Tri an Mhi (half)

Ceepo

Just seen the this on facebook.
Very sad to hear this race is not going ahead again. Imo it was one of the best races on the calendar very well organised race on a tough but honest course with no hiding places.
It will be a loss to the Triathlon calander
Sorry can't link from my phone

RacoonQueen

Ah really? This was one of my planned races for next year.

woody1

same here,was planning on doing it too, thats a pity

The Davestator

Great race and a pity.

Thats Tri an Mhi and the half in Athlone not happening. - Two races I was planning to do.

peter kern

https://www.facebook.com/Tri-An-Mhi-117271440235/?fref=ts

v sad to see this go.

Ceepo wrote: »

Just seen the this on facebook.
Very sad to hear this race is not going ahead again. Imo it was one of the best races on the calendar very well organised race on a tough but honest course with no hiding places.
It will be a loss to the Triathlon calander
Sorry can't link from my phone

Claude Burgundy

peter kern wrote: »

https://www.facebook.com/Tri-An-Mhi-117271440235/?fref=ts

v sad to see this go.

Facebook blocked, can someone post the actual text ( please )

Sad news, always heard great reports and it was on 2016 schedule:(

viperlogic

As race director for Tri an Mhi CXIII Middle Distance Triathlon for the past five years, this years event in my opinion, was our most successful yet. Having introduced the event to the Irish triathlon community back in 2011, our club developed the race into an event that was eagerly anticipated by many triathletes across the country looking for a testing and fair assessment of how they fared against the wider triathlon community. Each year without exception, worthy champions were uncovered and on behalf of Tri an Mhi, I thank everyone that participated and for putting your faith in our race, all 938 of you!

Regretfully, our club have decided that next year’s CXIII Middle Distance Triathlon will not now go ahead. There are a few reasons behind our decision, but needless to say you will be always welcome to return to Collinstown to take part in future races. Our club are delighted to have been in a position to host CXIII for five years but as with most things in life, sometimes a good thing just comes to an end. We had a blast, we hope you did too!

Thank you to our race sponsors Base2Race, Amphibia Sports, An Garda Siochana, Meath Civil Defence, Meath River Rescue, Dunboyne Scouts, Race day volunteers, Meath and Westmeath County Councils and the local communities around Lough Lene for enabling us to give you a race each year.

Once again, thank you for choosing our race and well done on crossing the finish beside the Lough Lene shoreline. I wish you all the best for the next season.

Yours in sport,

Pearse Fahy
Tri an Mhi CXIII Race Director

Pmaldini

Ceepo wrote: »

Just seen the this on facebook.
Very sad to hear this race is not going ahead again. Imo it was one of the best races on the calendar very well organised race on a tough but honest course with no hiding places.
It will be a loss to the Triathlon calander
Sorry can't link from my phone

Sorry to hear that, it was a great race, i have done it twice and had it on the radar for this year, hopefully they can find a way to get it going again some day.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Need to find a new HIM.

Claude Burgundy

Treasure Chilly Skeleton wrote: »

Need to find a new HIM.

Its either Curta or Athy really. Swinford is gone as well and did someone say Athlone ?

So Curta, Athy, Galway, 70.3 Dublin, Lost Sheep, Groom sport...........any others ?

MojoMaker

Pearse, why is it not going ahead? You haven't mentioned that in your statement.

Mr Tango

Pity. Had this in the plan as well. Other suggestions love mites to lough Cutra then. It's a bit pricey!!

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Mr Tango wrote: »

Pity. Had this in the plan as well. Other suggestions love mites to lough Cutra then. It's a bit pricey!!

