Race / Tri Reviews, details and announcments

wellboss

Was thinking about doing joey hannon tri, would be cool to return to where i went to college, however Iv never done a pool based tri and I was wondering what do people wear, do people still wear their tri suits, I know they are tight fitting but I can imagine them causing a little drag around the chest area or maybe not.

Any advice??????

HardyEustace

Yes, people still wear their tri suits.

Joey was my first last year and while it was great to be in the safety of a pool, I found it very stressful and not very enjoyable.

I'd recommend doing Athy sprint instead. You're practically floated downstream, nice flat course and well organised.

tunney

HardyEustace wrote: »

Yes, people still wear their tri suits.

Joey was my first last year and while it was great to be in the safety of a pool, I found it very stressful and not very enjoyable.

I'd recommend doing Athy sprint instead. You're practically floated downstream, nice flat course and well organised.

To balance this out a bit. I'd do Joey in a heat beat over Athy.

eoin ryan

Éireman X the Off-Road Triathlon opens Monday 23rd at 9am.
Date: Sunday 10th May
Venue: Courtown Harbour, Co Wexford

First 100 entries get a groovier T-shirt.
Anyone who has entered Éireman Long or Middle distance Tri (ONLY*) will get a €5 discount.

www.eireman.org

*Does not include the NEW Olympic distance event on same day as Long & Middle distance.

HardyEustace

tunney wrote: »

To balance this out a bit. I'd do Joey in a heat beat over Athy.

T, that's grand, I know that everyone has different prerogatives for their races. I hope I don't sound snide when I say this but it might be helpful for the OP if you could just throw out a few reasons why this is. It might help them decide which would be the better race for them.

The only point I wanted to make to the OP was that I, as someone who is a very weak swimmer, thought that a pool based swim would be the least stressful option, however I'd have to say that it was the most stressful as you're in a confined space with a small distance to overtake people in. It just didn't work that well for me.

However I appreciate everyone is different and it's one of the appealing characteristics about triathlons that everyone has something to work on - be it a particular distance/transition/something. Thus I just think it might be helpful to let the OP know what it is that you feel is so appealing about Joey.

In defence of Joey, I loved the run and thought that the whole atmosphere of the day was wonderful. In particular because the olympic was after the sprint, I found it really exhilarating and exciting to watch the elites compete in the olympic distance.

Since I'd joined a club in January, it was lovely to have the chance to hang out with the people that I'd gotten to know and to cheer on my fellow club members who competed in the Olympic as well.

wellboss

Cheers Guys,

I plan on doing both races anyway, I'm was never a fan of pool swimming either but thats starting to change now as im improving so I'd like to give it a chance and see what it's like under race conditions. All I was wondering was what was the best gear to wear, so tri suit it is.

Happy training

Bambaata

So the first available TI member spots for Hell of the West are alreay gone! That was quick. I logged on at 8:02 to find only 50 of the 160 remaining already. I got in with just 11 remaining!

MCOS

Certainly was. I slept in and forgot :mad: I'll be on the ball for the 29th March though. Kilkee is one of my A goals this year so I have to get in...

donothoponpop

I posted this over on the IMRA/Boards AC thread, but in case people missed it, details below of a trail run series over the next three months.

Also of interest and upcoming is a new trail race series, in Co. Wexford, which will serve as a perfect introduction to anyone who may be new to hill running. Three races, one each in March, April, May. Full details http://www.imra.ie/leagues/view/year/2009/id/38

The Slaney Olympic Open Trail series is a new Spring series organised in Co. Wexford by Jane and Graham Porter. This league is not an official IMRA League but an Open series arranged by Slaney Olympic, and the first of its kind in Co. Wexford.

blind_hurler

Hi All,

The booking forms for the Youghal are now up on their website
(down at the bottom of the page!!)

http://youghaltriathlon.com/

Details are :

Saturday July 18th 2009 @ 11am (sharp)

Start/Finish: Claycastle Beach Car Park, Youghal, East Cork

750m Swim,19 km Cycle,6.5km Run.Over €3,000 in prizes

Souvenir Polo Shirts for all entrants.

Refreshments available after the race.

blind_hurler

Entry is open for the tri in Tramore it will consist of a 750m Swim, a 18Km Cycle and a 5 Km Run

Spokes Cycles "Metal Man" Tramore Triathlon

22nd of August 2009 - 12 Noon

http://www.spokes.ie/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=16&Itemid=37

MarieC

This will take place around Ennis on June 27th (a.m.). Full details available from http://www.clare10k.com. This is only the 4th year of it but always a good turnout and very enjoyable run.

Slogger Jogger

Picking up the previous review from Euchrid (thanks!) and editing (to save time) on the latest edition...

Edinburgh Marathon:

One of my favorite cities (tick)
The course is definitely fast (tick)
Found the course okay as I definitely prefer marathon routes I haven't run before. While I ran Edinburgh 3 years back the route now is completely different.
The race starts in the city centre and then heads off out the coast in a pretty straight line for 18 miles before turning around and coming back to Musselborough race course and the finish.
From 17 miles or so you can see the lead runners approaching you on the out and back stretch along the coast. The can be good and bad. Good if you're having a good race, but bad if you're struggling IMHO.
We got fantastic weather so the run along the coast was beautiful and the support along the route was good.

Best Bits:
- Great atmosphere.
- If staying in the city centre (like in Jurys) the start line is just around the corner
- Flat course/definitely a PBable course as I found
- It's Edinburgh.

Worst Bits:
- Loo situation at race start. Terrible.
- Non existent expo in city centre Apex hotel
- Queue to register at said hotel
- Bus back from Mussborough race course after race.

