Anybody else doing Eireman?

cantswim

savaloy wrote: »

Tis a real shame. You can't rely on the weather and cancelling the swim must have been the right thing to do in terms of safety. Still a gutter for all involved

This was/is an ambitious project and I hope that any organisational issues can be resolved so that going forward it will still attract support. Am I right in thinking that the original plan was just for a middle distance and long distance race and that the sprint/olympic were added at a later date? If so, I wonder whether it might be sensible in the future to split the races over either different (a) weekends (b) days?

If all the stories re marshalling are true then its hard to see this event ever being a success. It tooks balls to try it... pity for competitors and organisers it sounded like such a mess.

jaymack75

I'd agree with most of the points already made.

Obviously a huge amount of work has been done by Eoin and team to get the triathon wkend up and running. I think it was very ambitious to have all those races, over different courses on the same day in the first year of running it. I hope next year will incorporate some of the suggestions and the Eireman can build on this year.

I did the full distance...........some thoughts

Swim
Before the race, anyone I talked to who knows courtown, always said what a lovely calm beach it has.....I'm really gutted about the swim.......I can't really go around calling myself an ironman now, but yet the way my body is suffering now.....surely I deserve recognition of my effort:)

bike course
was tough....that southerly wind was deadly - and there were a few hairy moments on the tribars heading northbound at 50+kph with side gusts.......better put those shorts in a hot wash :rolleyes:

Maybe on a calmer day that course is fast, but today.....not fast for me.....also, I clocked it at 185km

Aid stations were plentiful and i found the helpers were great.

I didn't think that course was very spectator friendly.......my support had to do a fair bit of driving around to see me at isolated places on the run and bike then at the finish. Maybe if the loops went back into courtown, it would be better - supporters could position themselves at one of the bars / hotels and

No special needs stations......didn't bother me, but seems to be standard on the bigger IM's

Transition
I liked the tent for the full distance
Racking was fine, but first come-first served (ryanair) rather than designated (aerlingus)....fine for me as I racked early saturday and got a good spot, but others had their bikes moved around

Run Course
Advertised on the homepage as beautiful (yes), interesting (yes) and flat (definitely not). There were SO many rollers, even some lovely sharp inclines in the forest. It reminded me of the rolly run course the last time I did the lost sheep. Maybe it's just me, but I would call the run course tough. Coming off the gravel section and having to do an out-n-back to the cone both inward and outward wasn't appealling.
The forest section wasn't great for spectators....also on the way to the transition turnaround, runners came out of the path to the woods, run the cone and back into the path.......blink and you'll miss it (not great for spectating)

Finish line
As previously mentioned, no medal, water, food, aknowledgement of any kind. No music or PA system. I've been to lots of races where your name is getting called before the finishing chute, music is blaring, the crowd go wild (possibly) and someone is there congratulating you while handing out drinks / food etc. There's prob no need to go overboard, but I found this a serious anticlimax after racing my little socks off all day. It didn't conjure up the 'Ironman' experience I had anticipated for the last year....maybe someone else here can say whether I'm off the mark here.

trinewbie

boomdocker wrote: »

Results?

I would say we could be waiting

jollybean

I raced the Half and I have to first of all say HUGE RESPECT to Eoin for being ambitious enough to attempt organising the four races yesterday. There were lessons learned for next year for sure. Everything went against the organisers on the day.

secman

As a former triathlete I went down to see the race, I was not surprised the swim was cancelled as I predicted this on Friday. It was hugely ambitious to run 4 events on the same day. Having been involvled in organising races in the past, running one event is well enough to handle. I was positioned at the entrance to the transition area, as you are all aware 2 sharp bends to be negotiated whilst thinking about the actual transition. I noticed a van pulling in to park just to right hand side of actual entrance, some bikes turning in were caught by surprise to see van parked there. I told the guy that it wasn't a great place to park, he stood in middle of gateway ( blind to what was coming around last bend) and told me it was ok to park there as he was a COURSE REFEREE !
Several of the people in my vicinity all looked at each other puzzled with his response, to which I retorted: Well that makes it even WORSE. He soon got the message and moved his van.

Hopefully the organisers have learnt a harsh lesson. Only for people like them there would be NO races so rather than slate them , constructive points would be more helpful. Mine being, pick one distance and get it right.


