calls. Last chance, contact Karl 086-2240115.

Team Ireland Shirts for Budapest €20

Following on from the discussion last night about the parade of nations, I did a follow-up call to the suppliers to TI of the Irish gear (as pictured).

This is just the Polo shirt (no tracksuit), but it does mean we won't look out of place in the parade of nations. If you have the Athlone tracksuit, the bottom is the same as the Ireland one anyway.

So, heres the deal. Login to the members area of the site before Monday 9am and order your shirt. To keep things simple, the charge will be just €20.

Make sure you get the chest size right - a good tip is to take a look at the Athlone top, made by the same people - or go by the inch sizes on the login page.

I will then order them in bulk and give them to you on the way to Budapest.

Budapest Page - Now Updated

.The Race for Ireland page has now been updated with loads of updates, including our bus to the airport, the presentation from last night available to download, accomodation lists and more.

Revisit the Race for Ireland page by clicking the flag. Its your national duty!

Come to Budapest for knock down price

One group of supporters have had to pull out of the trip to Budapest. At this late stage Aer Lingus will not issue any refund, so these three have asked me to see if anyone is interested in taking the places at a discount.

So, for €220 you can have 5 nights accommodation and your flight to Budapest and see the World Championships action, including 15 Trilogy triathletes and the Grand Final of the professional series.

We depart Portlaoise on Weds 8 September and come back on Monday 13 September. Aer Lingus will only allow name changes, so the deal is for those nights only.

Please contact Karl ASAP if interested.

More Wedding Bells!

Mark McManus and Anna Plewa are getting married today. On behalf of the club and its members, we wish you all the best for a brilliant day and the start of your married life together.

Getting your coaching badges

Are you interested in coaching? Would you like to get qualified to coach triathlon and its three sports?

Triathlon Ireland will be running (dates to be confirmed) a 'Level 1' training weekend in September which is your first step to qualification. Over the Winter you would then work with a Level 2 coach to develop on what you learnt on the course while working within the club (racking up coaching hours that lead to your formal qualification).

To do the course as an individual will cost around €300. Triathlon Ireland subsidise this if you apply through the club and the committee of Trilogy is prepared to cover the rest of the cost for suitable candidates.

Contact Roy ASAP with your interest - there are already over 100 people on the course from clubs around Ireland , and spaces are limited.

Test Tri 6 Results

A fitting end to the series, lots of competition, plenty of jostling for positions in the overall ranking, and slew of PBs.

Stephen O'Toole took part for the first time this year, and did so with a new PB and the day's fastest time. For much of the race he was hounded by our rising star, Dave Osborne, who took an incredible 2 minutes and 4 seconds off his PB time. Further down the mens field Dave Murphy and Wesley Reilly set new fast times, as did both our Juniors, with Johnathan setting a very fast new time in the pool.

In the ladies Stephanie ended her first season in second place, consolidating her third rank overall. Trish Nicholls worked hard and nabbed the first place in the overall rankings from Sinead Wearen - battle resumes for the title in April!

While in the mens series the top two positions were set in stone, the battle for third had four contenders - Liam was collecting bonus points by helping, while Simon, Niall, Dave and Karl battled it out in the final wave.

In the end, Niall held onto third, with Karl and simon close behind. Dave and Liam take 6th and 7th respectively, but I suspect that won't be the case in 12 months time.

Johnathan Robinson proved that perssistence and helping out pays, his final PB crowning his achievement as Junior #1; meanwhile Siobhan took the ladies title and will no doubt be a serious contender to Trish, Avril and Sinead in 2011 as a senior.

Well done everyone, and a big thanks to Willie and his team today. If anyone would like to pen a report for the final day, please let me know.

Link to Results

A Great Night!

Just a quick word of thanks to Noel & Valerie O'Reilly for organising the table quiz last night. I think everyone enjoyed the night, and the friendly competition between tables. The night was also a success in financial terms, and a four figure sum was raised for the development of the club - a great achievement in recessionary times.

Thanks also to the team who helped out on the night - our wonderful MC Emer, the tally team Elaine & Colm, and to Willie and Mick who helped collect the answers and the cash.

Finally thanks to everyone for turning up and supporting us.

Test Duathlon 5

Just one more to go now, and the competition is hot. See the report and results from last night at this link.

Caroline Kearney Report and Results

Trish has marked the occassion of her last Olympic race in 2010 by setting a new PB and submitting her first race report. Niall has added some stats and we have 2 galleries of photos, from Elaine and Madeleine.

Read on

Meeting for Budapest Trip

Just over 3 weeks to go now, and to iron out the final details, we will be holding a pre-trip meeting in Portlaoise Leisure Centre on Thursday 26 August at 7:30pm.

Anyone racing needs to attend, if you are supporting, it is recommended you attend too.

There will be an agenda posted up in a few days, in the meantime, if you have any questions or would like anything covered, please contact Roy or Karl.

Triathlon Ireland - new website

Triathlon Ireland have launched a new look website, and on it are the national series rankings update for this year (some races still to be uploaded). See also a great performance by Laura Casey, who came 2nd to Elena, but first Junior in Athy this year, who has gone on to come 9th in the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore.

