Kilcock tri

mloc123

Anyone signing up to this one? Not a TI event but one of the first open water races and closed roads again.

NeedsTraining

Whats the story with insurance for a non TI event?

mloc123

2 stars (poor)

Not too sure, the website says non TI members have to pay €15 extra

catweazle

I am fairly sure that Run Ireland covers the insurance, this is the case in Seb's 25.5 series as far as I know

Brian Crinion

The Belpark events are covered by SportsCover Europe at Lloyds of London to the tune of €6.5million. This is the cover requirement of the various bodies involved; Kildare County Council, Waterways Ireland, etc.

The reasons behind not going with TI insurance where highlighted here on boards last year. The trigger event was that TI weren't able to produce an insurance cert for a six week period in 2008, during which three of our races were held. The decision was then made to take out our own policy in 2009, which continues in 2010.

If you compare the race calendar on IrishTriathlon.com (which lists all events) and TriathlonIreland.com (which only lists it's events) you'll see that almost a 1/3 of all triathlons, duathlons, aquathons and adventure races in Ireland are non-TI events which have their own insurance.

Currently the situation is quite fluid, with no clear pattern. Half a dozen triathlon clubs are organizing events that are non-TI as well as some commercial companies organizing their duathlons and triathlons as TI events, but their swimming and other events as non-TI. I expect it to remain quite fluid as now some clubs and commercial bodies organize as many events as TI did only a few years ago. Hence it is now relatively straightforward for these to get their own insurance. Plus from an insurance companies point of view they know who they are dealing with, so the risk should be lower.

Hope this helps.
Brian Crinion
Irish Triathlon News
Dublin Duathlon Series
Dublin Triathlon Series
WAR: Wicklow Adventure Race

mloc123

2 stars (poor)

Any idea what numbers you are expecting this year?

Brian Crinion

Somewhere around 200, similar to last year:).

I'll post up the current entry list today, when I update the website to include the training days as well as the facebook page. I've been a bit caught up with WAR over the last few weeks.:D

Brian.

mloc123

2 stars (poor)

Cool, its 10 minutes from my house so no excuse not to enter.

catweazle

Brian I have been chasing you by email, are you considering offering an RSS feed from your Irish triathlon website to club websites. I dont like having to use feeds from overseas when there could be a perfectly good one on offer from you

mloc123

2 stars (poor)

Entry list up now, looks like I will be last out of the water in the fast wave... had expected more ppl in it, ohwell.

DustyBin

Anyone know when entry closes for this?

Canal swim - uuugh!!

mloc123

2 stars (poor)

I'd imagine about a week beforehand. I did it last year (500m swim) and it was fine, the canal was murky but apart from that... I didn't get out of the water with a dead cat stuck to me or anything

DustyBin

Thanks mloc, yeah dead cats and submerged shopping trolleys are just some of the things I'm worried about :rolleyes:

Not yet sure if I'll go up or not but the 'super sprint' option is tempting for swim wusses like me

Though I did say I'd do no racing between now and cork ...

Dowee

Does anyone know the best way to contact the organisers of this race? I've emailed the address on the dublintri.com website but I'm getting no response.

DustyBin

ok I'm in, see you there mloc

mloc123

2 stars (poor)

DustyBin wrote: »

ok I'm in, see you there mloc

Cool, will talk to you then. The roads were closed for this one last year, and I presume are this year also... which is always nice too.

mloc123

2 stars (poor)

For anyone interested I cycled one lap of the course yesterday when I was over that way...

From Maynooth to Kilcock, expect a strong headwind... it is always like that. Difference in speed out and back was noticable, I maintained the same HR (no power stats I'm afraid) and the return leg was 9km/h faster.. my advice is get low. The bike leg will be around 18km.

Wind should be with us on the swim, I am not sure it will make much difference in the canal tho'

The run course (if its what I think) will be muddy from the canal to the road.

