Sea2Summit 2016

Tibulus

Hi All,

Next weekend will be attempting my first adventure race at Sea2Summit. Have a few questions as this is my first race of this kind.

1. What is the best type of clothes to wear, understandably this will be weather dependent. I was thanking tri suit would a long sleeve tee shirt over.

2. See in an email that they state you must carry a basic first aid kit and a foil blanket. How do people generally carry these?

3. I have trail runners for the climb, will have have to carry these from the beach to the mountain on the bike with me?

4. Was going to bring a cycling jacket for each of the cycles.

Any other general advice welcome!!

stampydmonkey

Hey best of luck with it.have done it the last 3years and doing it again this year.

I'll be wearing bibshorts/trisuit, thermal long sleeve top, cycling top with back pockets, and a gillet. Also a pair of fingerless cycling gloves and snood if it's anyway cold. Possibly a pair of leggings too.

Will pack runners in a small bag with cycling jacket for the cycles. It can be cold enough on the decent and cycle back into Westport esp if wet and windy.

Won't wear overshoes, too much hassle. Cleats are defo worth it for the cycle up through the pass.

Gona carry mandatory kit and a gel or 2 in pockets of cycle top/gillet this year. Hopefully ok. Have previously gone up the reek with the bag on my back with all the mandatory kit and a camalpack as I get parched. Usually leave cycling shoes on my tri bars while going up the reek with the bag.

It's a great race and the town is hopping before and after. Get racked early Friday if u can. It's bedlam in the evening. Set ur bike up for the race, liquids, gels and all. Leave ur cycling shoes in plastic bags on your bike when racking. No point carrying them for the first run.

That's all I have and I'm sure others do it differently. Enjoy it

woody1

the medical kit gets packed up quite small and will go in the pocket of a cycling jersey / tri top

generally wear just a heavy compression / base layer top and a bike jersey, tri shorts, few times ive brought a rain jacket and just left it tied to the bike rack
unless the forecast was really bad that will be safe enough, if you have a really light jacket that will go into a pocket maybe bring that for the mountain

i put the flat pedals on the bike and just use trail runners all the way, depends which race your doing, short race you can get away with it,probably not so much the long one,

good luck with it, first year in a while im not doing it

Davee71

I'm doing it this year again for the 3rd time. LAst yeat I had a small backpack with a camelback type drinks bladder in it. I found this really useful going up Croagh Patrrick, I carried my trail runners in it when on the bike. What I found REALLY beneficial was to bring a spare long sleeve top/base layer and leg warmers and a hat in a plastic bag for when I finish the race. If you have someone waiting for you at the finish, not an issue, but I travel with people doing the race and its really important to get into some dry warm clothing straight after as you'll be empty after it.
Enjoy the race and best of luck!

opinionated3

Hi all. I'm about to do the sea2summit for the first time this Saturday. I've done gaelforce last year and i did the connemara adventure race earlier this year. How tough is the cycle on this event? I heard there is a tough climb in it but is it worse than the climbs in gaelforce?

flash84962

RE: the climbs on GF and S2S.

My opinion is that S2S is tougher.

GF is a steady gradual climb, at that stage you have about 15k of flatish running and the kayak done.

The climb in S2S comes after 4k run/8k cycle/up and down the reek. So more fatigued. Coming off the reek you turn left on the bike to lecanvey, after the village its left again and you meet a smallish hill which has a fast decent. Its left again towards Drumin and you have a k or 2 to catch your breath and then you hit up the Hills of Maum.

Its a great climb on a good day. Its like interval training. Its a series of ramps. There is a kick in the tail as there is a bit of a fake summit. You think your there and the road turns and you have another ramp to do. Your about 15k in at this stage of the cycle and that all the hard work done. Most of the rest of the cycle is straight forward. S2s have pictures of everyone at the last ramp up on facebook and 70% plus seem to be pushing their bikes at this stage!

I tried to add the strava links for the hills, but I cant as Im a new user, but there easy enough to find.

I'll be going with cylce shorts, baselayer and cycle top. The mandatory gear gets put in a money bag and into the jersey along with a light jacket. I wear trail shoes throughout with flat pedals on the bike. Too much hassle carrying shoes/bag and changing four times.

