Valentia Island 21/5/2011

interested

Anyone else spent 10 minutes hitting F5 just to get to race in west kerry this May ?

Amazotheamazing

Yeah, but got in eventually.

Can see all the entries are gone now (two more tranches to come yet), think the entry only went active at 5 past 8 or so.

Conor20

Yes.. but it's worth it. Valentia is a great tri - a great atmosphere and a really nice course. There's the opportunity to turn it into a good weekend too, being in West Kerry.

Amazotheamazing

Conor20 wrote: »

Yes.. but it's worth it. Valentia is a great tri - a great atmosphere and a really nice course. There's the opportunity to turn it into a good weekend too, being in West Kerry.

True enough, time to start the training in earnest! I resisted the urge to put in aspirational event times for a change this year, at least they'll be expecting me at the back now!

shotgunmcos

Sh!te totally forgot :mad: Not sure If I have a pass for that weekend yet though. Have done with polar opposite conditions each time. Its one of my favourites.

Amazotheamazing

shotgunmcos wrote: »

Sh!te totally forgot :mad: Not sure If I have a pass for that weekend yet though. Have done with polar opposite conditions each time. Its one of my favourites.

There's two more tranches of entries opening if you check their website. Should be able to get in on those ones.

You can get polar opposites of the weather on the one day in Valentia.

Bambaata

Nevermind in the one day, you can get polar opposites at the same time on each side of the island :P !!! Great spot, good course

bazzer86

4 stars (good)

How did people get on booking it today? Was luckily enough to get a spot did it book out quickly?

ianh2

Just got in to Valentia, but all b&b's booked out. Anybody know of any accomidation options available for the 21st? can you camp on Valentia?

donothoponpop

ianh2 wrote: »

Just got in to Valentia, but all b&b's booked out. Anybody know of any accomidation options available for the 21st? can you camp on Valentia?

No campsite on the island, but there is an award-winning campsite just on the other side of the ferry, which is within walking distance.

Amazotheamazing

donothoponpop wrote: »

No campsite on the island, but there is an award-winning campsite just on the other side of the ferry, which is within walking distance.

Iirc, the Royal hotel were looking at opening a campsite or hostel when they appeared on the Hotel show with the owner of the 5 star in Kenmare (Francis ?). Maybe if they ring the Royal they might be able to offer some sort of space?

Despite all the time I've had to get ready for this yet again I'm way off where I want to be.

Joeyde

4 stars (good)

Anyone know from past experience is it ok to get out to the island in the evening for a quick recon of the bike course? I see the ferries run till 10:30pm.

interested

Joeyde wrote: »

Anyone know from past experience is it ok to get out to the island in the evening for a quick recon of the bike course? I see the ferries run till 10:30pm.

yeah, all good - btw theres bridge to and from the island as well. Drive past sign for car ferry for a spell towards waterville and take a right.

Joeyde

4 stars (good)

ah perfect, thats what I was hoping. Better bring reflectors as Id say there will be a few late visitors to the island!

Cheers

interested

Joeyde wrote: »

ah perfect, thats what I was hoping. Better bring reflectors as Id say there will be a few late visitors to the island!

Cheers

an alternative to consider might be to wait til Sat morning to do a recce of the opening 4 or 5k of the bike and of the final 4 or 5k. Biking about on the island after dark on fri with people driving about after long trips to west kerry may not be the best / safest use of your time.

Joeyde

4 stars (good)

yes I agree, hoping to get down there a good bit before dark. Drive it otherwise or go in the morning. Thanks for your concern.

longshank

interested wrote: »

an alternative to consider might be to wait til Sat morning to do a recce of the opening 4 or 5k of the bike and of the final 4 or 5k. Biking about on the island after dark on fri with people driving about after long trips to west kerry may not be the best / safest use of your time.

No need for a recce...first 4/5k up hill last 4/5k dead flat. Get over the first hill and your flying after that!!! until you have to run back up the hill again:eek:

Forecast not good.

interested

Deleted User wrote: »

Forecast not good.