DustyBin

Are there any hills on the cycle mloc?

Do you think is there going to be much of the run on tarmac/concrete?

mloc123

2 stars (poor)

No hills at all on the cycle, and the road surface is good... I noticed two potholes.

The run, I am not sure but if its the route I think... out along the canal which is trail/path left onto an access lane which looked muddy, left onto the cycle route road and left again into the centre.

Brian Crinion

Replying to a few comments

Yes, we do have road closures, thanks to Kildare Co.Co.

The bike course is pancake flat, it's the same 5km stretch of road from Kilcock to Maynooth that we used last year. It used to be the main N4 before the motorway M4 was built, so it's a great wide surface.

2.5km - Run loop is new this year. It's out along the Royal Canal Way, then back along the hard shoulder of the bike course. For those with a garmin, you'll notice it's about 50m long, but it's a price worth paying for a run loop that brings you back next to transition to build atmosphere. The 50m lane connecting the road and canal is being worked on this week in advance of Saturday.

Unfortunately google earth is poor in the Kilcock/Maynooth area, so the course maps aren't as good as I use for other events I organize.

6 entries left at www.dublintri.com/kilcock.html

Hope to see you on the start line,
Brian Crinion.
www.irishtriathlon.com
www.wicklowadventurerace.com
www.trikilkenny.com
www.dublintri.com

mloc123

2 stars (poor)

Cheers Brian, if you are on here before Saturday...

Is the swim from near the village to the lock gate and then 300m run from here to transition or is it from after the lock to the sports centre?

mcnickle

Hi Brian,

I am living in the Kilcock area and the mapping issue is a right pain. However, i found a great wee site that may help you out for this weekend,

http://ims0.osiemaps.ie/website/publicviewer/main.aspx#V1,688662,739546,6

Good luck!!

Conor

GoHardOrGoHome

mloc123 wrote: »

Cheers Brian, if you are on here before Saturday...

Is the swim from near the village to the lock gate and then 300m run from here to transition or is it from after the lock to the sports centre?

I did the race last year so it starts 550m away from the bridge and you swim 500m from the Maynooth end along the canal to where the canoepolo facilities are (about 50m before the bridge). Then you hop out and you're pretty much at the bikes. Maybe 30m of running.

Wish I was doing Kilcock this year. Too bad it clashed with Wicklow Roar and IMRA Fairy Chase. (and probably five other races!)

mloc123

2 stars (poor)

GoHardOrGoHome wrote: »

I did the race last year so it starts 550m away from the bridge and you swim 500m from the Maynooth end along the canal to where the canoepolo facilities are (about 50m before the bridge). Then you hop out and you're pretty much at the bikes. Maybe 30m of running.

Wish I was doing Kilcock this year. Too bad it clashed with Wicklow Roar and IMRA Fairy Chase. (and probably five other races!)

Did it last year too, the course has changed a bit this year tho... transition is now in the NKSC so the swim is going the other direction.

GoHardOrGoHome

mloc123 wrote: »

Did it last year too, the course has changed a bit this year tho... transition is now in the NKSC so the swim is going the other direction.

sorry! My bad!

rubs

Hi all,

Just wondering if anybody has done this swim before in the canal...what is it like?...is there a current?, is the water clean?...can anybody shed some light?:rolleyes:

Thanks

mloc123

2 stars (poor)

Thread in the events sub forum...

Is the water clean.... no it is murky brown.
Is there a current.... no, perhaps a very slight one going the same direction.

It wasn't too bad last year, no dead rats floating beside us but not the nicest swim you will get.

Torpedo

so far at registration... 48 euro for a fun size pack of Cherrios, t shirt, swim hat and timing chip.... hmm

DustyBin

Well I do like cheerios ...

seanie500

Hi does anybody know the deadline for getting your bike put in the transition area? - am registered already

cant find this anywhere and phoned wheelworx and they dont know either.

anybody know?

