Tuff Trax Off Road Duathlon

Excuseless

Event info at www.tufftrax.ie

PM me if interested in event discount code or you have sppecific q's that are not answered on event website.

new2biking

Why dont you give us all a discount code???;)

nerraw1111

Anyone signed up for the tuff trax races? Any tips on what to expect gradient wise? And how technical is the mountain bike?

Excuseless

nerraw1111 wrote: »

Anyone signed up for the tuff trax races? Any tips on what to expect gradient wise? And how technical is the mountain bike?

Several Boardies signed up but room for more

"Boardsmember" is the discount code for 15% off for anyone that has not yet got it.


Gradient wise for the run there will be one long climb (easy at start and steeper toward the top through a newly created track through forest), time of a quick view of the sea and then similar gradient back down a nice single track section with one just short climb before the final descent on the same route as you initially left transition.

For the bike there will be a long steady climb followed by a fast but gentle gradient wide grassy track and short wooded section descent into a great relatively flat decidious forest where the track will weave about a fair bit.
In general the "technical" nature of the course is that it should be achieveable by all if taken at a speed appropriate to your skill level but will definitely challenging if taken at speed.
Included in the final forest section is a "bomb hole" but the chicken run is almost as fast so no pressure to do it if you don't want to - we will have a marshal here to advise on the options.
Final bike section back to transition is fast wide muddy track.


Times for the laps are estimated at run ~20 mins and bike ~30 mins per lap for a fast runner/ biker

Peterx

Hi Excuseless -

Will we be able to do a lap of the bike course before the race on the morning of the race?

thanks,
Peter

pbull69

i'm in too... just heard from young paul.... pre riding course is fine.

ezikel

was out at the course today......wish i was doing it!!! the mtb section is excellent, loads of different terrain and always changing......the run will wake you up thats for sure...again...classic off road! Great views of Dublin.....

Never been in Kilruddery before today......a hidden gem!

nerraw1111

Was at Tuff Trax yesterday. Super race.

For some reason I was expecting a nice trot around the hills and a handy bike ride when I saw the race distances. Could not be more wrong. I did the expert. The run was pretty enjoyable, a nice route. A good bit of craic between us at the start.

New to the mountain biking lark so was expecting it to be 'slightly' tougher than the road based duathlons. Wrong on that count too. Nice flat stretch before the long, long ascent started. The mud made it a bit tricky to navigate in places with the front wheel sliding out but all good fun. Fantastic views from the top.

Made the mistake of not wearing glasses on the bike so mud spray pretty much blinded me on the descent. :eek:

No idea what the more experienced MTBers made of the course but I found some of it fairly technical so was very/stop start in the bomb run. (I never did manage to spot the chicken run alternative!)

And then we had to do it all again! I think I improved my race position on the second legs.

The toughest part? Probably trying to convince the GF to let me put my bike in the back of her car after the race.

Well organised event. Thanks to all the marshalls who stood out in the cold for over 3 hours. Fair play. The hot choc at the end was divine.

The next one is December 12th. Would recommend it, a great course.

new2biking

Really good event, so happy I went for the Sport version as I found it quite tough. Will definitely be wearing glasses for the next one as flying down a mountain with horsesh*t blinding my eyes and dodgy brakes is not fun.

Nicest coffee and sambo I've ever had aswell, did a nice job of washing out all the mud from my mouth.

Also, found the atmosphere incredibly friendly, very funny at the start when nobody knew what route to take at the first marsh, like something from Benny Hill:D

ed93105

Did the sport version yesterday, tough going but enjoyable, great location and well organised, looking forward to the next one in a few weeks time - should have the gear clean by then

Peterx

nerraw1111 wrote: »

Was at Tuff Trax yesterday. Super race.

Made the mistake of not wearing glasses on the bike so mud spray pretty much blinded me on the descent. :eek:
The next one is December 12th. Would recommend it, a great course.

I made the mistake of wearing my glasses on the first lap and couldn't see much in the forest, much better with no glasses on lap two:)

Good race, good course, good muck. John Doris was a definite for second but for a broken chain.
The winner Dave went with runners all the way+no shoe changes. Most others I saw did change shoes..
Both John Doris and Mick Jordan were going really well on the bikes, a bit more running practice and they'd be challenging for the win..

Enduro

Looked like a super race from where I was standing. Would love to have given it a crack.

bruce74

First time ever doing a duathlon on Sunday..like one of the other posts i expected an easy run after seeing the distances involved hence why i opted for expert run..real tough..
I was tempted to pack it in after the 2nd run but i ended up running with one of the other competitors and that gave me the encouragement to get back on the bike for the 2nd time..It was very difficult in places..ended up in the water at one stage! I know I had to concentrate real hard on the descent 2nd time round..very hairy in places
I'm looking forward to december race although opting for the sport run next time round though...well ran event and again all steward and marshalls were very encouraging..the pictures make good viewing.
Are all duathlons this tough?

Excuseless

bruce74 wrote: »

.
Are all duathlons this tough?

No - But then they are not called "Tuff":D

Thanks to all who turned up and enjoyed what turned out to be a very wet morning which left a lot of muck about. Challenging course indeed but bike course still was still all ridable to the top MTBers so hopefully it was a fair compromise between too easy for them and too hard for others.
In the dry much more of the forest section in particular will be doable by most.

I think Nerraw1111 and the vast majority of the field found the chicken run and missed the bombhole alternative to the left on the last forest singletrack section before dropping onto the big forest track to head for home.
It is a possible "poo in yer pants" feature if not a very experienced biker.
I did not see any evidence of anyone riding it from the photos tho a few of the top MTB lads said they got it second time round!
We have a few course mods in the pipeline for the next event so hopefully we will have more folk along to "enjoy" a proper Tuff day out

I have had a word with those in charge and hope they will sort out a dry day for the 12th Dec event :cool:

Excuseless

Dry day sorted for this Sunday (12th) with the Weather Gods (met.ie can confirm :cool:) and they are thawing out the remaining snow on course currently so "Race Is On"!

Hopefully the good feedback here and elsewhere will encourage folk to come out on Sunday for this - online entries still open at www.tufftrax.ie

The sport version will be Tuff enough for anyone that is not sure of their stamina or off-road confidence

After last 2 weeks of relative sporting inactivity there will be lots of race rusty legs but we are all in the same boat.

Race sign-on opens at 9.30 and pre-race riding of the course is possible once you have signed on and have a race number

Excuseless

YES - Of Course the Race Went Ahead:eek:!

Well done all that Participated

Full Results Available Now

SPORTS RESULTS HERE
EXPERT RESULTS HERE
Podium Placings:
Sport - Men:
1 - Barry Donnelly - 1:05:39
2 - John Mc Donnell - 1:05:54
3 - Tim Grumell - 1:07:38
Sport - Women:
1 - Deborah Meghan - 1:15:24
2- Joanna Cullen - 1:21:19
3 - Louise Cullen - 1:23:13
Expert - Men:
1 - Niall Davis - 1:52:50 = NEW COURSE RECORD
2 - Adrian Hennessy - 1:54:55
3 - Damien Shaw - 2:01:26
Expert Women:
1 - Melanie Earwaker - 2:31:55
2 - Rachel Cinnsellach - 3:15:50
PHOTOS DUE SOON FROM ACTION PHOTOGRAPHY

******************************************************

Timmaay

That was a great event and organised very well, well done to Paul Mahon! Was my 1st ever attempt at mountain biking, its tough but fun, and the Bike course yesterday was great, mix of everything in it! I'll be back for more!