Westport Triathlon June 6th -National Series

toomuchdetail

Just to let you know our sprint Triathlon is open for entry for Saturday June 6th ,this year we are National Series . We also hope to keep 95% of the same course with perhaps some changes around transition .
It is a sheltered swim 750m swim, a flat fast bike and a flat run through Westport House. Its a 9am start so the weekend is still young to make the best of Westport .

Entry is through sportstiming


http://register.sportstiming.ie/ps/event/WestportTriathlon

toomuchdetail

We have junior (16-19) ,senior and relay and they range inprice from €30 For Juniors ,,€45 Seniors and €55 relays.
It's always a good race with very positive feedback. make a weekend of it.

toomuchdetail

*Bump

toomuchdetail

Race is filling up well , will we see any Boards regulars in Wesport ?

woody1

clashes with metalman swim but for that id be there, watched it last year whilst minding kids in the playground beside it, looked like a great race,
next year definitely

toomuchdetail

Just over 3 weeks left - We are also running a new initiative for an inter-company relay challenge which hope will encourage those not up to a full sprint to get involved in a relay representing their workplace .

Individual entries going well . Get in while you can .

http://register.sportstiming.ie/ps/event/WestportTriathlon

toomuchdetail

If anyone is interested in getting in for next Saturday we are closing entry this Wednesday 3rd June.

Mos Eisley

Are last years results available online? No sign of them on Westport tri website or triathlon Ireland.

Thanks

Kurt_Godel

Another shortened swim for a NS race. I wasn't there myself- the report on TI seems to suggest tough conditions leading to a 500m swim to accommodate newbies ("Well done to all those first timers today and those relatively new to the sport, despite a shorter swim of 500m it was tough going."). Anyone from here do have an opinion on the conditions?

catweazle

I know a girl who swam 9.41 for the 500m - If I had saw her swim that for 750m it wouldn't have surprised me as she is a super swimmer, so conditions must have been desperate for her to be that slow

woody1

few clubmates did it, heard it was rough,from a clubmate thats far from a newbie..
i was swimming in mullaghmore , which was sheltered from the worst of the wind and i found it rough but 99% of the entry managed it,
westport would be more open to the wind from that direction though..
cycle went out into the headwind , was supposedly very very tough..

BTH

Swim was changed and slightly shortened, and they were told it was to be 500m, but it was longer than that as the times show. The wind out west on Saturday meant the swim was definitely going to be changed. (Wasnt there myself but spoke to people who were)

You should come to Salthill Kurt. Only one person swam under 14minutes for our "sprint" swim yesterday morning. Couldn't even break 15min myself.

Kurt_Godel

Sounds like you had tough conditions in Salthill too BTH!

Tough conditions also in Camlough- who had prepared for the worst, informed people the day before to expect hard weather, and extra safety measures in place. That's a model template which is better than cutting courses to suit limited swim abilities.

joey100

I was up in Camlough and was surprised it wasn't cut to be honest, Especially after Carlow. to be fair to the people doing the tri up there I didn't hear anyone mention it or the possibility of it happening. Plenty of extra safety on the water and everyone knew what was happening beforehand. Goes to show a race can go ahead even if it is choppy and cold and people will be ok.

BTH

Kurt_Godel wrote: »

Sounds like you had tough conditions in Salthill too BTH!

Tough conditions also in Camlough- who had prepared for the worst, informed people the day before to expect hard weather, and extra safety measures in place. That's a model template which is better than cutting courses to suit limited swim abilities.

Nope, beautiful calm water. They just added a little on, to be sure to be sure.

catweazle

Kurt_Godel wrote: »

Sounds like you had tough conditions in Salthill too BTH!

Even better Kurt - water was perfect - not a ripple!

Event organiser decided to increase swim distance to 1100m to take advantage of the good conditions, a fine cheer went up when the entrants heard the news

The men of the west do not shorten or cancel triathlon swims

BTH

catweazle wrote: »

.... increase swim distance to 1100m ....

Whoever told you they swam 1100m needs to learn to swim straight. It was more like 950, but I wasnt going to complain

ShineyShiney

A little over 900, out side buoy drifted slightly 😉. Perfect conditions, don't think I've ever seen better for a tri in Salthill.

toomuchdetail

Kurt_Godel wrote: »

Another shortened swim for a NS race. I wasn't there myself- the report on TI seems to suggest tough conditions leading to a 500m swim to accommodate newbies ("Well done to all those first timers today and those relatively new to the sport, despite a shorter swim of 500m it was tough going."). Anyone from here do have an opinion on the conditions?