Thanks

mloc123

2 stars (poor)

**** me that was a warm one... car said 31 degrees after being parked up and setlled at 26 on the way home. Killed me on the run.

Fredo

Pity the transition was so far away from the village. It could have attracted more spectators. It looked very warm. Well done Mloc123

Dowee

Any sign of the results?

mloc123

2 stars (poor)

Up now on chipit.ie

Some suspect splits in there, looks like a few single bike/run laps

ckeego

Indeed, Mloc, Twas hotter than a snake's ass in a wagon rut as they say In Good Morning Vietnam...The swim was a toughie

boccy23

Enjoyed the day. The heat was indeed intense. But a word has to said about the overall organisation or lack there of. No security or marshalling of the transition area.
No information on the bike or run about two laps. All fine and well when it's said at the start but needs to be said while people are on the course. Can be seen from the run times that not everyone did the two laps.
With the heat that was in, a second water station would have been good at the end of the canal run.
The straw path to the road was pure dangerous.
Some of the above needs to be taken on board. Especially the secuirty aspect. Towel, cycle gloves and glasses were gone when I made it back to collect everything from transition.

mloc123

2 stars (poor)

boccy23 wrote: »

Enjoyed the day. The heat was indeed intense. But a word has to said about the overall organisation or lack there of. No security or marshalling of the transition area.
No information on the bike or run about two laps. All fine and well when it's said at the start but needs to be said while people are on the course. Can be seen from the run times that not everyone did the two laps.
With the heat that was in, a second water station would have been good at the end of the canal run.
The straw path to the road was pure dangerous.
Some of the above needs to be taken on board. Especially the secuirty aspect. Towel, cycle gloves and glasses were gone when I made it back to collect everything from transition.

Yeah, few issues alright...

Drafting - What can I say, when its not mentioned in the race briefing its an invitation to cheats.

Swim - My garmin said over half a km, 50m of which was gravel... couple of mats too much to ask for? As for the people that had runners left to put on when they got out... I presume these were auto DSQ...yeah? Also in the fast wave - "15 seconds to start, oh wait they are gone..."

Laps - As mentioned about.. looks like quite a few single laps of the bike and run route, tbh I don't know what can be done here apart from DSQ.

Security - I was suprised how easily I walked out with my bike at the end, boccy23 afaik the race insurance should cover theft.. get onto them.

Apart from that not a bad race, I like the bike course and the closed roads were nice even if they were a little crowded. Swim was nicer than expected.

Brian Crinion

Just to reply to mloc123 & boccy23, as I feel your race experience was different to all the smiling faces in the photos here.

Race Briefing
I didn't quote the whole rule book in the briefing, as the briefing is primary for specific hazard points of the course, changes on the day, etc. In my mind a briefing should be brief. Do you actually believe anybody intending to draft, decided not to draft after hearing it explained in the briefing? As a triathlete, the last thing I want to do is spent 10mins during my warm-up listening to the briefing, so I don't impose long briefings on others.

Start Time
The timing on the start photos disprove your comment about people jumping the start.

DQ's
My question is, who actually intends to cheat? You'll see across all the races I organize, there has to be a clear intention to cheat for a DQ. I rookie making a first timers mistake doesn't warrant a DQ as there was no intention to cheat. I know that's a personal viewpoint. The results published 2 hours after the finish are provisional, final updated will follow shortly.

Lost & Found
Feel free to email with your queries, however I don't know how security could have watched over your towel and gloves. Bikes and wetsuits are easy to look out for, but a towel and gloves!!!

Hope to see on the start line soon,
Brian Crinion.

Hard Worker

Brian Crinion wrote: »

Just to reply to mloc123 & boccy23, as I feel your race experience was different to all the smiling faces in the photos here.






DQ's
My question is, who actually intends to cheat? You'll see across all the races I organize, there has to be a clear intention to cheat for a DQ. I rookie making a first timers mistake doesn't warrant a DQ as there was no intention to cheat. I know that's a personal viewpoint. The results published 2 hours after the finish are provisional, final updated will follow shortly.