Im looking forward it now, one of the best races of the year.

opinionated3

Thanks for that informative post! I'm pretty nervous about the cycle cos I'm fairly poor in the climbs. I reckon it will be my picture this year in their Facebook page pushing the bike up the hill! !

flash84962

Last year the road was wet and there was a lot of gravel on the steep parts, so I found there was a lot of wheel spin and lose of grip going up. So very easy to lose momentum. Hopeful it will be dry and it will make it a lot easier. But overall the cycle in S2S is probably easier. The bog road up to and after Croagh Patrick in GF is much tougher on a road bike than any part of S2S.

thesimpsons

Davee71 wrote: »

I'm doing it this year again for the 3rd time. LAst yeat I had a small backpack with a camelback type drinks bladder in it. I found this really useful going up Croagh Patrrick, I carried my trail runners in it when on the bike. What I found REALLY beneficial was to bring a spare long sleeve top/base layer and leg warmers and a hat in a plastic bag for when I finish the race. If you have someone waiting for you at the finish, not an issue, but I travel with people doing the race and its really important to get into some dry warm clothing straight after as you'll be empty after it.
Enjoy the race and best of luck!

is there a bag drop area at the start/finish do you know. I asked organisers but didn't get a reply

stampydmonkey

thesimpsons wrote: »

is there a bag drop area at the start/finish do you know. I asked organisers but didn't get a reply

I doubt it. Definitely none at the finish

stampydmonkey

Best of luck tomorrow folks. Hopefully weather is ok

thesimpsons

Great day yesterday. Did the Spirit, 1st time ever on croagh patrick. Couldnt believe the speed of some of the Supreme people descending. Thought it was dangerous tbh as they were bouncing down narrow steep areas against those still heading up. Overall delighted with the day. Came in around where I'd hoped for and spent rest of day celebrating

Zzippy

I see a couple of the leading contenders were disqualified. Anyone hear the reason why?

Slogger Jogger

Zzippy wrote: »

I see a couple of the leading contenders were disqualified. Anyone hear the reason why?

From what I saw on FB the organisers felt that they had transgressed rules, re: support during the race. There was a post along the lines of everyone knew the rules and the consequences of not adhering to them. Not a good situation for anyone involved.

flash84962

Well how did people find it??

i did the supreme for the second time. Completely enjoyed it and an improvement on last years, so cant complain. Up and down croagh patrick in 65 minutes and managed to stay on the bike the whole way up the maum. So a good day at the office.

I think the supreme is so testing. You need to be able to run a good flat road race, mountain run, climb on the bike and then time trial in on the leenaun road. Never mind transitioning through all the above discipline.

stampydmonkey

Slogger Jogger wrote: »

From what I saw on FB the organisers felt that they had transgressed rules, re: support during the race. There was a post along the lines of everyone knew the rules and the consequences of not adhering to them. Not a good situation for anyone involved.

Heard they were drafting behind a supporters van/jeep on the way back in. They were apparently warned twice and also caught on video by motorcycle Marshall. It was made very clear at the briefing that this was not allowed so if they were (I'm only going on secondhand info), then fair play to the organisers. They shud know better, if they were at it.

68 lost souls

This is the post on facebook, another winner DQed this year because of support vehicles? What is going on in the country. I can't comment as I wasnt there but is this a new scurge of cheating, like drafting, or is this rules being taken too hard?

Message from Westport Sea2Summit in relation to Disqualification.
Every Adventure event has a basic list of rules which they ask competitors to abide by.
These rules and regulations are in place to ensure a fair and safe race for all competitors.
With this in mind we inform participants every year that Westport Sea2Summit is a self sufficient race. There are no bike repair vehicles allowed on the course. Competitor support vehicles are NOT allowed to accompany any competitor around the course. Failure to comply will result in heavy time penalties and/or disqualification even if no advantage has been gained by the support vehicle.
IN CASES WHERE RULES HAVE BEEN BROKEN DESPITE REPEATED WARNINGS IT RESULTS IN DISQUALIFICATION.
7 years ago we created Westport Sea2Summit adventure race. The spirit of the event is that it is an event for everybody, of all fitness levels and offers no unfair advantage to any competitor. We have worked extremely hard over the past 7 years to build this event into a fun filled, friendly and fair event.
We would like to thank all who helped make the event such a memorable occasion especially the competitors, volunteers, Civil Defence, Gardai, Murrisk Development, Croagh Patrick Stakeholders Group and Mayo County Council.

stampydmonkey

Found it tougher than last year but did less training. Bout 2mins slower. Really lucky with the weather again.

Really enjoyable weekend and has to be one of the best organised race in the country.

Davee71

I'm now on day 2 witht he post S2S funny walk
The legs yet again feel like they've been battered with baseball bats. I hadn't prepared as much as previous years especially brick sessions and because of that I hadn't much expectation of a good time. I just ran within my limits and ate alot on the way. Croagh Patrick was tough on my back and I had to pause a few times to stretch it. Got over the Maum without getting off the bike (1st time in 3 attempts). I had expected a 4 hr finish, but did 3:47 which I'm delighted with.
Very well organised event and the food at the finish is great. The night stage was some craic, Matt Molloy's was jammed.

opinionated3

Had a good sea2summit. Thought it was very well organised and laid out. It was my first time doing it so i was a little apprehensive. Surprisingly, on the day, my cycling was my strongest discipline. The event was soured a little by the news of the disqualifications, but when i was informed of the transgressions i was delighted that the organisers stood their ground. Apparently someone also had "support" in the gaelforce west this year but it went unpunished so I'm glad to see that sea2summit backed up their rules with concrete action. ...