Hardman Races 2021

Down for Bantry myself. Have only ever heard good things about Hardman events and the fact he managed to hold races last year was the selling point for me. Looking forward to it.

Kurt_Godel. wrote: »

What's the opposite of "such a bring-down, man?"... up for debate, but in this ever tightening world of lock-downs and restrictions, the Hardman race series remains a beacon of Hope and Joy. Worth posting a heads up that there are only a few entries left in the full Hardman (Bantry half has a few left too; Waterville half and Valentia sprint are sold out).

I'm in for Valentia, Waterville, and Killarney, hope to see a few from here down there! Who is in for what?

(Disclaimer- unfortunately I have received no gratuity or benefit from this shameless product placement... probably should be on a commission at this stage but to be honest I've gotten more than my value for entry money over the years, and I think repeat customers think the same:D)

Some of us were well aware of Hardman before the masses got wind of its greatness I did the first Hardman in 2011 when there were only 16 individuals and 9 relay teams. I'm delighted the races are finally getting the recognition they deserve and are selling out. I love the no no nonsense approach to these races and the fact I can do a full IM on a course like that and it won't cost me a small fortune. They have their faults but I can live with that.

I entered the full distance for 2021 as soon as it opened - if I can remember how to swim it'll be my 7th time doing it. It's my annual triathlon!!

The video here is well worth watching if you haven't seen it. Shows how epic the 2020 Hardman was

https://www.facebook.com/HardmanIreland/videos/1506455146216018/

Good to hear as he has definitely got some pedigree.

I will get around to his races. They are on the bucket list.

How do you feel about the other applicant Peter? You have commented on the vice presidents while only saying the other sounds good.

It does seem like he doesn't say a whole lot compared to Alan's alright, in my opinion though, there is a conflict of interest in a private race operator also being TI president, I'm sure it can be sorted out but no proposal has been put forward. I like Alan's proposal though, I like the focus being back on the normal TI member. I like the call for better transparency and consistency with rules. Not sure I agree with the contracting out of the high performance element to 1 provider but at least he's willing to look at it and look at alternatives to what's currently in place.

The governance experience of Bernard is relevant, he would have knowledge of the governance elements of what is required for an organisation in receipt of state funding, it's pretty onerous. I think mentioning the strategic planning is clever too, Ti's strategic plan seems to have been up in 2020 so I'd guess the main role of the president will be facilitating the design and creation of the new strategic plan.

In my memory its one of the more public elections, and has brought attention to the role. Even some of the issues mentioned by Alan would have to be looked at so the publicity can only be a good thing I'd say.

i do not disagree with anything you say.
and i guess should i have said that what alan says sounds good or better than what bernhard says than I guess this is not what i should have said.
what i see so far is one proposal that has an intention that can be discussed.
and one which says a lot but nothing specific. its a bit like the eu contract with astra. best intensions are great but how do you pin them down when you ask for the delivery.
I would want to hear more ideas from bernhard if i was to vote as from the manifest i feel i do not get and outline what bernhard stands for. and i do not agree with all points alan comes up with but at least i have somewhat an idea what his plans are, and personally i don't buy product because the packing looks great i try to look more at the ingredients.

me us a non club member can't vote so i guess maybe i would prefer somebody that questions the current voting system than somebody that would appear to support it.


i do not disagree with alans conflict of interest, and i guess i would want to hear how this is going to be defined.here i agree just writing a rising tide rises all ships is not definite enough.
at the same time the overall turnover of dublin city tri certainly at its peak was likely very similar to alans turnover if you use the last few year before covid.so does bernhard have less of an interest of conflict or will be pushed less by its club to look after their interest?

also has there not been a conflict of interest in the way that 3 out of the last 4 presidents have come from 1 tri club I wonder could we have maybe looked a bit further. i also wonder do you think it is good that the ti president for the last 20 years have been always within a 25 k circle of dublin? to me that is also a bit of a conflict of interest. I see those 3 aspects not too big of an issue but when i thought about conflict of interests with alan 2 to point did cross my mind immediately.

i guess personally i think TI is a very well oiled machine last time i checked ti had more Facebook follower than the german federation ...
and germans has a 13en times higher population , I think ti is doing also very well in international posts but i do hear many people complaining that TI seems to have forgotten a bit the base and its too much of a business .
so iam not really sure who has more interest of conflict at the moment ti or hardman so i guess maybe it would be useful to talk a bit more about it
alan as a private race organiser maybe trying to look out to much for his own interests vs at the moment Ti trying to dictate and i would guess getting solid kickbacks for that *i do not know how that works which systems clubs use in order to be a nat series race.

personally i do not understand why people would care about nat series races at the same time you have give it to TI that they created something
that seems to interest many people.
ie in poland for instance that is completely different the market is totally dominated by independent race organisers i never hear anybody in germany telling me i want to focus on a national series next year. so fair play for ti to create something that makes is feasible for clubs to organise races with bigger relevance.

one thing i would be a bit more interested in is how much of the current international work that ti does is made by the president, the vice president or the ceo. i might be wrong but i have a feeling this is something that has shifted quite a bit over the 20 years ago where in the early 2000s the president was everything president vice president and coo, to a more backseat role of the last 2 presidents. i wonder how right or wrong I would be here. i certainly do agree TI needs to look outwards as well.


high performance is a bit tricky i guess this really depends on how many athletes qualify for oly games , so given that an ti president election is after an olympic cycle its hard to judge the result if the result is not there.
you could say that italy has outsourced somewhat to joel fillol and italy has made great progress over the last 4 years. whereby joel was employed by itialian federation but also run his private squad.
at the same time so has norway improved with a more traditional system.
fact is both coaches achieve world class results and at the end this is more important.

I think this is the real key thing. I can't find anywhere on the TI site about what the role of the president is, but I've probably missed it.

i was looking a few days ago but could not find it either.