Challenge Galway half?

lizanne83

Such a shame, was hoping to do it next year. Did Lost Sheep as my first half this year & loved the distance. Challenge Galway is 2 days before Kilkee so that's ruled out (no chanace of missing HOTW!) What's the Lough Cutra half course like? Might be too early /cold.

rooneyjm

What about the Tri An Mhi Duathlons in Trim, are they returning?

anfearruaaris

Hello lads/ladies - thank you for the generous words of support for our race and for supporting our race over the past few years. It boils down to having two commercial middle distance races and ours in the one month.
We are sandwiched between two of them. Lough Cutra have been awarded National Series and then we have Challenge Galway a week later. Lost Sheep got the National Championships. We applied for both on time back in the summer and when the series and championships were announced and we didn't get either, we focused on putting on another good race. Since mid September, we have been waiting for TI to have our race included on the 2016 calendar in order to get our promotion up and running. I contacted them and asked why it was not included and they said they were busy getting ready for the TI awards and that the calendar would be filled out over the next while. Up until Sunday we still were not on the calendar. All we wanted was a fair crack in a relatively small middle distance market. For me, I have done Lost Sheep a few times now and it is a brilliant race. I love that it is a club organised event and that the location is possibly the best in the country! I’m really delighted that they have the Championships. They also have a terrific calendar position, but for us with three races in one month. It boiled down to numbers and we couldn't take the risk . It could quite easily have gone pear shaped with maybe 120 or so entries.. We have some terrific memories, I really enjoyed it. So that’s the reason behind our decision.

EC1000

Sorry to hear that Pearse. I enjoyed "racing" it the year I took part. Also enjoyed assisting with the refereeing part in later years. Hope you get back up and running soon.

RJM85

Pity. Did this for the first time last year. Brilliant race - well organised, great course etc. I was hoping to come back and improve on last year

bryangiggsy

anfearruaaris wrote: »

Hello lads/ladies - thank you for the generous words of support for our race and for supporting our race over the past few years. It boils down to having two commercial middle distance races and ours in the one month.
We are sandwiched between two of them. Lough Cutra have been awarded National Series and then we have Challenge Galway a week later. Lost Sheep got the National Championships. We applied for both on time back in the summer and when the series and championships were announced and we didn't get either, we focused on putting on another good race. Since mid September, we have been waiting for TI to have our race included on the 2016 calendar in order to get our promotion up and running. I contacted them and asked why it was not included and they said they were busy getting ready for the TI awards and that the calendar would be filled out over the next while. Up until Sunday we still were not on the calendar. All we wanted was a fair crack in a relatively small middle distance market. For me, I have done Lost Sheep a few times now and it is a brilliant race. I love that it is a club organised event and that the location is possibly the best in the country! I’m really delighted that they have the Championships. They also have a terrific calendar position, but for us with three races in one month. It boiled down to numbers and we couldn't take the risk . It could quite easily have gone pear shaped with maybe 120 or so entries.. We have some terrific memories, I really enjoyed it. So that’s the reason behind our decision.

sorry Pearse but im not letting you away with it that easy. I think you guys have a great thing going in Collinstown with the location course etc. Its a challenging HIM and only 1 of 2 HIM's in Leinster. You have already built the brand....5 years and counting Louth Cutra and challenge Galway are West coast races and are also twice as expensive and you said yourself are commercial races. Tri an Mhi half is a club HIM like Lost Sheep and up there with it. It also slots perfectly into the calendar for people doing IM in July/August.
TI are renowned for dragging their heels re anything. The National Series is not a necessity in my opinion in that i dont know many athletes who sign up for HIM's for NS points. Yes it helps but is not a sink or swim option.
WE opted out of NS in Clogherhead for a few for years and still got the same numbers.
If there are ohter reason behind the decision than fair enough but the reasons given above are not reason enough. My 2 cents.

Mr Tony Stark

Really sad to hear this, I did it last year and thought it was fantastic. I was really looking forward to this year now knowing the route.

I will be the first to book it if it comes back.

BTH

This was also on my radar for next year. Did this in the early years and hoping to go back ahead of a late summer IM instead of doing a commercial race.

tunney

Just cause no one else has said it, and fully expecting to be savaged now as when I was when I said this a few years ago but....... does May/now early June work for a swim in such a cold lake?

