Bray Aquathon Series

El Director

This series of Aquathon's start on Weds evening. I love these races myself, sea swim followed by a two lap 5k run including 200m up Bray Head twice. I will be doing this weeks one and August hopefully, although I like this series I ain't looking forward to this particular one but it'll be good to remind the body that I am a triathlete and I have a big challenge on Saturday

Race site

miller82

ye looking forward to them. really enjoyed them last year

Trifreak

Thanks guys

Race entries available on the night. We also are doing one day licences on the night if anyone needs them.

The weather looks great and no wind means that the sea is forecast as calm.

Registration is between 6pm and 7pm in The Martello on Bray seafront.

See you there!

Mike (Race Director)

El Director

Here in the race registration hotel enjoying a coffee, beautiful evening for it!

Actually....asked for a coffee and got a tiny ass cup for €2.50, drank it and went back to ask for another this time I specified large. I was landed exact same size and I said ".....here I want a proper cup, more damn you!" (I'm paraphrasing of course ) I got landed a good big mug for....€2:30. A good result already this evening

Kurt Godel

What a great evening for the swim! Perfect mid-summer weather, sublime and calm sea. Hats off to Wicklow Tri, they really put on a great event- seamless registration, clear marshalling, loads of safety boats, huge bouys to sight by...

This was my first ever swim race, so it was always going to be a learning curve, but it was very enjoyable! The marshall called out "Twenty-two Eighteen" as I exited the water, and if thats my presumed time, I imagine it was a little longer than the advertised 750m!:D Great if it was, I enjoyed every second of it. The run was a bit tougher (two laps of promenade up to Dart station tracks), talking to a few others after there was general agreement that the second time climbing was a lot easier than the first! Good crowd at this, hope to do the rest of the series. Great value (soup, sambo's) all for €15!

El Director

Kurt Godel wrote: »

What a great evening for the swim! Perfect mid-summer weather, sublime and calm sea. Hats off to Wicklow Tri, they really put on a great event- seamless registration, clear marshalling, loads of safety boats, huge bouys to sight by...

This was my first ever swim race, so it was always going to be a learning curve, but it was very enjoyable! The marshall called out "Twenty-two Eighteen" as I exited the water, and if thats my presumed time, I imagine it was a little longer than the advertised 750m!:D Great if it was, I enjoyed every second of it. The run was a bit tougher (two laps of promenade up to Dart station), talking to a few others after there was general agreement that the second time climbing was a lot easier than the first! Good crowd at this, hope to do the rest of the series. Great value (soup, sambo's) all for €15!

Second all of that Kurt, top marks once again to Wicklow Tri and all their volunteers. I was looking out for you but didn't see you, pity dude but next time.

BTW you can take 10min off your swim....that included the ladies wave which went 10min before us the swim was 950m, confirmed this with 4 others but it must have been current assisted looking my time. The run 4.66km, a tough but fair course, that hill can be a killer alright. BTW I think you were running in the wrong direction Kurt the dart station is the other end of the prom, right?

Kurt Godel

El Director wrote: »

Second all of that Kurt, top marks once again to Wicklow Tri and all their volunteers. I was looking out for you but didn't see you, pity dude but next time.

BTW you can take 10min off your swim....that included the ladies wave which went 10min before us the swim was 950m, confirmed this with 4 others but it must have been current assisted looking my time. The run 4.66km, a tough but fair course, that hill can be a killer alright. BTW I think you were running in the wrong direction Kurt the dart station is the other end of the prom, right?

Yeah I don't know Bray, someone told me we ran up to the train station, I presumed Dart, my mistake. I may have well have been running the other way, my running is so poor! (Although someone told me earlier we would be running to the summit of Bray head, now that would have been some second lap!). Great fun either way, deffo must have been a current if 10 mins come off for 950m. Look forward to the next one!

peter kern

Yes very well organized race. And very well done to littlemissfrickle for bringing home the 25th or 26th Pb3 victory of the season ( either way it was her bringing home the 25th. since she wont the last 2 races for Pb3 ;-) thanks.

El Director

peter kern wrote: »

Yes very well organized race. And very well done to littlemissfrickle for bringing home the 25th or 26th Pb3 victory of the season ( either way it was her bringing home the 25th. since she wont the last 2 races for Pb3 ;-) thanks.