Intent or lack of is irrelevant. If someone doesn't run or bike or swim the full course, they should be disqualified.

Brian Crinion

The answer is in your quote

"The results published 2 hours after the finish are provisional, final updated will follow shortly."

rubs

My first time doing this race. A gang of us travelled up from the Waterford area to do as the "canal" factor was bit of a novelty and something w had not done before.

Must admit that it looked a bit dodgy before we got in but once we started swimming it was fine, not too cold at all and hardly noticed the reeds etc...

Only downside for me was the 400/500m run from swim to transition but sure, that nearly happens in all sea-swim triathlons anyway.

Well done to the organising team and thanks for arranging such super weather:cool:..a few degrees less next time and it would be perfect:D

mloc123

2 stars (poor)

Brian Crinion wrote: »

Just to reply to mloc123 & boccy23, as I feel your race experience was different to all the smiling faces in the photos here.

Race Briefing
I didn't quote the whole rule book in the briefing, as the briefing is primary for specific hazard points of the course, changes on the day, etc. In my mind a briefing should be brief. Do you actually believe anybody intending to draft, decided not to draft after hearing it explained in the briefing? As a triathlete, the last thing I want to do is spent 10mins during my warm-up listening to the briefing, so I don't impose long briefings on others.

Start Time
The timing on the start photos disprove your comment about people jumping the start.

DQ's
My question is, who actually intends to cheat? You'll see across all the races I organize, there has to be a clear intention to cheat for a DQ. I rookie making a first timers mistake doesn't warrant a DQ as there was no intention to cheat. I know that's a personal viewpoint. The results published 2 hours after the finish are provisional, final updated will follow shortly.

Lost & Found
Feel free to email with your queries, however I don't know how security could have watched over your towel and gloves. Bikes and wetsuits are easy to look out for, but a towel and gloves!!!

Hope to see on the start line soon,
Brian Crinion.

Brian,

I am only trying to help you improve the race for next year. I think I had some valid points. In brief..

Cycle Rules - It takes less than 30 seconds to explain that people should not draft/cross the white line/do anything stupid. Every TI race I have been at this year has mentioned this. Like you said, alot of newbies there who probably did not know.

Swim to T1 - Couple of mats on the gravel and state if runners on leaving the water are allowed or not.

Laps - Its up to the person to know the route, like you said the results are provisional so I presume the single laps will be removed.

It was a nice race, local to me and the weather was great. I hope you take some of this on board and hiopefully I'll be back next year.

boccy23

Brian Crinion wrote: »

Just to reply to mloc123 & boccy23, as I feel your race experience was different to all the smiling faces in the photos here.

Race Briefing
I didn't quote the whole rule book in the briefing, as the briefing is primary for specific hazard points of the course, changes on the day, etc. In my mind a briefing should be brief. Do you actually believe anybody intending to draft, decided not to draft after hearing it explained in the briefing? As a triathlete, the last thing I want to do is spent 10mins during my warm-up listening to the briefing, so I don't impose long briefings on others.

Start Time
The timing on the start photos disprove your comment about people jumping the start.

DQ's
My question is, who actually intends to cheat? You'll see across all the races I organize, there has to be a clear intention to cheat for a DQ. I rookie making a first timers mistake doesn't warrant a DQ as there was no intention to cheat. I know that's a personal viewpoint. The results published 2 hours after the finish are provisional, final updated will follow shortly.

Lost & Found
Feel free to email with your queries, however I don't know how security could have watched over your towel and gloves. Bikes and wetsuits are easy to look out for, but a towel and gloves!!!

Hope to see on the start line soon,
Brian Crinion.

Feedback is all it is Brian. We did enjoy the day but with a little change, could be all the better.