Yeah, surf's up at least transition is now on tarmac as opposed to mucky field as per 2 years ago.

Last year the sun was beating down and transition was on a tarred area in front of the pier. Parking was in a field granted, so may leave car somewhere off the road in Knightstown.

griffin100

Last year the sun was beating down and transition was on a tarred area in front of the pier. Parking was in a field granted, so may leave car somewhere off the road in Knightstown.

Last year there was loads of parking up the hill from transition - coming up the hill out of transition the road splits in a Y - the right hand side is the bike and run route - the left hand side past the junction had lots of space last year and there is a playground somwhere along here as well that had lots of parking IIRC.

Joeyde

4 stars (good)

Weather report seems to be getting worse and worse. 30-40mph winds and 2 sheets of rain. Lovely...

Anyone wearing a wind breaker/waterproof on the bike? Never raced in that kind of weather, dont really fancy wearing my own personal parachute for the cycle...

Its sprint distance so I think Im gonna brave it.

interested

Joeyde wrote: »

Weather report seems to be getting worse and worse. 30-40mph winds and 2 sheets of rain. Lovely...

Anyone wearing a wind breaker/waterproof on the bike? Never raced in that kind of weather, dont really fancy wearing my own personal parachute for the cycle...

Its sprint distance so I think Im gonna brave it.

it'll be grand - Id skip the jacket alright - and wear a base layer under a tri suit or arm warmers - and maybe switch any front deep rim wheels for something a little more manageable. The swim alternate course they used a couple of years ago is a bit of a slalom but Tim and the rest of the organisers will do their best on the day.

Joeyde

4 stars (good)

interested wrote: »

wear a base layer under a tri suit or arm warmers

Have you done that before? I have a good quality long sleeved nike base layer, but never considered throwing it on. Should be grand I guess, I regularly train in it.

interested

Joeyde wrote: »

Have you done that before? I have a good quality long sleeved nike base layer, but never considered throwing it on. Should be grand I guess, I regularly train in it.

yep - 2 years ago @ valentia
It'll depend on how bad things really are on the day though - but better to have it in the bag.

El Director

Best of luck everybody, I hope the weather holds up...for all our sakes

tyler71

Wasn't competing but was cycling in the area today and was in seriously drowned rat territory - so how did ye get on? Races in the rain are always more interesting to hear about - was it just drizzle at the start or really wet?

BTH

tyler71 wrote: »

Wasn't competing but was cycling in the area today and was in seriously drowned rat territory - so how did ye get on? Races in the rain are always more interesting to hear about - was it just drizzle at the start or really wet?

Very wet, gales force winds, and oh so cold. Just starting to get feeling back in my feet now. Winds and wet greasy roads caused havoc. A lot of fallers on the bike. Kevin Keane went home in a sling.

Fazz

Yep nasty conditions made for tough racing.

Alternative swim route was a bit long too, garmin said 940m for me but I didn't take the perfect line either so guessing 900 ish?

Man that first half of bike was tough.. Serious wind those lads on 808's did very well to hold on! Lovely fast section on way back though, but bit short again.
Run not too bad though stomach didn't like coming back downhill.

I was 1:18 odd, not great but a starter to improve for Athy Oly in 2 weeks.

Heard Kevin Keane broke collarbone when battling for 2nd on bike? Prob caused by the severe wind/hail!? Hope he's alright.

How'd you guys do?

Nwm2

Fazz wrote: »

Yep nasty conditions made for tough racing.

Alternative swim route was a bit long too, garmin said 940m for me but I didn't take the perfect line either so guessing 900 ish?

?

did you have the garmin in your swim cap or on your wrist?

BTH

1:14 odd myself. Was hoping to go a bit quicker but getting my feet in my shoes on the bike went all wrong as did putting on my runners. That and the fact that I slid across the dismount line and got some lovely roadrash for my troubles. Was chatting to the medics and they reckon Keane was ok, but he wanted to be checked by a doctor. Did hear that someone else dislocated their shoulder tho. Wasn't too many brave enough for the aero bars on the way out on the bike.

