Lough Key 2015 question

engol

Sorry if there is a thread more appropriate, I can't find one with a search.

I'm entered for this weekends tri in Lough Key. Last year there were about 200+ finishers and two waves. This year I'm entered for the first time, doing my second tri, and just got the information email. They're saying welcome to the 400 entrants and no mention of waves. Surely they can't be intending to put us all in the water in one go??

The only other tri I've done was in Athy this year and before hand everyone kept telling me how great an event it was and how well organised, then on the day it was a litany of delays and dare I say it, disappointments. I hope I'm not setting myself up for a repeat or my second tri might be my last. Does anyone have any information?

pgibbo

Lough Key is a very well organised event. I've done it numerous times and will be there again this weekend. I would be very surprised if there are no waves. Every time I've done this event there have been wave starts.

400 people in one wave on that swim course would be nuts. It would also lead to a massive draftfest on the bike.

engol

pgibbo wrote: »

Lough Key is a very well organised event. I've done it numerous times and will be there again this weekend. I would be very surprised if there are no waves. Every time I've done this event there have been wave starts.

400 people in one wave on that swim course would be nuts. It would also lead to a massive draftfest on the bike.

I agree and I'm only a novice!

I've emailed them, no response yet.

griffin100

The race brief makes it sound like there is only one wave - single swim start time with no wave allocations and warnings to slower swimmers to stay back from the fast guys at the front. As a mass start 400 in a lake is no problem, but the bike could be a draft fest (although they will be using unmarked cars as draft busters).

pgibbo

It's a pretty tight start area with the way the course is set up.

Vincepl

I don't know anything about Lough Key but I wouldn't judge Triathlon on Athy.

I've done numerous events and the organisation at Athy this year was the worst I've experienced by a country mile.

Best of luck and hopefully you will enjoy the event.

Herc

Hi

Just to clarify - there will be more than one single wave for this event (as there has been for a number of years). Details re waves etc will be given at registration.

engol

Herc wrote: »

Hi

Just to clarify - there will be more than one single wave for this event (as there has been for a number of years). Details re waves etc will be given at registration.

Great!

Got a response from the team this morning. They put on a really really super event last year and I'm confident it will be so again.

Just wish it would warm up a bit but the position of that Atlantic High isn't making me very hopeful. If we even got some sun out of it it would be an improvement. Should at least be mostly dry with light winds at least.

Kurt_Godel

Thanks to Lough Key Tri Club for a great days racing today. Slick reg, trans, and marshalling, a nice lake and run course (bike was a little tight though- not your fault), worth a 500km round trip to do it!

prince_buster

+1 for Lough Key Tri club. They are a friendly and welcoming bunch who clearly take pride in organising this event. There were issues with the bike course but as mentioned elsewhere here, not the fault of the club. My third time here and I will be back.

toomuchdetail

Great event as always from Lough Key in a super location , marshals were great and the end to end event was a quality experiences.

On a negative the drafting was some of the worst I have seen in a while , a new bike course so late in the day didnt help but the drafting is not down to the organisers but TI officials need to stop paying lip service to it and participants need to be penalised heavily . It needs to be enforced .
The 3km controlled zone was a shambles - again not policed - might have been an idea to take the times at the entry/exit to the park and discount the last 3km as its the only way it would have worked .
A turnaround on the bottom of a fast downhill was a bit dodgy but again Lough Key made the best of a enforced bike course change late in the day .
A 3rd wave would have been a good idea on the swim was it was congested to the 2 bouys but thats a small gripe .
These aside I think Lough Key set a very high standard for race quality .

pgibbo

I think an extra wave may have helped but the groups would probably still have formed. They were even at the pointy end from accounts I heard