Ah that's littlemissfrickle! Wow what a season she is having, congrats to her...and her coach of course!

peter kern

wait until 2014 that Lady will make her way me thinks. She is still racing on a road bike and no aero wheels, no powermeter, no aero helmet... according to this forum she should not even be able to do a triathlon ;-)

El Director

peter kern wrote: »

wait until 2014 that Lady will make her way me thinks. She is still racing on a road bike and no aero wheels, no powermeter, no aero helmet... according to this forum she should not even be able to do a triathlon ;-)

Train hard, get the basics and techniques down first then add the bling....thats the way it should be done.

bryangiggsy

peter kern wrote: »

wait until 2014 that Lady will make her way me thinks. She is still racing on a road bike and no aero wheels, no powermeter, no aero helmet... according to this forum she should not even be able to do a triathlon ;-)

Are u saying she is naturally talented?

peter kern

she swims from 5 am -7am when most of us dream about getting faster she is working on it.

BTH

peter kern wrote: »

wait until 2014 that Lady will make her way me thinks. She is still racing on a road bike and no aero wheels, no powermeter, no aero helmet... according to this forum she should not even be able to do a triathlon ;-)

Sure that'll only slow her down :rolleyes:

miller82

any times yet ?
what was the deal with it being so much monger ?

Great race BTW to all involved

keano007

miller82 wrote: »

any times yet ?
what was the deal with it being so much monger ?

Great race BTW to all involved

Results on th Wicklow Tri facebook page since last night

miller82

29th overall - i'll take that

Trifreak

Thanks everyone for the great comments. As Race Director it is always great to get feedack that is overwhelmingly positive. The volunteers from within our club we get to assist with the running of this event are what makes it work well. Hats off to them.

As previously pointed out the results are on the Wicklow Triathlon Club Facebook site since last night and will be on the WTC website and through TI with the race report later today.

Just to address the points raised:

Swim:
Unfortunately our race coincided with a very low tide and that meant that we had to move the buoys out a little further than we normally would to give good swimming depth. The tide was with the swimmers and the fastest swimmers were out in 9 mins for both the males & females. We had no swimmer in the water more than 18 mins. Our water marshall works with our experienced safety boats to assess the flow, water depth etc and lay the course out in a good way that is fair and safe for all. We dont want people complaining that they havent got value for money with a 6 min swim! The course is the same for all that you are competing against and we do our best to set a good course.

Run:
We are aware that the course is approx 4.7k but we have stretched it to its absolute limits. (note the turn left out of transition and to the last possible turnaround point on Bray head). Perhaps the slightly longer swim made up for this!

After race:
The Soup & Sambos are supplied by The Martello and always go down well. Great to see them entering their own team with team gear for the event.

I know a number of you signed up for all three races last night, but if you didnt the next races are on the 18th July & 15th August and entry is through TI or on the night.

Big thanks
Mike

nerraw1111

Looks like a great event. Hopefully make the August one.

Does the run go up Bray Head?

Trifreak

nerraw1111 wrote: »

Looks like a great event. Hopefully make the August one.

Does the run go up Bray Head?

Just a small uphill section for approx 100 metres on the concrete section at the base of Bray head.

What goes up, must come down....

El Director

Thanks Mike yourself, fair play. I hope you don't think it was a criticism when I mentioned the distances because I couldn't care less tbh because as you say it's the same for everyone and I'd be really annoyed if only in the water for 6 min, after all I like to use these aqua's for open water training.

Btw if ye did want to lengthen the run 300m would a lap of the green area be an option? So when you come in after your second lap take a sharp left onto the grass, run around the edge (this would require more taping) and then finish. Just a suggestion.