Secman

Highway_To_Hell

I think Jaymack has summed it up well, I did the Middle distance and would be at the middle/back of the field so didn't have any course direction issues as I just followed the field.

I think the bike course could be great but as said not spectator friendly, one thing that really pissed me off was the blantent flouting of the drafting rules. I was overtaken on a few occassions by groups of 10+ working as teams this was really annoying espessially on the north bound sections with that headwind. The road was wide enough to avoid drafting. As far as I could see there was only one draft marsal on he motorway. At one point when been overtaken by yet another group I let a roar about drafting and one guy turned around and said "its the only way to travel" or words to that effect. It will be interesting to see now many drafting offenders there will be when the results are anounced.

Feel sorry for Eoin as I am sure he put a huge amount of work into the event and if it is on next year I will probably sign up for it as the location is easy to get to.

JustTriIt

Looking from afar and reading the comments posted above it seems that too much time, money and effort may have been spent advertising and promoting the event rather that prioritising the athletes. The original launch of Eireman planned to bring 1200 triathletes to Courtown for a full and middle distance race. Presumably, the budgets were based upon this. Following a lowering of the entry fee and when the numbers weren't entering, the Olympic and Sprint races were added - to increase revenue back to meet budgets? Obviously this puts loads more pressure on the organiser. And if the revenue isn't there, something has to give. I can't believe there were no medals!

Cancelling the swim had to be done for safety reasons and that's just bad luck, but as mentioned by someone else above - pick a distance and do it right. It costs a lot of money to enter races and athletes deserve to be looked after, not DQed through no fault of their own.

griffin100

I really really do not want to have a go at the organisers about the race setup because in the end it had no real effect on my race once I eventually got started. However there were some basic probems that should be sorted out if the event is to be run again. Remeber that this was run as a revenue generating exercise so competitors should get value for their entry fee. I think people are more forgiving in club run events.

• For the love of god would someone buy the organisers a loud hailer or a PA system. Giving a race briefing to 300+ people in a howling wind without one is pointless. It allows participants to shout over the speaker and gives rise to competitors relying on word of mouth for their information. There was quite a funny bit during saturdays briefing when Eoin said that the decision to swim or not would be made on Sunday morning by the safety people. Que D4 accent from the crowd 'Why cant competitors decide whether or not they want to swim?'' Eoin: 'Safety, blah blah'; D4 Accent: 'It's because your're against democracy isn't it'' Jesus what a kn*b!!
• It was quite apparent that there was no thought out contingency plan in the event of a no swim. The alternate swim course suggested on Saturday night may have been decided some time ago but the duathlon scenario had certainly not been considered in any great detail hence all of the confusion. Given that it was apparent from early week that the swim was in doubt due to the weather forcast this should have been addressed.
• Running 4 races at the same time on what were 3 different routes spread the marshals very thinly. Also I wounder if some marshals cried off when they seen the weather. There was no marshall or signange at the motorway exit for the end of the HIM / IM cycle. I know it says on the website that its your responsibility to know the route but it still needs to be marshalled properly. The late addition of the two shorter races may have been an attempt by the organisers to minimise their losses when it looked like the race was undersubscribed.
• There were no timing mats on the course.
• There was no clock at the finish line.
• There was no mount - dismount line for the bikea leading to some confusion. Not having a designated mount line also allowed the HIM runners and bikers to cross paths.
• There were no distance markers anywhere on the course.

There were some positives:

• It was great to cycle on a closed motoreway and run on closed roads.
• The aid stations were all well stocked.
• The run route through the forest was a nice touch - although I'd say it was interesting for late IM finishers when it got dark.
• There was lots of loo roll in the adeqequate numbers of portaloos
• There were enough physiotherapits to keep the queues for a massage short - I waited for only 10 minutes (and the physios were all gorgeous)
• There was some entertainment laid on for kids which helped when mine came down to Courtown to see me finish

I really do hope that this is run again and that the organisers learn from their mistakes. Driving home via the backroads of Wexford I got to see how many road closures there were and how many marshals and Garda there were involved that competitors never got to see. The organisers should be congratulated for persuading whoever they persuaded to close a major national route for a day. They can't do anything about the weather and everone I spoke to agreed that a swim was just not possible. The misdirection of runners was unfortunate but is not unheard off even at major events. The only downside is that if I do decide to do a IM next year it won't be this one, I'll aim for a location with hopefully better weather.

