TRI3 Series - Galway Leg

pgibbo

Hi All,
Just wondering if many on here did the TRI3 event in Galway last weekend and what your thoughts or comments were?

Personally I enjoyed it and loved the course, well most of it. It was nice to only have to travel 20mins to registration. Nice relaxing morning as a result.

I think the organisers were expecting a strong flow in the Corrib and made the course 1k instead of 750m. There was no flow at all so I'd say a lot of novice swimmers got caught out. I heard reports from people I know in wave 3 of the event that athletes were pulling over to the bank to catch their breath before taking off again. It was great to swim down under the bridge and pop out in to T1 on the college grounds. Nice swim course.

The bike leg is a nice fast route and one which a lot of clubs around Galway use for their club time trials, normally just one direction though rather than out & back. Personally I found the bike route quite dangerous. On the way out a frustrated motorist decided to pull a U-turn just ahead of me and I had to jam on the brakes. After that the rest of the out leg was incident free with clear roads after the Westwood. The return leg was nice until I got to the Westwood again. This time the traffice was stopped on both sides of the roads. Personally I put the head down and tore up the middle. Came a bit too close for comfort to a few wing mirrors but sure what can you do when the adrenaline is pumping. :cool:

The run leg was a flat fast circuit around the canals. Lots of unhappy motorists I'd say as traffic ground to halt. The Gardai did a great job and I doubt any runners were impacted by traffic. I enjoyed running around the canals and back by my old school. I found it strange that there wasn't a timing mat at the start of lap 2 of the run to ensure everyone ran the 2 laps. I can understand why the organisers picked the 2 lap run route but personally I think they would have better off using the route of the GCH 5k up around Dangan rather than going in to the city.

The lasagne afterwards was really nice too!

Overall I really enjoyed the event. I think the bike leg was the only downer but it wouldn't stop me doing the race again. I think the organisers will have learned a lot from Saturday. Not sure how they will solve the bike leg issue and I guess this is why GTC moved to Carna for their race.

2 other things that have come to mind:

Registration: I registered Friday evening and it was a slick operation. Spoke to the race organisers also and they're a sound bunch. They were very friendly and approachable. Tony Griffin was sound but maybe he's trying to sell copies of his autobiography... Will be buying it anyway as his interview on Matt Cooper was really good.

Helpful: I know of 2 people that had issues over the weekend and the organisers couldn't have been more helpful. In one instance the person had to withdraw because of a chest infection. The organisers gave him free entry in to any of the other 2 legs of the TRI3 series. You can't really ask for fairer than that. On past experience a lot (not all) of orgainsers are of the tough sh*t attitude.

yop

Great timings there PGibbo, if u can shift a few mins in the swim you will be well near the top 10.
Sounds alike a good day except for the ape in the car!

Well done chief

catweazle

Ya I enjoyed this as well.

Relatively cheap, I got in for 45 as I asked for the discount code

I registered in the morning, no problems they had loads on the desk

Swim - Enjoyed this.....3 wave start fairly quick after each other, fairly well split up as well. I came out near the top of my wave and only finished 94th but from looking at the results nearly everyone in wave 1 was quicker than me so fair enough

Cycle - Having Gardai at all the main junctions really helps, pissed off drivers are less inclined to take a chance when guards are there so I had smooth sailing all the way. Missed the turn at the end but that was my fault more than the marshals.

Run - Unlike Pgibbo I didnt find this fast but then again I wasnt in the top 5 like him either, coming back across the road into NUI was a bit hairy but in fairness there was a guard there at the entrance. Good and busy too which I like, theres nothing worse than running with no-one behind you or in front

All in all, I only did this as the wife was away and it was local but if I have a chance I might do others of their series

coill100

I was at the event on Saturday as a spectator on this one.
I also would have to say that the event was really well run, one thing that struck me though. As the bikes were going out and coming back to trans, they begain to let cars on to the road!!!, bar that it looked great.

pgibbo

coill100 wrote: »

I was at the event on Saturday as a spectator on this one.
I also would have to say that the event was really well run, one thing that struck me though. As the bikes were going out and coming back to trans, they begain to let cars on to the road!!!, bar that it looked great.

Another spectator mentioned that to me today. He said there were cars driving towards & away from transition while people were still out on the bike leg. A bit nuts alright.

Mainly positive feedback on the event which is good. it may happen again next year so! :cool:

toomuchdetail

pgibbo wrote: »

Hi All,
Just wondering if many on here did the TRI3 event in Galway last weekend and what your thoughts or comments were?

.

Good show pgibbo, good bike and run , looking good for season ahead .

Catweazle , seem to be getting a lot of mileage in - seems to be paying off .

shg101

I did it as a warm up for Athy Olympic next week (decided to do it since the 1.5km SwimAthy was cancelled). First time swimming in a river, very tough first 10 mins, got into the swing of things after that. I LOL'd to myself at the traffic cone and shopping trolly under the bridge. Godawful T1 as usual (>3 mins, Jesus!). Super fast cycle (was that really 20km?) - did it in under 33min. Yep, coming back in on the outside of a line of stopped traffic was probably dangerous looking back at it. The run was about 6k they said, not immediately obvious where to go for the second lap - the guys around me all headed towards the finish line on their last lap, and I was going with them until I saw the small sign pointing me in the right direction. I wouldn't say I enjoyed the run course too much - lot of crossing over roads and footpaths - almost twisted my ankle at one point. So happy enough, glad I did it, got about 1:22

ShooterMcGavin

The event was well organised apart from the traffic problems mentioned above. Also something which was successfully kept quiet by the organisers was that after 1st placed competitor left T2 he was directed right between the two buildings along the run course. However competitors from 2 to about 7 were all directed the wrong way passed the two buildings and out towards the main road. Race spectators pointed out to race marshalls what had happened and once they realised their mistake one of the marshalls began directing at the junction at which people had been sent the wrong way.
Whats more they were not only directed incorrectly by an ill-informed marshall but by race organiser Tony Griffin.
After travelling past a child marshall who was none the wiser, it was only until the competitors reached a garda at the junction on the main road that they were told they were going the wrong way. This mistake changed the face of the podium. The best man may have won but 2nd and 3rd placed competitors were there as a direct result of bad race organisation.

The lasagne was tasty though.