Kilkenny Triathlon 2011

roco71

Anyone know what is happening for the kids event at the KK triathlon on the 23rd?

tom francy

Sorry to hijack the thread.....is anyone doing the sprint distance?

littleredspot

Sorry no answer for OP, but myself and 6 others are doing the sprint. 4 of us did it last year. It was our first and only tri, this will be our second (great intentions and all:D) Organisation doesn't seem to be great. Any idea what time transition is open for leaving the bikes in?

mloc123

littleredspot wrote: »

Organisation doesn't seem to be great.

roco71

no problem with the hi-jack, will find out on the day as to what they are doing for the kids i suppose. Looking forward to the sprint myself, should be a bit of craic.

RacoonQueen

I'm mulling over the wussy one for 'first time triathletes'

littleredspot

mloc123 wrote: »

Why do you say that?

I'm not very experienced in these things, but with 3 days to go: There's no maps of transition, no Garmin/videos/elevations/physical descriptions (other than poor maps) of the routes. No indication of what time transition is opening or closing, conflicting information about when registration is closing, no replies to emails/Facebook queries. No information on wave times , how the waves are split or what wave you're in.

Am I expecting too much or would this information be standard knowledge at other tri's?

"Serious about athlete care" is the company motto, but I would of thought a bit of communication would be the start of athlete care?

Fluffybums

OP, I think the kids events will be in the castle gardens and consist of games and races.

Waves of 50 for swimming are going 5 min apart, first off will be the Olympic distance at 10 am, there will be around 6 waves (should make for quite a crowded swim on the upstream; the flow on the Nore is deceptive). Then briefing/warm-up for sprint, again waves of 50, they're expecting around 7 waves, expected start around 11am. The super-sprint will go off in one go at around 12.

Any problems on a wave may lead to hold up on the waves to facilitate removal of swimmer involved and replacement of safety craft/lifeguards.

According to the website registration finishes at 8:30 on Saturday morning.

kingQuez

RacoonQueen wrote: »

I'm mulling over the wussy one for 'first time triathletes'

Did you sign up?

RacoonQueen

kingQuez wrote: »

Did you sign up?

Triathlon is too scary

mloc123

littleredspot wrote: »

Why do you say that?

I'm not very experienced in these things, but with 3 days to go: There's no maps of transition, no Garmin/videos/elevations/physical descriptions (other than poor maps) of the routes. No indication of what time transition is opening or closing, conflicting information about when registration is closing, no replies to emails/Facebook queries. No information on wave times , how the waves are split or what wave you're in.

Am I expecting too much or would this information be standard knowledge at other tri's?

"Serious about athlete care" is the company motto, but I would of thought a bit of communication would be the start of athlete care?

Let's just say the 'company' that run it don't have a great record. I wouldn't expect much. And no, I don't think you are expecting too much... Most other races provide all this.

pc11

I just entered for this - anyone know if you can park near the transition?

The bit that worries me is I believe there are huge distances in transition so quite a long way in bare feet or bike shoes.

littleredspot

pc11 wrote: »

I just entered for this - anyone know if you can park near the transition?

The bit that worries me is I believe there are huge distances in transition so quite a long way in bare feet or bike shoes.

Not sure where you can park, (another thing that you would imagine would be on the website) but it shouldn't make any difference to where the transition is. The swim entry is a few hundred m from transition, so it would be wise to have flip-flops or old shoes for this walk, there's a bit of a run through forest paths between swim and T1, which will be barefoot. After the race you will be in your running shoes for the walk back to your car.

noeleoreid

roco71 wrote: »

Anyone know what is happening for the kids event at the KK triathlon on the 23rd?

Kids event cancelled this year due to last min insurance problems ..

Ceepo

Doing the OLY myself, (first time) so am a bit worried about it :eek:

Got talked into it, go on you'll be grand, only 200m up stream and you'll fly back down, No bother to you, you'll be fine, easy one to start with etc etc
Then they tell me its 375m up, river :eek:

Dont know how the waves were sorted out as i know someone in the wave behind me is wwaaaayyy stronger swimmer that me, should be fun for them trying to pass out slower people,

Anyone know what the current is like ?.