ComDubh

It's obvious from the posts that there's lots that could be improved and that should have been done better to start with. From my point of view in the middle of the Sprint group, I'd a great time. I loved the motorway cycle and the forest run was a blast (did someone say it was flat??). The gripe I'd add to the ones above was that we were expected to hang around in the rain for 2 hours to get our bikes out of transition.

potsy11

My heart goes out to all the Long distance athletes that raced yesterday.

I was at the finish line from 13.30 - 18.00. Being an Ironman myself I know all about the effort, commitment, preparation and money that each athlete has to spent to achieve this goal.

All things considered (weather, 3 other events etc) I think it was an insult to the athletes for the race organisers to go ahead with the long distance event. They would have know from an early stage (months ago) that the budget did not allow for a full distance race yet they still went ahead with it. I think Eoin and co let their greed get in the way of making what was a simple decision - Cancel the full distance. Only 50-60 competitors entered, what were they thinking? They could have concentrated fully on the 70.3 distance and made it work really well - then next year move up to the full distance.

For the athletes as they entered the finish Shute I am sure they were bursting with pride and so they should but as a spectator I can only say that it looked more like a walk of shame. A dozen or so claps from the spectators and silence from the finish line. No clock, no music, no MC, no Race Director, No medal, No first Aid (they were in the car park chatting in the ambulance), I personally had to give out foil blankets to some of the finishers who had no support with them and were clearly freezing from being out in the cold so long. 2 full distance athletes getting sent in the wrong direction by marshals and I know one who just gave up as a result. I mean its crazy. I had to shout at the marshals to direct the athletes at one stage.

The book stops at the top. I wont even go into what I heard happened at the race briefing. It sounds like the race organisers could not make a decision to save their lives.

I saw Eoin twice at the finish line and I had to restrain myself from going over to him and letting him have it.

This is not the first event this year to end up with a lot of unhappy Triathletes.

No more I say. Its time to be vocal. This was a for profit tri for Eoin. The other disaster races this year were the same. Lets leave triathlon organisation to the experts - the clubs. Commercial tris should be avoided at all costs unless they are run with a Proven Race Expert with the FULL influence of an established club behind them.

Iron Enthusiast

First race report I've seen:

http://www.endurancesource.com/#/eireman-race-report/4535320515

griffin100

Ok, given all of the negative stuff about the race including my previous post I thought I'd give race report as my race didn't really suffer from some of the wider organisational issues.

It was apparent from early in the week that the swim might be affected by the weather. The long range forcast from last monday was giving big wind for the weekend so I was wasn't surprised when it was cancelled, just dissapointed. This was my first HIM so I was really looking forward to doing it.

Sunday morning at 5am found me in a pitch black car park trying to get the wheels on my bike and my bottles on. Made my way to transition to get the expected bad news on the swim and racked my bike. A visit to the portaloo brought back memories of Feile 1991 - the last time I sat in a portaloo at 5am!!!! Was a serious amount of confusion as to wtf was happening and when the race was starting. The IM racers went out at 30 sec intervals and then it was our turn.........eventaully. We all gathered for the good news that the run before the bike was going to be 4km and not the initially indicated 8km (I was very happy with this news). At this stage I'd wee'd about 25 times and I was worried about my nutrition given that at that stage I should have been an hour into the bike.

Off we went on the 4km run, took it easy, and had to stop to wee again (were was all that fluid coming from). Into T1, narrowly missing bikes coming out at high speed. Took my time here as per my pre race plan and then was on the bike.