Kurt I suggest you read the TI report again as the swim wasn't shortened to accommodate newbies , I know as I wrote the report and I was also race director and not only had we a plan B for the swim we had a plan C . shortening a swim for any race is never some lightly and considering the 30knot winds having a swim at all was a challenge. Unfortunately in Ireland weather needs to be planned for and you cannot disregard safety advice . We were able to move to a new swim location within 50meters of the original swim within 45mins of the call been made at 7am Saturday morning.Athlethes were briefed Friday at registration and also Saturday morning on the impending changes. The swim measured approx 575m and the run to transition was another 150m hence the extended swim times. Also considering water safety for your weakest swimmers is a must , this sport will not develop if everyone is a sub 10m 750m swimmer., there are not enough of these types of people to support club races or NS races. I can arrange free entry for you in 2016 if you want to sample the swim and the race itself and the 100% positive feedback.

Kurt_Godel

Hi toomuchdetail,

It wasn't a criticism per se of the shortening, more a comment on the line I quoted that newbies seemed to be a factor in the shortening. You've more or less verified that yourself ("considering water safety for your weakest swimmers is a must"). That's the TI line on the issue too. I wasn't at your event so can't comment on it specifically, but I've been at far too many shortened/cancelled swims where the (lack of) ability of the weaker swimmers is the deciding factor in what swim route is undertaken. I doubt too many race organisers want to see their route curtailed, and maybe there is a better way of ensuring the advertised race goes ahead (while also keeping people safe).

I don't know what that better way is right now, it might be extra safety boats for NS races, it might be OW swim competency certs, if might be lowering the water temperature regulations... I'm trying to get an idea of why races are swim-curtailed, and also what happens when races such as Lough Cutra (low water temps) or Camlough (chop and winds) go ahead. Hope to put some sort of proposal to the AGM later in the year regarding the issue.

gerfmurphy

I did Camlough it seemed to be very organized for a difficult swim.
Extra boats and I believe they waited for the waves to finish before sending out another wave. This way the boats were not stretched over a larger amount of people. They also had a pontoon so if you were rescued they didn't have to immediate ferry you in.
The race was really very well run overall.
Saying that with 200 odd people in the water on a calm day or a blustery day the water turns white and chopping when it's go time so not really for the faint hearted or nervous swimmer it seemed a tight course

EC1000

Kurt_Godel wrote: »

I'm trying to get an idea of why races are swim-curtailed

Hi Kurt,
I've luckily never had to make that call in any race I've been involved in but the reason for swims being shortened is that nobody wants to be the race organiser who (after some form of tragedy) has to justify their actions to an angry mob who will say it was obvious that the swim should have been cancelled (even when it is not the case). Cancelling or shortening a swim will always be a subjective call given the number of variables involved but if there was a definitive set of guidelines for use in making such a determination, I think that would be most welcome (but perhaps fantasy for now).

Kurt_Godel wrote: »

Hope to put some sort of proposal to the AGM later in the year regarding the issue.

Was that not on a few weeks ago?

woody1

from what i heard westport did well to have a swim at all, they moved it to a straight line swim along a less open stretch where the swimmers wouldve had the wind behind them , and it was still rough..

i agree with you kurt on the overall point of what your getting at, i do think the water temps are too high, and too many swims are cut,
but i dont think your grasping how rough the conditions were in the west at the weekend.. camlough is in a very different location to the quay in westport, ive no doubt if salthill was on saturday and not sunday then it would have been cut / moved / called as well..

as for how to tackle it, i like the competency thing but i think a very low percentage of everyone currently doing triathlons would bother to do it, ok so if you want to n.s. race then you have to have it, would be an idea.

wave starts ! normal course for those with competency cert / experience , shorter course for anyone that doesnt have it / feel up to it ?

i should point out that im not the greatest fan of sea swimming, choppy and swelly conditions and what i would call rough others wouldnt, thats fine, but i wouldnt want to see someone elses swim cut because of my failings, i wasnt in westport but the descriptions i got are from people with a lot of experience..

joey100

Can't see any sort of swim cert happening. TI want to increase the numbers doing triathlon, from the experience on this board and talking to people at races it's the swim that people are nervous of when they are doing a race, with many only doing barely enough to get by. Make these people have to complete a cert before the race and I'd say the majority wouldn't do one. Lower numbers completing races, lower numbers in the national series = lower sponsorship for TI. Look at the changes to the national series, down from 5 races to 4 so that more people will complete it and then they have higher participation figures to sell to sponsors. Can't see them putting something in place that will more than likely lower these numbers.

ShineyShiney

I can confirm that Salthill would not have had a swim if it was on Saturday.

Well done to all involved in Westport in getting their race run in awful conditions.