Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie

Hardman 2020

Options
13»

Comments

  • Options
    #62
    rodneyr1981
    Registered Users Posts: 540 ✭✭✭rodneyr1981


    What a gem of a race.
    Swim was long but same for everyone.
    Honest bike and winds didnt help. Some unreal views. With my swim I was passing a few on bike and not once did I see anything even close to drafting. Nice change from some European races.
    New run course was forced on him. 10 times up that hill was a cruel.

    Savage performance by zico


  • Options
    #63
    griffin100
    Registered Users Posts: 4,768 ✭✭✭griffin100


    okane1 wrote: »
    Bryan finished first, sub 9hrs

    8.55.23. He won €1,000 for going sub 9hrs, and then donated it to a friend for her medical treatment. Classy dude.


  • Options
    #64
    niallo32
    Registered Users Posts: 620 ✭✭✭niallo32


    Great tough race I think was the common consensus. Alan put on a very good show.


  • Options
    #65
    peter kern
    Registered Users Posts: 3,359 ✭✭✭peter kern


    that sun rise in the swim was something else and the bike was fab unfortunatly iam a really bad singer but i was singing along for most of the day loved it .

    pitty stephen punctured as i think he was only 2 min back to me at 90 k and likley would have finished a good bit closer to bryan, he might have finished sub just over or under 9.10,

    hats off to Alan and Iam the TO from ti , iam sure there was loads of work involved by those 2 guys in the last few weeks


  • Options
    #66
    Kurt_Godel.
    Closed Accounts Posts: 376 ✭✭Kurt_Godel.


    Results

    Brilliant event, that sunrise swim will be remembered forever, and great conditions for the bike.

    Well done both Alan the organiser for keeping the show on the road, and our Alan on 2nd place overall.


  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #67
    TheBazman
    Registered Users Posts: 6,462 ✭✭✭TheBazman


    Great event all round....fantastic scenery...except for the lad in the mankini on the bike course!


  • Options
    #68
    RacoonQueen
    Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 20,364 Mod ✭✭✭✭RacoonQueen


    This one definitely on my radar if I'm to go long distance again...what's the female standard with a 11:39 winning time?? Not sure what Zico's fitness is like but looking at that you should probably still be expecting decent Irish women to be breaking 10:30 at least?

    edit: well done to all one here, great looking through the results this year and seeing so many familiar names from Dublin/Wicklow


  • Options
    #69
    TheBazman
    Registered Users Posts: 6,462 ✭✭✭TheBazman


    I think there were only 13 female entrants


  • Options
    #70
    peter kern
    Registered Users Posts: 3,359 ✭✭✭peter kern


    RacoonQueen wrote: »
    This one definitely on my radar if I'm to go long distance again...what's the female standard with a 11:39 winning time?? Not sure what Zico's fitness is like but looking at that you should probably still be expecting decent Irish women to be breaking 10:30 at least?

    edit: well done to all one here, great looking through the results this year and seeing so many familiar names from Dublin/Wicklow


    the answer is difficult .
    alan is extremly generous offering 1000 euro for a sub 10.30 for a female given the worlds best male and female best times are 7.35 and 8.17 it should be an hour ie 10 hours for a female to get 1000 euro bonus, yet females dont come to the races and 13 is by far the highest number of females in the race ever i think 4 years ago it was 2 females on the start line.

    at the same time both female winners for waterville and bantry had times that were rather competetive with the male winners


  • Options
    #71
    griffin100
    Registered Users Posts: 4,768 ✭✭✭griffin100


    Really interesting interview with BMC on Tri Talking Sport - up on the Hardman FB page - https://www.facebook.com/HardmanIreland/

    To get over the lack of aid stations on the bike he stashed bottles on the course :)


  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #72
    Kurt_Godel.
    Closed Accounts Posts: 376 ✭✭Kurt_Godel.


    With a very good race in Valentia yesterday, its fair to say the Hardman series has been a real highlight in this difficult year. Brilliant weather and routes, solid organisation under ever-changing circumstances, and a very welcome stress-free environment for Covid-weary athletes. Roll on next year, hopefully the message gets out that these races are quality, and numbers entering will grow further next year.


  • Options
    #73
    peter kern
    Registered Users Posts: 3,359 ✭✭✭peter kern


    Kurt_Godel. wrote: »
    With a very good race in Valentia yesterday, its fair to say the Hardman series has been a real highlight in this difficult year. Brilliant weather and routes, solid organisation under ever-changing circumstances, and a very welcome stress-free environment for Covid-weary athletes. Roll on next year, hopefully the message gets out that these races are quality, and numbers entering will grow further next year.
    You know better but I think numbers already almost doubled from last year


  • Options
    #74
    Kurt_Godel.
    Closed Accounts Posts: 376 ✭✭Kurt_Godel.


    peter kern wrote: »
    You know better but I think numbers already almost doubled from last year

    Yeah numbers were up in Valentia from last year- would have been higher still except for the Dublin lockdown. The water was clear, the Skelligs were visible on the bike, the Blaskets on the run... I was chatting to a couple of lads who started the original Valentia race, apparently they raised €130K for the local hospital over the years, before the club sort of dwindled and the race folded. They were happy to see the successful second incarnation Hardman have grown.


  • Options
    #75
    jnk883
    Registered Users Posts: 116 ✭✭jnk883


    Only thing I would say is that Alan should be open to some constructive criticism as well. Not everything can go 100% correct and its always great to see improvements. At one point I did a "10km" race in Killarney, it was closer to 9.5km and instead of listening to runners he brushed it off as we were all wrong. Some of the races can be a bit chaotic if you don't know the course before hand as well.