For anyone interested here is my [URL="[QUOTE=interested;79305351]You'll keep, unless one of us can commute between here an california - you pick your week don't you enjoy the swell at the weekend, I'm sure you'll be fine.[/QUOTE] If you were any good you'd swim back for the challenge :cool: enjoy Cali. [B]Tues 19th June Run[/B] easy 45 with build work Only got 35min done and felt awful. Did not enjoy it but stretched and rolled well after and another session under the belt on this return to training week. [I]Time 35:03; DIST 8.08km; HR 149; Pace 4:16/km; Cad 85;[/I] [B]Weds 20th June Bray Aquathon [/B] Arrived in Bray early, 5ish so I could relax with a cup of coffee or two while reading. Went to register then at 6:30, hassle free as per usual. [U]WU[/U] Started off with some dynamic stretches and movement prep. Also brought my new grid with me (got it in Oranmore @amphibiankingwest TI discount, nice) actually much better than the long foam roller I had plus easy to transport, went for it in black much better than the orange IMO. Enjoyed rolling, might bring it to races anymore. Then it was 10min easy run with surges, high knees and heel flicks. Worked up a good sweat, another good WU like in Camlough. [B]Swim[/B] I was shocked at how surprised I was with the cold water, usually it does not bother me. Got in with 8mins to the off and spent about 4min swimming and then was able to stand to do some arm exercises/stretches. Saw a guy that seems to always beat me here by a matter of seconds, usually in the last 300m or so. Well happened twice last year anyway. I made some silly ass comment about the water temp, completely blanked me. Fine, thats the way you want it. Lined up beside a guy I see in the NAC every morning, swims with NUIM, I knew he was really really fast, I'll try to get some draft from him. We were off, he was like a bullet and gone. I was determined to keep tight to the buoys, not like camlough. The first came within 70m, still very bunched it was a bit rough but nothing too mad. I then had a good draft going with a guy Swimming at my pace. After a few mins I lost him as he was going off course a bit, we then came back together side by side. We both seemed to have the same turn over and this helped to keep a nice rhythm. I then noticed that a group ahead were pulling away so I really concentrated on a longer stroke. Started to rotate more to give me extra reach at the front end of the stroke and (shotgun eluded to this in his log) made sure my triceps were feeling the burn on the back end of the stroke. Is tarted to pull away from my swimming buddy for the last 5/6 min and slowly but definitely catching the group. Turned at the final buoy and swim into shore until my chest was almost scraping the sea bed. Got a call of "10" when i got out, so top 10, not bad. The guy i marked before the swim was first out in about 9min, nearly 3min head start on the run :eek:The water btw was crystal clear, beautiful it was and so clear. [I]Time 11:50; DIST 955m; Cad 34 strokes/min[I] [B]Transition[/B] Getting better at these [I]Time 1:07[/I] [B]Run[/B] So onto the run and got into a good stride pretty quickly. There are 4 turn arounds on this course, great to see if you are catching and/or being caught. I passed two fairly quickly but It wasn't until halfway up the hill I saw the lead man, Kevin Thornton followed fairly closely by a few others. I counted that I was probably 8th. Short quick steps up that steep hill is the way to go and then open up on the way down...big time. At the second turn around there was the guy that usually pips me, about 20m back. I passed a couple more and was moving fairly well. The third turn around he was still 20m back or so, so nothing gained but like I said he usually gets me in the last 300m or so. At this stage it was difficult to know who was ahead of you or behind as the course was fairly crowded now. Second time up the hill and I was actually further up this time when I meet Thornton, he had this one in the bag so must have eased off. At this stage I thought I was fifth and definitely closing in on another place. 4th turn around and 'blank me' guy is if anything 25m or so back. I was confident now of holding him off. Down the hill and onto the final 1k stretch. Slowly slowly catching 4th, but it was just too much of an ask, finished 5/6 sec behind him. Delighted though with my run, km splits were: 3:45, 3:48, 3:42, 3:50 and the last 660m in a pace of 3:40. [I]Time 17:30; DIST 4.66k; pace 3:45/km; HR 174 [/I] Actually finished 6th, best Bray result yet and delighted that nobody passed me on the run, especially 'blank me' guy a podium here someday is the dream "]report[/URL].

Kurt Godel

Can't wait for the next one of these! Its amazing how well all the volunteers made this race.

Found some photos, here and here. Report up on Wicklow Tri.

fluboy

Just a reminder to everybody that the second of our Aquathons is on this Wednesday night the 18th of July.
Start Time: 7.30pm for Wave 1 with males and females in separate waves.

You can still register for the race on the night in the Martello hotel on Bray seafront.

fluboy

A wet afternoon turned into a beautiful evening for last nights Aquathon. Water conditions were perfect, and numbers were good for race 2 of the series.

Both the male and female races were very keenly fought affairs with race 1 winners in both the male & female categories being pipped into second place last night.

In the female race, Suzanne Murphy swam very strongly and led the way from start to finish to take the honours. Marie Boland, winner of Race 1, ran very strongly into second with Marie Sudway beaming over the line to take third.

In the mens race Stephen Early was pipped in the swim by Kevin Thornton, but produced an excellent run to take first place. Kevin Thornton finished strongly in second with Peter Kern taking third by a hairs breath from the fast advancing Alex Gray.