+ side the forecast is good

Looking forward to it all the same hope it will be a good event

Best of luck all

littleredspot

Ceepo wrote: »

Dont know how the waves were sorted out as i know someone in the wave behind me is wwaaaayyy stronger swimmer that me, should be fun for them trying to pass out slower people,

As far as I can gather the waves have been split in the order you entered. Myself and friends had asked to be put together but to no avail. Am I correct in saying that it's unusual to mix men and women?

Ceepo wrote: »

Anyone know what the current is like ?.

Haven't seen it this year , but last year it certainly was a HUGE help on the downstream bit.

Chartsengrafs

True, big help. But don't let it put you off on the way up Ceepo, just relax and you'll be fine.

My training has gone great, taper, eating well. BUT, starting course of antibiotics today

Ceepo

Thanks Basster,
Relaxing is far from my mind, surviving will be the key, ha,ha
hope the antibiotics do take it out of you for tomorrow,

What wave are you off in think i'm in wave 5

littleredspot

Off to bed, good luck to everyone tomorrow

Ceepo

Well thats it, done and dusted.

First oly done, and survived,

Good event too, a few thing on the - side, like having to Q up for reg only to find we had to do it all again to get in to Transition. WTF,
And a serious lack of TOILETS.

Have to say i enjoyed it all the same, good course and Fantastic setting,
Great weather as well,
My swim was great considering i'm not the best at it, good enough bike. (haven't been doing much on it lately), got a stitch problem from about 6k on the run, had to ease it back for the last 2k, but all in all happy with my first OLY.

Might even do another.

Ps hope the rest of the lad's on here had a good race.

Now waiting for the Results, might not be so happy then:)

pc11

That was my first Olympic too. The swim was crazy fast, the bike was fine, the run was suffering. I think I needed to eat a bit more. I only took in a tiny cereal bar and 2 gels plus drinks. Think I should have had much more energy bar for quicker absorption

Some comments: the setting was fantastic. The course was grand too. The cycle had no real climbs, just the odd undulation. The weather was great, although the run did get quite warm. But, the lack of wind was fantastic. Stewarding was generally excellent and lots of them everywhere.

Problems: lack of toilets. Parking would have been better if cars could have parked closer together. I was driving along seeing large gaps between cars, but not big enough to slot in. Lads, think of others please. I wish organisers would ease off on the head pounding music at finish line areas. I had a raging headache all through the race and this didn't help. And I wasn't impressed with diet coke as the drink at the finish.

The motor bike marshal who managed to block the road near a roundabout just as I approached wasn't too clever either.

But, these are all minor enough. Fair play to all who took part and manned the race.

pc11

Did anyone get GPS distances for the legs today? I'd love to know good/bad how my times were.

Darac

Surely it would not have asked too much for the organizers to have a PA system for the race briefing. It was very difficult to hear the guy shouting with all the traffic passing by. Other then that it was a really well organized event. The finish in the centre of Kilkenny was fantastic.

Ceepo

I did here the run was 9.95k, but on a course like that I for one would not be taking it a GPS for fact, with so many twists and turn it will never be accurate.

Not sure about Swim or bike, not worried as Swims to hard to judge, current, line taken, etc etc,
I would only compare my time against everyone else's time for the course that we race on.

The only thing I know is that I had race the same course as everyone that done the Olympic race.
Then i will compare how i done

Jimmy Iovine

To be fair the only real public toilets in Kilkenny are right beside where the finishing line was. Dunnes stopped letting people in and the pubs wouldn't have been open at that early a time.

I was down sorting the people into the different waves for the swimming. My first experience of a triathlon and I definitely think I'll be giving it a shot next year. It was no joke working for 6 hours in that heat. I'm sure it couldn't have been too easy racing in it either.

Well done to everyone who competed. It brought a great bit of life to Kilkenny for the day anyway

Ceepo

Jimmy Iovine wrote: »

To be fair the only real public toilets in Kilkenny are right beside where the finishing line was. Dunnes stopped letting people in and the pubs wouldn't have been open at that early a time.

I was down sorting the people into the different waves for the swimming. My first experience of a triathlon and I definitely think I'll be giving it a shot next year. It was no joke working for 6 hours in that heat. I'm sure it couldn't have been too easy racing in it either.

Well done to everyone who competed. It brought a great bit of life to Kilkenny for the day anyway

Fair play to Jimmy, I'm sure the farmers tan look's good Tonight,:D

But to be FAIR they could have go some Hire a loo for the day !!!