    He is doing a great job getting races out there but he could be even a bigger presense if he listens to feedback and does a better job on advertising races and reporting on them afterwards. Sometimes I wondered did the races even go ahead as their would be silence for days. Even 2 days ago instead of just coming out and saying the duathlon is cancelled it was a post saying an important email was sent out, so people who weren't doing the race had no idea. Even for the Waterville and Bantry half it was all secretive with posts saying email was sent out but no details given. There was a chance to show everyone how much work he was doing and the options he was providing and lead to a lot of questions.

    Its been a tough year for him and other races around Ireland and fair play to him. I just hope he listens to the feedback and he will continue to grow, unfortuately I know of a fair few people who won't go back next year even if it was one of the only races around.


  • Options
    #76
    rodneyr1981
    Registered Users Posts: 540 ✭✭✭rodneyr1981


    Tough crowd!

    Did bantry and hardman and both instances there were multiple videos showing the courses and major junction watch outs. Not many races provide that type service. If you also take into factor that on the run into waterville the numbers had to be cut to meet the new covid19 requirements and pre hardman the run course was flooded so had to work on addressing that.

    Are we at risk of expecting IM standards for a fraction of entry fees?


  • Options
    #77
    jnk883
    Registered Users Posts: 116 ✭✭jnk883


    rodneyr1981 wrote: »

    Are we at risk of expecting IM standards for a fraction of entry fees?

    Nope but I have been at other races that were far better run also during covid. Example Mallow Tri this weekend is one for many to follow. I stayed away from his races after previous experiences (before covid) but when people asked about the swim in Dingle and Killarney he refused to accept they could have been long. A few extra marshalls out on course to help with saftey etc would help as well. I'm just saying he could take some feedback on board. My own personal experience pushed me away from his events and others are similar now as well.
    FYI I have never done an Ironman event so not in a position to know what to expect but I can compare to club run races that are cheaper if I am expecting certain standards for the entry fee.


  • Options
    #78
    Kurt_Godel.
    Closed Accounts Posts: 376 ✭✭Kurt_Godel.


    jnk883 wrote: »
    A few extra marshalls out on course to help with saftey etc would help as well.

    Whatever about your other points, any of the Hardman events I've done over the years have had plenty of kayakers and boat support. I don't think they've ever had a swim cancellation, and they've never had a major incident because of lack of safety support on the water.


  • Options
    #79
    jnk883
    Registered Users Posts: 116 ✭✭jnk883


    Kurt_Godel. wrote: »
    Whatever about your other points, any of the Hardman events I've done over the years have had plenty of kayakers and boat support. I don't think they've ever had a swim cancellation, and they've never had a major incident because of lack of safety support on the water.

    I can see how that was misread. I meant marshalls out on the bike/run course rather than the swim. Outside the swim being long I think only one year it was hit and miss with the conditions of the swim but as you said there has never been a major incident on the water.


  • Options
    #80
    peter kern
    Registered Users Posts: 3,359 ✭✭✭peter kern


    jnk883 wrote: »
    Only thing I would say is that Alan should be open to some constructive criticism as well. Not everything can go 100% correct and its always great to see improvements. At one point I did a "10km" race in Killarney, it was closer to 9.5km and instead of listening to runners he brushed it off as we were all wrong. Some of the races can be a bit chaotic if you don't know the course before hand as well.

    He is doing a great job getting races out there but he could be even a bigger presense if he listens to feedback and does a better job on advertising races and reporting on them afterwards. Sometimes I wondered did the races even go ahead as their would be silence for days. Even 2 days ago instead of just coming out and saying the duathlon is cancelled it was a post saying an important email was sent out, so people who weren't doing the race had no idea. Even for the Waterville and Bantry half it was all secretive with posts saying email was sent out but no details given. There was a chance to show everyone how much work he was doing and the options he was providing and lead to a lot of questions.

    Its been a tough year for him and other races around Ireland and fair play to him. I just hope he listens to the feedback and he will continue to grow, unfortuately I know of a fair few people who won't go back next year even if it was one of the only races around.

    Fair play for writing this . I hope you send it to him .I guess pretty much everything you say is valid. ( At the same time I kind of like all those things you critisise ) so of course not everybody is going to like the races he is organizing. And it's good there is different races available.


  • Options
    #81
    peter kern
    Registered Users Posts: 3,359 ✭✭✭peter kern


    jnk883 wrote: »
    Nope but I have been at other races that were far better run also during covid. Example Mallow Tri this weekend is one for many to follow. I stayed away from his races after previous experiences (before covid) but when people asked about the swim in Dingle and Killarney he refused to accept they could have been long. A few extra marshalls out on course to help with saftey etc would help as well. I'm just saying he could take some feedback on board. My own personal experience pushed me away from his events and others are similar now as well.
    FYI I have never done an Ironman event so not in a position to know what to expect but I can compare to club run races that are cheaper if I am expecting certain standards for the entry fee.

    Btw IAM pretty sure the distances in mallow where out by a lot as well . Can I ask why this did not bother you in that race.


  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #82
    jnk883
    Registered Users Posts: 116 ✭✭jnk883


    peter kern wrote: »
    Btw IAM pretty sure the distances in mallow where out by a lot as well . Can I ask why this did not bother you in that race.

    Because it was clear weeks before hand the bike was 22km and the run was 4.5km. They provided details of the course. Yes the swim was closer to 700 but I would think if it was a mass start we could have jumped in at the pontoon and swam back a bit (like other river or lake swims) but that was not possible on Sunday due to rolling start.

    And I'm terrible on the bike. So I'd prefer if a swim and run was long and bike was short but I still loved the course.


Advertisement