Fazz

Nwm2 wrote: »

did you have the garmin in your swim cap or on your wrist?

On my wrist, has the swim update though which tracks the distance once out of water.. Seems pretty accurate in the past so pretty sure swim was 900 anyway, maybe just over.
Times seem to reflect that too.

Hopefully thats the worst of the weather out of the way!

Nwm2

Fazz wrote: »

On my wrist, has the swim update though which tracks the distance once out of water.. Seems pretty accurate in the past so pretty sure swim was 900 anyway, maybe just over.
Times seem to reflect that too.

Hopefully thats the worst of the weather out of the way!

Your mileage may vary of course, but DCRainmaker had the new swim mode still reading 22% high.

http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2010/06/new-garmin-forerunner-310xt-openwater.html

Bernardo79

Nwm2 wrote: »

did you have the garmin in your swim cap or on your wrist?

Tried the Garmin in the swim hat for the first time at Valentia, seems to have worked fairly well. Distance recorded at 770m. Allowing for me not being the straightest swimmer they seem to have got the distance pretty spot on.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/87051311

ROK ON

I did the cycle on this course yesterday as part of a relay team.
I have to say that I am full of admiration for the folks that completed all of the tri. It was horrendous weather to be hanging around in waiting for the swimmers to get back, let alone getting into the water in the first place.
I cycle in that type of weather a lot, so am used to ressing for it. I was very surprised to see so many triathletes in a simple tri suit. Fair dues to ye. Do ye ever actually warm up in conditions like yesterday?

In my first ever tri I have a few observations / queries.
On the descent I was severely held up three times I believe. Cyclists across the road meant I simply couldnt pass, despite shouting "passing on your right". Is this allowed?, I was of the impression that one must not impede cyclists behind. Also I saw a huge amount of drafting. I enjoy wheelsucking as much as the next man. If the no drafting rule was not being enforced, I would have happily sat on a wheel all the way up the climb .

Secondly we were warned of a terrible corner on the descent - there was no such corner IMHO. The hairpin was barely that, more of a 100-120 degree turn. No need to scream at people to slow down. No granted you couldnt get a bunch of people thru it, but it was easily navigable in ones and twos without encoraging people to slam on the brakes. In those conditions, on that type of descent braking is a more frequent cause of accidents than not braking IMHO.

Finally the left hand turn back onto the main road was poorly marshalled. Coming into it at speed it should have been empasised thru road signage etc that the turn was left. I was on the turn before a guy stuck a hand out to inicate the way.
Small points however. Once I got on the bike, I quickly forgot how bad the conditions were and it was enjoyable. I would have enjoyed it more had it been longer.

2nd time on Valentia Island. Noce place. But on my sample size of two, it always seems to have a storm blowing there.

Fazz

Bernardo79 wrote: »

Tried the Garmin in the swim hat for the first time at Valentia, seems to have worked fairly well. Distance recorded at 770m. Allowing for me not being the straightest swimmer they seem to have got the distance pretty spot on.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/87051311

Nice, much neater map than mine alright so mine is out then. Didn't
Think it'd be that much but yours is pretty
Clear.

Out of curiosity how did you start the timer? Or was it set to auto when moving??

Bernardo79

Fazz wrote: »

Nice, much neater map than mine alright so mine is out then. Didn't
Think it'd be that much but yours is pretty
Clear.

Out of curiosity how did you start the timer? Or was it set to auto when moving??

Its my first time swimming with the watch. I just put it in multisport mode, had it ready to go and pushed the button through the swimcap. With a thin material like the ones yesterday its fairly easy to feel the start and lap buttons through the hat. Might be trickier with a thicker hat though. I've had hats fall off on me too so its a bit of a leap of faith putting 300 quid under your swim hat as well!

Amazotheamazing

As ever, great day out, great night out. Only real complaints I'd have is the start of the cycle, my g/f was a marshall this year and she said loads of cyclists had trouble with their cleats due to what was effectively a hill start and secondly, and I suppose more seriously, fairly sure the cycle was a mile or so short.