Drinks: Had drink to hand whenever I felt I needed it. Luzocade Sport was at most drinks stations too. Later runners had to do without (according to official website some pallets of water were stolen from the course).

Difficulty: 1/5 - 95% either flat or downhill.

Overall rating: 4/5 Personally I'd recommend it. Not sure I could come back to run here though as I'd never go faster

Garmin link (has map): http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/8370285

ZiggyStardust

Hadn't seen a review for Chicago so decided to post one

Chicago is Americas “second city”, and from talking to some chicagoans they always try and better NY, not just from a sporting point of view, but political, arts etc. To me they have achieved this with their marathon having completed the NY marathon in 2007. Don’t get me wrong I loved the NY marathon and would like to do again one day, but overall experiece for me Chicago tops it.
I entered pretty late but from word go was receiving update mails nearly every 5-6 days informing on everything from the weather to elite participant updates. Received a detailed 36 page Participant guide in the post a few weeks beforehand with medical info, race day info and schedule, post race and promotions and services.
Entry fee was $130 for international

Expo:
I arrived in Chicago on the Friday evening and went immediately to the expo. This process was easy enough. There were hundreds of vonunteers making your wait minimal. It is held close by the city center in a massive expo center, had rows and rows of vendors with lots of free samples to try and great imformation to find. The goodie bag was average. A lot of flyers and samples nothing to do with running. Tshirt was nice, nike blue short sleeve.

Course:
The course takes you on a tour of the most famous Chicago areas from downtown, through Lincoln Park, to Wrigleyville (home of the Cubs), back through downtown. It takes you through Chinatown, Little Italy, Greektown, through the southside and finishes back where you started in Grant Park. No big hills to worry about. Crowds cheer along the whole course. And there are aid stations at nearly every mile (see below regarding aid stations)

Other:
For spectators, Chicago is a great marathon to watch. The marathon is like three arms, going north and back to the city, west and back close to the city and south and back to finish. Using the train system you can see people at many points along the way. In the first couple of miles, at the half-way point, and at the twentysomething mile is simple.

The best bits:
No Lottery or special time to qualify. Just sign up, turn up and run.
Crowds are great. Every metre of the course covered and some places (half way, Chinatown, and obviously the finish) 6-7 deep. Just a note, you go through chinatown with less than 10km left and it really lifts you with the carnaval atmosphere, dragans, and floats through the whole town) One of the best of the best bits...
Aid stations well stocked
Perfect marathon for the first timer, and with wave starting, also a great marathon for anyone to set a PB
Free beer at the finish
The wave start (best I’ve seen)

The worst bits:
Not too many to be honest,
I’ll mention the weather (although no-one fault). Just mentioning because you don’t know what to really prepare for in chicago. This year 1 degree at race start, the previous 2 years – heatwave.
The 07:30 start
Expensive, ok although not as expensive as NY but more expensive than european marathons.
The goodie bag could have been better

difficulty 1/5. Ok I’m no veteran marathoner, but have now done 6 (5 different ones) and this is by far the flattest and most supported marathon I’ve done with aid stations aplenty.
beginner suitability – Yes for sure. As mentioned not one hill. Crowd support unbelievable
drinks – Fantastic. There were 20 aid stations, so nearly one every mile. Every one of them had both Gatorade Endurance Formula, and water. One of the aid stations (~mile 17) had Gel (loads of different flavours) and 4 of them towards the end had bananas (my new super food).
Just a note on the stations. These were nearly 100 meters long, about 50m for Gatorade, then another 50m for Water. Never a queue or hassle getting drink.
top tip – Don’t wear GPS watch as there is a tunnel right at the start and you lose signal straight away. Then you zigzag around really really tall buildings including what was previously called Sears tower.
Note, if you do wear you GPS, turn off auto pause, and you will get your Km splits most of the way.

Wally Runs

When it comes to big city marathons, Brussels might not float most people’s boat, I mean Brussels is just the place where the EU is based and is well, dull right? My thoughts exactly, having sat through endless meetings at various places around the city and suburbs, I was dubious that the marathon could be anything but dull. However, anyone I spoke to who lived in Brussels, raved about the parks and sights, so what better way to really see a city than to run through it!

The 2010 Brussels Marathon is in its seventh year, so a baby when compared to some of the other cities. The advantage this gives the runner is a smaller field but the support of a large organisation with good infrastructure, plus hotels and flights are cheaper on the weekends, as it a business city Monday to Friday. Nice to get back to a four or five star hotel after the race for two star money!

On the day there is a full, half, mini and junior run and they share parts of the course, which means that drinks stations are well stocked to supply a number of events and for the marathon runners there was no shortage of drinks as they are out first. The organisers also have facility for marathon runners to supply their own drinks and will have them in place for them at the drinks stations.

The best bits:
The start of the race is from the central area of the city under the triumphal gates (much like the Brandenburg gates in Berlin) and most of the race is on wide well paved roads so you have plenty of room to find your spot. There were drink stations nearly every 3-5 kms and these were very well manned, so not bottles necks. The whole race is through the city and parks, no use of industrial areas to make up the distances. The finish is in the Grand Place and the beer was top notch!

The worst bits:
There were at the start and finish runs of cobble stones and tramlines, which when you are flaked they prove to be a little bit cruel but are quickly forgotten after the finish.

Difficulty
2/5 there is a series of three under passes (down and up some short but steep hills) over the first 5 km; these come pretty much one after the other so you need to work hard here. Later at 19 and 35 km there are some more sustained drags which can sap your will.

Beginner suitability
Yes, if you are running because you want to enjoy the event, this is the one. The course is open for 5 hours.

Drinks
Plenty, every station had 500ml water sports bottles and 330ml isotonic drinks. Later in the course there were gels too.
Top tip
The thought of a cool beer at the end is a great motivator.