It was an absolute joy to do a long bike on a closed course. The first 5km or so was a rough enough road to the slip road for the motorway but once on the motorway it was down on the tri bars and some serious speed. For the first few kms on the motorway I was thinking that this was easy, lovely surface, no wind that I could feel, and high speed. Then I started to see some of the front runners coming back from the turnaround point. They all looked like they were struggling.....it didn't feel that windy to me and it wasn't hilly. Then I did the turnaround and the wind hit me in the face. There followed what I think was about 40-45km of a cycle into a strong headwind. At times I had to drop to the small cog. If there had been any serious hills I would have had to walk. As someone said to me after the race, 50kph+ with the wind, down to 15kph on some parts of the course into the wind. Two laps followed, with the wind behind you for the northbound leg, and in your face for the southbound leg. There was some serious drafting going on on the southbound leg which p*ssed me off somewhat although I did see two vehicles that looked like draft marshals so hopefully offenders were warned. My nutrition plan for the bike was a gel every half hour and two litres of energy drink over the expected 3-3.15hrs of the cycle. This worked and supplemented with a couple of banannas from the aid stations I didn't boink at any stage which I delighted with given the effort taken to cycle into that wind. Fair dues to the half a dozen or so spectators on the course.

Off the motorway for the last few kms to courtown, again with the wind in the face and into T2. In T2 I dried my feet and out on some dry socks and again we were off.

Felt really good at the start of the run and for the first 10km. Did the first 10km in about 58 km minutes, not particularly fast but around what I was hoping for. At about 12km the wheels came off a bit when my right hamstring started to hurt. This was soon joined by the left hamstring so that the last 7km or so were tough. My lack of run training came back to haunt me here. I spent too many weekends this summer racing rather than doing long runs in preparation for the HIM. My longest run in training this summer was only 15km and I only did two of these. During the run I ate a gel every half hour or so and drank a litre or so of water and some coke on the return leg (great stuf). The last 2km or so through the forest was tough, especially the last couple of 'hills'. I still managed a sprint finish taking two persons in the last 100m. Finiah line was very quite, no music, no announcer, no clock - I didn't care, my kids were there to cheer me on.

Post race got a massage after a short wait which hurt more than the entire race and spent a couple of hours with the kids eating seaside ice cream and chips - great stuff altogether. In hindsight I probably shouldn't have squeezed myself into the fire engine carraige of the kiddies train in the fair with my 1 year old - I had to get the spotty teenager operating the ride to pull me out again after my legs refused to work!

Leaving aside all of the nagatives about the organisation there is the makings of a great race here. If the niggles were sorted out and you had good weather it could be a fantastic event. I've never cycled on a closed motorway route before. I'll definitely consider doing the HIM here again next year if it goes ahead....

Dowee

Did the half yesterday and agree with everything said about it above. Was sent the wrong way by the marshall, even after asking if I was supposed to take the left turn as I was reasonably sure we were supposed to go that way. It's not good enough to say that competitors should know the course, after many hours of cycling and running your not necessarily thinking straight and so you are relying on marshalls. I was pretty sure that was the turn but if you've a marshall there telling you it isn't then you are going to listen to them.

I hung around cheering the ironmen across the line between about 6pm and 9pm, it was a farce, no food, no water, no physio tent.

For me the tone was set for the day's racing when the 1st ironman came out on the bike, hit the first T junction and asked the marshall which way he was to go. She shrugged her shoulders and said she didn't know. The spectators then yelled at him to go left. She then walked away from the junction and wasn't seen again. The spectators then moved the cone and barrier to block the right turn and so make it obvious which way to go.

Highway_To_Hell

Good report Griffin, just checked by bike leg stats: fastest speed was 60.2 kmh and the slowest was 17.3kmh (i could run faster then this).

I do think this gould be a great event and hopefully Eoin will address the concerns listed so far.

Any idea about the results, I noticed at the finish line they had a screen showing peoples finishing times (the last 6-8 through the line) I did not see mine but I am sure all the info should be easily taken from the chip timing company and uploaded to the website once the official results are announced.

mloc123

Prize ceremony was meant to be at 11.30 today, anyone go?

rapidoe

Sounds like a disaster

trinewbie

Sorry one big positive that i forgot to include in the initial post was how good and how tough the bike for the half proved to be.

blanchdub

other advise to the organizers: can you please have the direction right on the web site for next year?

the direction on the web site was not correct:
"http://www.eireman.org/node/7 > From Dublin
Take the N11 > Turn off at Exit 23."

The exit 23 was closed in fact. The correct exit was 22! so I had to carry on and exit at 24 where other cars we lost too. We had to drive on back roads. I reckon I lost 20 mn, quite stressful and frustrating.