I'm not a precise-distance fanatic, I know some races can run short and some will run long but a mile is a fairly big deviation. Course, I might just be one hell of a judge of the best racing lines to take...

Joeyde

4 stars (good)

I had a great day of it anyway. Hardest thing to do was get out of the car before the race, was delighted there was a swim. Decided against a wind breaker etc on the bike and just braved the 2 piece, some guy in transitions said
"if your gonna be cold, your gonna be cold"...so I left it, it was wringing wet anyways and acts like a parachute half the time.

Was grand really, didnt feel the cold at all. Bike was hectic and dangerous at times but overall great day and the Leinster win that followed topped it!

Ill try for next year again and hopefully get the weather!

and in reference to the post above, saw someone crash on the hill right in front of me at the start of the cycle. Great challenge to head straight into hills but maybe could have been a few accidents.

Amazotheamazing

Joeyde wrote: »

and in reference to the post above, saw someone crash on the hill right in front of me at the start of the cycle. Great challenge to head straight into hills but maybe could have been a few accidents.

I don't know, starting on a hill just seems unnecessary to me, I don't see the point of it ahead of the risks for crashes. I'm not an elite, or in truth, a mediocre, competitor though, maybe it appeals to a different mindset.

Joeyde

4 stars (good)

If anything starting on a slight hill slows it all down I guess. Athletes fall, can miss their cleates or drop water bottles. The wind didnt help but there are all kinds of possible risks at transtion with such mixed groups.

Felt the uphill more so on the run than the cycle, its was the hail and wind that bothered me on the bike not the hill.

Amazotheamazing

Joeyde wrote: »

If anything starting on a slight hill slows it all down I guess. Athletes fall, can miss their cleates or drop water bottles. The wind didnt help but there are all kinds of possible risks at transtion with such mixed groups.

Felt the uphill more so on the run than the cycle, its was the hail and wind that bothered me on the bike not the hill.

Maybe, we'll have to agree to disagree on it.

I didn't find the hill all that bad on the cycle, actually really enjoyed the cycle overall. The view of the Skelligs through the mist is a classic.

Joeyde

4 stars (good)

Fair enough, wonder what anyone else thought?? Im mid table myself so far from an expert on the subject of course layouts.

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

The view of the Skelligs through the mist is a classic.

had to laugh at that, my mate kept telling me afterwards how nice the view was...I just had my head down with gritted teeth Im afraid! I missed it all, that was dissappointing, so I hope to return next year and take it in..in nicer conditions hopefully!

Amazotheamazing

Joeyde wrote: »

Fair enough, wonder what anyone else thought?? Im mid table myself so far from an expert on the subject of course layouts.




had to laugh at that, my mate kept telling me afterwards how nice the view was...I just had my head down with gritted teeth Im afraid! I missed it all, that was dissappointing, so I hope to return next year and take it in..in nicer conditions hopefully!

You gotta look up now and again to take in the epicness of it. Next stop is America.

Any results anywhere yet? Got the text of our times, but would like to see how they compare etc.

Joeyde

4 stars (good)

http://www.triathlonireland.com/index.php?id=107&nid=303

Thats the spreadsheet of the provisional results with an age group breakdown on the next tab.

The official results are somewhere on the triathlon Ireland website but I am having trouble finding them. I misplaced the link a friend sent me. Im sure there isnt much difference.

Joeyde

4 stars (good)

https://www.triathlonireland-newserver.com/race-results.html

There we go, under the race results tab....

Great, thanks!

tunguska

A friend of mine won this, by one second no less! Fair play to anybody who did a tri-athlon in that wind, the swim must've been a nightmare.

bazzer86

4 stars (good)

was my first triathlon. Really enjoyed it! take a few postivies out of it is well. Did the swim in 21.5 mins which wasnt bad for a newbie.

adamski8

tunguska wrote: »

A friend of mine won this, by one second no less! Fair play to anybody who did a tri-athlon in that wind, the swim must've been a nightmare.

easiest part i think, they did move it to calmer water.
all ye fast jerks ate all the bananas and their was none for me bet ye all had two or three and were laughing as us slowies started the run