RushMan

Just to add to the thread on this - in the interest of making it better in future.
Also worth saying I have no axe to grind here as am a relatively newbie to the world of triathlon but there were a few things that really did bother me on the day.

The transition area was very open. I would have thought there would be a cut off point where all bikes were racked, etc before closing off area and everything made secure.

Also the transition area was very tight. I nearly took the head off someone as I unracked my bike.

No problems with the swim but mats on the gravel area would have been good.

Marshalling was awful around the club house. As I came in off the bike I inadvertently went up the run lane. There were four or five marshals here congregating around the run lane just chatting when I arrived so I didn't see the bike route.

In the car-park there was no-one at the left hand turn past the cars to advise where to go. There were some very small cones well spaced out but it wasn't clear the route to take. Likewise on the completion lap there was no-one directing to the finish line.

Finally the lack of water at the end was horrendous given the heat.

We paid 48 euro for this and as someone else said the 'goodie' really only had a t-shirt (which to be fair was nice but I think a few hundred bottles of water could have been sourced fairly cheaply.

Overall I got the impression corners were cut on this in vital areas...........and to be honest I would be cautious about doing Skerries if this is the level of marshalling to expect especially as it is a sea swim and presumably on open roads.

Dowee

RushMan wrote: »

Finally the lack of water at the end was horrendous given the heat.

I was drinking water, tea, coffee and eating sandwiches for 30 - 40mins after I finished. There was no bottles of water but plenty of cups of it.

I've no idea if this then ran out after I left.

Hard Worker

Brian Crinion wrote: »

The answer is in your quote

"The results published 2 hours after the finish are provisional, final updated will follow shortly."

In the rest of that paragraph, you state that in the other races you organise, there has to be a clear intention to cheat for a DQ. The quote just above doesn't indicate whether you are going to DQ anyone.
It's no skin off my nose anyway as I didn't take part. I just found that paragraph about DQ's unusual.

boccy23

Dowee wrote: »

I was drinking water, tea, coffee and eating sandwiches for 30 - 40mins after I finished. There was no bottles of water but plenty of cups of it.

I've no idea if this then ran out after I left.

Water at the end ran out. Well not exactly but they did run out of plastic cups for the last finishers. This meant none for them.
Fo

Totally concur about lack of marshalling at the finish of the run. Very confusing and not too many seemed to know which was the right way.

Brian Crinion

The feedback survey has now been completed by almost 30% of competitors from last Saturday’s Triathlon in Kilcock. I’m sharing the overall results here, as they provide an accurate reflection of competitors opinions. This is in comparison to negative comments above, which come from the first person in over a thousand competitors this year, that I’ve had to DQ. I feel this shows how reluctant I am to issue DQ’s and how serious their actions last Saturday were and maybe that their comments don't represent an overall reflection of the event.

Overall comment
What jumps out here is that 4% thought it was poor, while 23% thought it was excellent and almost 75% thought it was good or very good.



Improvements
Yes improvements are required, as they are on all courses. For example the Duathlon Series next week will the 30th we’ve had in the Park. Over the last 8 years there’s been 9 significant changes to the course. It’s about listening to all reasonable and informed comments and trying to accommodate them. To date 95 comments have been left on the feedback survey form here. Some like requests for a swim finish gantry can easily be accommodated, while others like an earlier start time and a longer bike course can’t be accommodated due to their effect on business in Kilcock and Maynooth. Please do take the opportunity to fill in the simple 10 question feedback survey, so your suggestions can be used to improve the event.

mloc123

2 stars (poor)

Brian Crinion wrote: »

This is in comparison to negative comments above, which come from the first person in over a thousand competitors this year, that I’ve had to DQ. I feel this shows how reluctant I am to issue DQ’s and how serious their actions last Saturday were and maybe that their comments don't represent an overall reflection of the event.

Can I ask who in this thread you are referring to and what was the nature of the DQ?

To let you know I gave the race an overall 'good' and my improvements were as listed in my previous post.