lough neagh tri turn out?

too much trifle

competed in this olympic dist.tri at the weekend,
well organised, good conditions, fast course, national series race.
yet only 130+ competitors took part,
checked out previous years,
08=280+ starters
09=190+ starters
10=130+ starters
for a well run race why the decline,

speedyj

Wow, that's not good Definitely a well run race!

Perhaps with the sackload of races on down here people aren't as willing to travel?

I did this race every year (I think) from 2003-2008 and always really enjoyed it. Coincidentally not last year as I did IM and got lazy after, this year I've done no races..

cantswim

4/5 years ago this was one of the biggest races and quite a few others very popular ones were in the north. Interesting that now there are few enough races up north with 200 plus people entered compared to down south.

Sport101

Too far a drive I reckon. I did it for a few years (05 to 07) and drove up and back on the day, but its pretty tiring. There are heaps of races closer to everyone's homes IMO.

tunney

too much trifle wrote: »

competed in this olympic dist.tri at the weekend,
well organised, good conditions, fast course, national series race.
yet only 130+ competitors took part,
checked out previous years,
08=280+ starters
09=190+ starters
10=130+ starters
for a well run race why the decline,

I know I stopped going to it or recommending it due to the congestion on the bike course and lack of draft marshals.

On that course it meant huge packs of riders riding 4-5 across and if you encountered them on the bit where riders are going up the right hand side of the road and down the other side its potentially very dangerous. you either overtake and potentially hit oncoming riders or try and ride through the pack.

In 2007, the last year I did it, there were over 300 people in the race. I wasn't a strong biker then and I still ended up confront the dilemma of through or around a few times, enough that I've not gone back.

Pity cause I really enjoyed the race the few years before that.

too much trifle

plenty of draft busters on the course this year,
but i guess it is'nt such a problem with less than half the competitors of previous years
for spectators it's certainly one to recomend, 4 lap bike , 4lap run ,
you get great support.

Bambaata

yeah great race. did it for the first time myself. its funny that people mention the drive as a reason for not doing it as from dublin its closer than galway, kerry, limerick, mullaghmore and plenty other races which many based here do. They did also have shed loads of draftbusters and seemed to be taking it seriously enough but i cant see increased numbers causing a congestion issue at parts

onimpulse

I did it on Saturday too & honestly one thing you have to say is that they took drafting much more seriously than any other race! They said they had 8 motorbikes on a course which is 4 laps of 10km that's a lot of draftbusters... and it really did feel like there were that many - they were constantly up behind you and I never saw one person drafting.

That said - some of the roads are narrow a bigger field & it could become a problem but in fairness, I've never seen drafting so well policed!

toomuchdetail

Think publicity and the current economic climate may have something to do with it , Planned my few tri's for 2010 in about April and I had not heard of this race until about a month ago . I know it was on the Tri websites but aren't they all !!

With a family in tow these can be expensive .
Looked great on the website and have marked it in for next year as it would be great for the BH weekend.

Sport101

Wow, a lot of multisport races that weekend:

Ballyhoura Blitz (75)
Ballyhoura Beast (?)
Rosses Point Triathlon (270)
Tri795 (95)
Lisburn City Tri +Aquathlon (190)
Lough Neagh (130)
Focus Ireland (130)

So there were just short of 1,000 people in the country involved in multisports events in Ireland at the weekend.