Full results are on the Wicklow Tri Facebook site.

Huge thanks again to all the help we recieved running another successful race last night. A special thanks goes to our race sponsors, Amphibian King and The Martello. In fact Team Martello had the first and second athletes in the male and first in the female race, so Amphibian King will have to roll out the big guns for race three......

Bellow is a link to photographs taken by Stephen Smith. More photo's can be viewed on the Martello facebook page.
http://alturl.com/j6swb

tunney

fluboy wrote: »

A wet afternoon turned into a beautiful evening for last nights Aquathon. Water conditions were perfect, and numbers were good for race 2 of the series.

Both the male and female races were very keenly fought affairs with race 1 winners in both the male & female categories being pipped into second place last night.

In the female race, Suzanne Murphy swam very strongly and led the way from start to finish to take the honours. Marie Boland, winner of Race 1, ran very strongly into second with Marie Sudway beaming over the line to take third.

In the mens race Stephen Early was pipped in the swim by Kevin Thornton, but produced an excellent run to take first place. Kevin Thornton finished strongly in second with Peter Kern taking third by a hairs breath from the fast advancing Alex Gray.

Full results are on the Wicklow Tri Facebook site.

Huge thanks again to all the help we recieved running another successful race last night. A special thanks goes to our race sponsors, Amphibian King and The Martello. In fact Team Martello had the first and second athletes in the male and first in the female race, so Amphibian King will have to roll out the big guns for race three......

Bellow is a link to photographs taken by Stephen Smith. More photo's can be viewed on the Martello facebook page.
http://alturl.com/j6swb

Peter is out of retirement, best get training then. Cannot wait to give him a spanking again.

pgibbo

tunney wrote: »

Peter is out of retirement, best get training then. Cannot wait to give him a spanking again.

Not his first aquathon of the year either. IIRC I read somewhere that he raced one last week too and was 3rd also behind Kevin Thornton and Bjorn

BTH

pgibbo wrote: »

Not his first aquathon of the year either. IIRC I read somewhere that he raced one last week too and was 3rd also behind Kevin Thornton and Bjorn

That was the Bull wall where he handed me out a spanking. He was third if the juniors were excluded(they're just too damn fast!!), 8th overall ahead of my 9th, but comfortably clear of me.

miller82

enjoyed it last night lads but have to raise one issue.
when approaching the finish of the run , just as you take the turn off the promenade and onto the grass, there was a place where you could run right straight away. I know now that we were meant to skip that and take the next turn right, towards the finish line......But when i was running off the promenade, there was three stewards standing at the turn off chatting away, i asked "this way pointing to the first right and they said ye (obviously didnt really look)", after a few yards one of them realised (as did i - it was a dead end) and started shouting no no, next turn. i had to turn around and run back.
Not a big issue, but 2 mins later the same group of marshals walked across the small gap in the promenade wall and blocked a runner coming through
Then a minute later a fella in our club actually ran past the first turn, past the turn for the finish line and kept going towards the road (no marshalls to point him in the right direction)- i realise that it probably wasnt overly complicated, but when your banjaxed at the end of a race, the head isnt always working at full tilt.
Its my 4th bray race and enjoyed them all, but thought this needed to be mentioned

fluboy

Thanks Miller82 for bringing that to our attention. To be fair to one of the marshals, he also pointed out what happened to me. We can’t tape of the path here as the public have a right of way, but we will have at least one marshal standing there for the next race.

fluboy

check out the video from the last Aquathon. Fair play to John Duggan and the Martello in Bray for organising it. Great video.


https://t.co/my6IZ9ZW

fluboy

Wicklow Tri Aquathlon Postponed


In the interest of the safety of competitors the race committee of the Wicklow Tri/Amphibian King Aquathlon have decided to postpone the race rather than risk running an event that would be less attractive to the participants.



"The forecast for Wednesday is for thunderstorms & very strong easterly winds.

We have consulted with our water safety partners and feel that there is a strong possibility that the swim would have to be cancelled given the anticipated water conditions. This would leave a run only in heavy rain, which we feel wouldn’t be appreciated by many!

The confirmed alternative date is the following Wednesday, 22nd August. We would love to see you all in Bray on that date. We will of course refund any registered competitors that cannot make the new date.

Thanks
The race committee"



If you will not be able to attend the race and require a refund, please send an email to wicklowaquathlon@hotmail.com.