A lot of money was taking in on the event, Ball bark e45,000 and apart from the Olympic Race, First five, all the rest of the Prizes were Cycling Jersey's

Jimmy Iovine

Ceepo wrote: »

Fair play to Jimmy, I'm sure the farmers tan look's good Tonight,:D

But to be FAIR they could have go some Hire a loo for the day !!!

A lot of money was taking in on the event, Ball bark e45,000 and apart from the Olympic Race, First five, all the rest of the Prizes were Cycling Jersey's

Haha I'm skint alive. I'm heading to the hurling tomorrow. Only praying that I'll be in the shade for it. My skin couldn't handle another day of the sun.

I know what you're saying and I agree with it. Maybe if you let the organisers know about it then I'm sure they can accommodate for next year.

Chartsengrafs

Wave 3 Ceepo, glad it went well for you. Very happy with my day, finished within my target time. First olympic distance for me too, noticeable increase in standard as expected.

Put on plenty of P20 beforehand but have two big semi circles on my back from the trisuit! Missed a couple of bits on my arms too, worst and strangest farmer tan I've ever had! Great day for it all the same! Transition was a huge improvement on last year.

Daz1214

i had a great day at it, few minor things as in its a pity there wasnt closed roads for the bike leg but all in all, had a fantastic weekend

greenasgrass

I really enjoyed the triathlon on Saturday. Probably one of the best I've done so far in Ireland. Yes the queues were a bit long to get into transition but I was in a later wave so no panic on me and they were coming up the queue to make sure the olympic competitors skipped to the top.

I did the sprint distance by the way. Haven't made the step up yet!

My only comment would be that the swim was not 750m or even close. I measured it on the map this morning and reckon that it was 600m at best. When I saw my time was less than 10 mins I knew that even with the current behind me something was wrong. I can't even do that in the pool! Oh and what was with the bottle in the goody bag?! Useless!!

The marshalls were extremely good all throughout the course and even carried all our stuff up from the start back to transition in trolleys. Was really impressed! Proper bottles of water on the run (not plastic cups), loads of fruit and water at the finish, really good cycle route with no big climbs, signage on the run was first class, open road cycle but the guards had the traffic held off and the cars were very patient so felt very safe the whole way round even when out in the middle of the road overtaking.

Anyway thank you to the organisers for a well organised, well marshalled event. Will definitely come back next year.

mcathlete

The lack of toilets is an obvious problem, but rest assured that this will be fixed next year. To be honest, if that is the one major complaint we can certainly resolve that next year and Im glad to see that the majority of people enjoyed it....

roco71

What a fantastic setting for a Triathlon. The weather was fantastic which was a major bonus and after recently watching the Windsor Tri last week on the television, I am sure that Kilkenny could attract the same numbers in time. Apart from the aforementioned glitches, this was an absolute great Tri, will deffo be back next year. Well done all round.

Jimmy Iovine

greenasgrass wrote: »

The marshalls were extremely good all throughout the course and even carried all our stuff up from the start back to transition in trolleys.

Not gonna lie that was all my idea. It was the only it would have been possible to bring them back. If they were left there then they would definitely have been robbed I reckon or at least thrown into the river.

littleredspot

A great day out. The weather helped, but also the fact that there was a lot more athletes and supporters made for a very enjoyable day. As mentioned all the staff/ marshalls were helpfull and friendly on the day and the signs were clear. The quality of the setting can't be underestimated either, and I for one preferred the run route this year.

I felt that the organisation pre race was very ramshackle. there was different info on Facebook pages to the website (which had very little) A lot of info was only sent out on Thursday evening and even that was so badly put together it had to be done again. Little things like everything been listed in alphabetical order of your first name, the wave numbers being different on the wave times sheet to everywhere else, just tend to rankle. Then there was the long queues for registration and transition and the aforementioned lack of toilets and loudspeakers. Also was there any drafting marshals? Didn't see any motorbikes.

It would be interesting to get a reply to Greenasgrass's query re the swim distance, I tried measuring it on Google Earth and would agree. Separately I think the run was about 5.3k and the cycle 19.75 (open to correction) Would these be standard deviations?

All of my criticisms are easily ironed out by some proper organisation though, and judging by the fantastic atmosphere and buzz around the town, I'm sure it will be back next year bigger and better.