Check it out at www.triathlonireland.com.

Well done Dave ...

Dave Osborne put in a storming run section at Caroline Kearney on Saturday and led home the club to the finish line at Lilliput. It was a great day all round, with so many Trilogy heads everywhere. Trish is writing a report, and there is a great pile of photos too. All other race reports or photos welcome.

Watch this space!

And one more celebration ...

Willie was in denial today, racing his last race aged 39. Remember Willie, there's no shame in being 39+1! Enjoy the night and the day tomorrow ...

A Trilogy wedding ...

Pawel and Judyta are getting married in Poland tomorrow. I am sure I speak for all in the club by wishing them a wondersful day tomorrow and all the very best of everything in their future life together.

Athlone / Euro champs Report & Photos

The race updates continue with a report from Athlone (its a long 'un) and a pack of pics compliments of Kate and Simon Tsang. My favourite is the one below - see if you can find the Trilogy Member in this picture!

Click to read the report
Click to view the full gallery

Kilkee report 2 ...

The updates keep on coming, and today's is from Niall Kavanagh who adds his thoughts on his favourite race, Kilkee. Watch out tomorrow for a report and some excellent photos from Athlone. I've also receeived a few more pics from the Mystery Night, these will post on Wednesday.

Hell of the West (Niall's report)

Triathlon Kilkenny - First Time Report

Tri Kilkenny is a new event, and checking it out for us was Susan Wall, Kilkenny native. This is Susan's first race report also, and it is well worth a read.

Well done to all who took part, Deirdre Walsh, Sandra Furney, Mark Geraghty, Liam Byrne, Alison Wellwood and of course Susan.

Triathlon Kilkenny Report

Bumper Gallery from Test Tri 4

It might have been back in June, but Wesley has given me over 100 excellent shots from Test Tri 4. That was the biggest Test Tri of the season, and I think he managed to capture everyone.

Check the quality gallery out!

Hell of the West Report

Read Dave's report from his first trip to Kilkee. Something tells me it will not be his last!

If anyone has pictures from Kilkee, please get in touch!

Beast of the East photos

You've read Dave's Report, now check out Kate's photos. Click on the picture below to start - caption competition in Chat, anyone?

Test Duathlon 4 - Results & Report

Another good night's racing on the Heath.

Please see Race Report and Results. Well done to Dave and Liam (the Athy lads are flying it!) and to Susan Wall who takes the no.1 rank for the first time.

Please note, the Calendar has been updated with new dates for Duathlons 5 and 6 (Please note that Duathlon 5 is now on a Wednesday night, 18 Augutst). Log in to register for these as normal.

Lots of reports & photos ... on the way

Check back here over the weekend for reports from Athlone, Kilkee and for Photos from Test Tri 4, The European Championships and the Beast of the East. Thanks to Wesley, Kate, Simon and Dave for the contributions.

Test Duathlon 4

Guys,

Test Duathlon 4 is on this Thursday at 6:30 in the Heath. All those interested in racing need to register on the web before 8pm tomorrow night.

Anyone who can help, please let me know, as the events cant go ahead without enough helpers.

Thanks and see you Thursday.

Roy.

Well done Mark

Mark O'Sullivan completed the Ironman "Extremalna Sabota" in Poland over the weekend. He completed it in a fantastic time of 13:25, to come in 18th overall. A great achievement. Well done for flying the Irish and Trilogy flags!

You can get more info here.

Class Photos & Great Report from Test Tri 5

Wesley Reilly was in place on Saturday morning to snap 65 great shots at Test Tri 5. Meanwhile Johnathan Robinson was battling a personal demon to get through the dreaded 'Race No. 5'. Find out why in his report.

And the bike labelled 'Roy the Boy' manages to get featured in both.

• Johnathan's Race Report


• 65 Photos from Wesley

Note to Competitors in Budapest

IMPORTANT - you need to start planning a bike box. To protect your bike, you need a hard plastic oversized, special suitcase in which your bike will fit. The club is NOT providing this for you.

You have a few options:

• 1. Buy a box. The ones most of us have is the basic one available on Wiggle (see here); it does the job, but if you plan on using it a few times, there is also a fuller range to choose from. Also check out the local shops and other websites, you might get a better deal.


• 2. Rent a box. As far as I know both Cycle Superstore and Wheelworx rent out boxes by the week, usually costing around €50. Remember, though, that there are a lot of Irish people travelling to Budapest, so act early to secure yours. You will also need the bike box for more than 1 week - at least Sunday 5 September to Tuesday 14 September (negotiate!)


• 3. Blag a box. See if there is anyone in the club not going to Budapest who will lend you theres.

Packing your box is an art-form in itself - the bike has to be broken down to fit in the box. Murt is going to help you pack your bike, and he has asked if you can bring bike and box to his house on either Saturday 4 or Sunday 5 September.

Advanced warning - We will have to do the same in Budapest - it's much less fun when the trip and the race is almost over! Roy (trip manager) will give you more details about that at a later time.