Apart from that I enjoyed the sprint. I liked the challenging run.
I feel really sorry for the organizer and the competitors for the HIM/IM...
I will join Eireman next year as I am sure the organizers will take all this on board.

mloc123

blanchdub wrote: »

other advise to the organizers: can you please have the direction right on the web site for next year?

the direction on the web site was not correct:
"http://www.eireman.org/node/7 > From Dublin
Take the N11 > Turn off at Exit 23."

The exit 23 was closed in fact. The correct exit was 22! so I had to carry on and exit at 24 where other cars we lost too. We had to drive on back roads. I reckon I lost 20 mn, quite stressful and frustrating.

Apart from that I enjoyed the sprint. I liked the challenging run.
I feel really sorry for the organizer and the competitors for the HIM/IM...
I will join Eireman next year as I am sure the organizers will take all this on board.

tbf a mail was sent out to all sprint and olympic people with road closure details and alternative directions.

Running Bing

JustTriIt wrote: »

Looking from afar and reading the comments posted above it seems that too much time, money and effort may have been spent advertising and promoting the event rather that prioritising the athletes. The original launch of Eireman planned to bring 1200 triathletes to Courtown for a full and middle distance race. Presumably, the budgets were based upon this. Following a lowering of the entry fee and when the numbers weren't entering, the Olympic and Sprint races were added - to increase revenue back to meet budgets? Obviously this puts loads more pressure on the organiser. And if the revenue isn't there, something has to give. I can't believe there were no medals!

Cancelling the swim had to be done for safety reasons and that's just bad luck, but as mentioned by someone else above - pick a distance and do it right. It costs a lot of money to enter races and athletes deserve to be looked after, not DQed through no fault of their own.

I think you might have a point here although I would'nt be so harsh on the organiser as to say it was all about money.

I think the point about this event is it took massive effort and it was a huge gamble to even get it off the ground. I think for it to be viable now and in the future effort had to be directed to certain areas at the expense of others.


All that is of little consolation to competitors of course, what happened is really awful and I feel really sorry for those invloved, but if lessons are learned from this (and it seems there are many to be learned) the event will be stronger in the future.

Went down to see it this weekend and one thing Id point out from a spectators point of view is that there needs to be more info on when things are going on. There were massive eireman banners everywhere but not once did I see a timetable or anything addressed spectators.

All in all I dont think the weekend went smoothly but if lessons are learned from this it could be a really great event in future. It has a lot of potential...its off the ground now so in future more focus has to be placed on athletes needs.

JustTriIt

The point I was trying to make is - why should one (profit taking) race organiser be excused for making so many basic errors when a club race would be laughed at for doing the same? This isn't rocket science. Stick a few signs on the course and let people know which way to go. Don't describe a run course as flat when it's not. Don't direct athletes the wrong way. Don't promise a DJ and live music at the finish if you're not going to provide those things. At least provide a medal and a drink for someone who slogs their guts out all day. Every race in the country can be said to have potential. Some of what happened yesterday gives the impression of penny pinching.

potsy11

JustTriIt wrote: »

The point I was trying to make is - why should one (profit taking) race organiser be excused for making so many basic errors when a club race would be laughed at for doing the same? This isn't rocket science. Stick a few signs on the course and let people know which way to go. Don't describe a run course as flat when it's not. Don't direct athletes the wrong way. Don't promise a DJ and live music at the finish if you're not going to provide those things. At least provide a medal and a drink for someone who slogs their guts out all day. Every race in the country can be said to have potential. Some of what happened yesterday gives the impression of penny pinching.

Thats exactly what I am talking about. Good on you Just tri it. We need more people to get angry and voice their opinion.

What is it with us Irish. We have this attitude of 'ah sure the poor organiser' or 'next year he will get it right'. Right now we are the laughing stock of Europe. UK magazines will be reviewing this race and we will look like complete amatures.

I was listening to South East radio and a certain top irish triathlete came on and he had a good rant. Proper order too.

24 hrs later and still no word from the race organiser. Does this surprise anyone? People are still blogging saying 'I'll support the race again next year'. Are you crazy????????:eek:

i tell you what - give me 250 quid. You train you ass off for 6-8 months. I'll point you in the direction you have to cycle. Come back in - i'll mind your gear for ya, and then I'll point you into the forest and you can clock 26miles on your watch. When yu come back, I'll have the radio in my car blaring with 'we are the champions', I'll give you a bottle of water, a banana and a medal and send you on your merry way. Thats better than what you got this year.

I'll see you the year after for same again!!

jollybean

I'm sure the organisers are reading this.

Could you perhaps let the half IM people know what you are going to do about the results, Or when you are going to make a decision.

It would perhaps alleviate some of the annoyance if we weren't so left in the dark, especially those of us who had significant placings:)....its getting annoying telling people i don't know where i finished.

Highway_To_Hell

jollybean wrote: »

I'm sure the organisers are reading this.

Could you perhaps let the half IM people know what you are going to do about the results, Or when you are going to make a decision.

It would perhaps alleviate some of the annoyance if we weren't so left in the dark, especially those of us who had significant placings:)....its getting annoying telling people i don't know where i finished.

Would TI who would have supplied the race director and sanctioned the race not have some say over the results? might be worth getting in touch wiith them. In saying that once when I had a query about a race result with them they were far from helpful and dismissive of my query to the point of being rude.

911sc

I raced the HIM distance on Sunday.
A lot of points have been raised by previous posters, some fair, some unfair, some i agree, some i don't. So, I am not going to add comments on these, there is enough food for thought for organisers to digest.

Let not forget that without Eireman, we may not have add ANY IM distance in Ireland. Some posters mentioned that organisation of such events should be left to clubs. Well, what have the clubs being doing then? If i am not mistaken, only one other IM distance is on the calendar, Ireman 226 Challenge. It take loads of resources to organise such long events and could be why clubs are staying clear of them.

I do hope that Eoin will read this thread. I am sure it's going to hurt, no doubt. But sincerely hope that constructive comments will be taken onboard.

Courtown is a good spot for the swim (on good days!) and great photos can be taken when athletes runs up the board walk from the beach.
Mother nature decided against a swim, so run instead. I would have liked the first run to be 8km as initially announced rather than 3.5kms, as i would have been approx same time as my expected swim time.
Cycle was a the best road you can get in Ireland. I clocked 98kms, so got 8kms extra free for the price of 90kms, no pb with that.
The run is very challenging. I was not prepared for such an "Irish flat" run course.

I would like to thanks volunteers who help on the day. They froze their ass all day under the rain in the windy to give us bottles/gels/bananas (plenty of at all stations) and help at various tasks.

JustTriIt

911sc says that clubs aren't doing anything but I just had a look at the Ireman 226 Challenge website - it's run by the Triangle Club. They even ran an Ironman way back in 2000. Maybe they'll manage to get their triathletes involved and do a decent job this weekend. I think clubs stay away from these long events because they're not money spinners unless you really get the arm into the competitors which they won't do.

And at 140 quid Groomsport is a damn site cheaper. I did this race last year and it's a tough run, but at least you're told that before you enter. I felt it was value for money - and at least any profit made was going to a club and not into someone's pocket.

And we shouldn't bother looking to TI for results. They'll only tell you what they have received from the organisers.

911sc

JustTriIt wrote: »

911sc says that clubs aren't doing anything but I just had a look at the Ireman 226 Challenge website....

911sc wrote: »

organisation of such events should be left to clubs. Well, what have the clubs being doing then? If i am not mistaken, only one other IM distance is on the calendar, Ireman 226 Challenge.

Please don't quote me wrong. Clubs are organising loads of events, but not long distance ones bare the 226:)
I think it is the first year that the 226 is being held...may be thanks to Eireman.

911sc

Deleted post. Duplicate of above.

cantswim

Highway_To_Hell wrote: »

In saying that once when I had a query about a race result with them

You should go to the race organisers themselves about race results. TI have no input into them apart from the TI race referee assigning penalties for drafting.They take the results as given to them once finalised.

JustTriIt

As I said, Triangle Club had run a long distance race way back in 2000, so why would they suddenly decide to copy Eoin's high profile race this year? At the Half Ireman last year they said they were going to go full distance so they were certainly in early.

And speaking of jumping on bandwagons - where did the Eireman name come from? Given that Triangle's race nine years ago was called Ireman and that they already had an established race running, was it not a bit cheeky?

I know the guy from Triangle brought this up at an organisers meeting last year that I was at. He asked for the name to be changed in case it caused confusion.