Was the damage done to the race the few times the distances were changed and/or the reports of "oh my god it was so cold"?
That put me off doing it to be honest. Is it simply a case of no demand for as many HIMs as there are on the calendar and numbers dropped off in the less popular ones. Were the NS and NC being viewed as a potentially life saver for a race that lacked appeal?

Roll on the personal abuse like last time............

RJM85

tunney wrote: »

Just cause no one else has said it, and fully expecting to be savaged now as when I was when I said this a few years ago but....... does May/now early June work for a swim in such a cold lake?

Was the damage done to the race the few times the distances were changed and/or the reports of "oh my god it was so cold"?
That put me off doing it to be honest. Is it simply a case of no demand for as many HIMs as there are on the calendar and numbers dropped off in the less popular ones. Were the NS and NC being viewed as a potentially life saver for a race that lacked appeal?

Roll on the personal abuse like last time............

I don't know about previous years, but the swim this year was positively balmy.

tunney

tunney wrote: »

Just cause no one else has said it, and fully expecting to be savaged now as when I was when I said this a few years ago but....... does May/now early June work for a swim in such a cold lake?

Was the damage done to the race the few times the distances were changed and/or the reports of "oh my god it was so cold"?
That put me off doing it to be honest. Is it simply a case of no demand for as many HIMs as there are on the calendar and numbers dropped off in the less popular ones. Were the NS and NC being viewed as a potentially life saver for a race that lacked appeal?

Roll on the personal abuse like last time............

First race report I found

https://amphkingwest.wordpress.com/2013/05/19/tri-an-mhi-cxiii-irish-middle-distance-national-championships/

Less convinced that NS and NC were the deciding factors......

BTH

tunney wrote: »

Just cause no one else has said it, and fully expecting to be savaged now as when I was when I said this a few years ago but....... does May/now early June work for a swim in such a cold lake?

Was the damage done to the race the few times the distances were changed and/or the reports of "oh my god it was so cold"?
That put me off doing it to be honest. Is it simply a case of no demand for as many HIMs as there are on the calendar and numbers dropped off in the less popular ones. Were the NS and NC being viewed as a potentially life saver for a race that lacked appeal?

Roll on the personal abuse like last time............

Water temperature issues when the race ran in mid May yes, but any water temp issues in June can't really be legislated for. Mid May there has to be some expectation of cold water but June *should* be fine for a 1900m swim to go ahead.

The year I did the race the swim was 1900m but was a two loop swim instead of one loop. It was cold, and some people struggled because of that, including a few who saw the back of an ambulance. I would argue that the majority of these people went into the race fearing the cold water and likely facing their first OW swim of the year, and hence were not properly prepared for the race (that includes some experience triathletes). I have poor circulation and very low levels of body fat but the cold didnt bother me because I was focused on racing, not on the cold water. And I had 3/4 OW swims done already that year.

I would hate to think that this race is leaving the schedule because athletes didn't properly prepare themselves for a 1900m swim in mid May and the conditions they were likely to face on the day.

EC1000

tunney wrote: »

Just cause no one else has said it, and fully expecting to be savaged now as when I was when I said this a few years ago but....... does May/now early June work for a swim in such a cold lake?

Was the damage done to the race the few times the distances were changed and/or the reports of "oh my god it was so cold"?
That put me off doing it to be honest. Is it simply a case of no demand for as many HIMs as there are on the calendar and numbers dropped off in the less popular ones. Were the NS and NC being viewed as a potentially life saver for a race that lacked appeal?

Roll on the personal abuse like last time............

Perhaps that might be an issue if the race was struggling for numbers. Afaik it sold out each year?

tunney

EC1000 wrote: »

Perhaps that might be an issue if the race was struggling for numbers. Afaik it sold out each year?

Didn't know that, was of course just idle speculation.

They could of course just gotten tired of organising a race.
Alot of work, probably little thanks, no financial reward, who would blame them.

sconhome

BTH wrote: »

I would hate to think that this race is leaving the schedule because athletes didn't properly prepare themselves for a 1900m swim in mid May and the conditions they were likely to face on the day.

Seeing as that was my race report linked above. That year was less about athlete preparation and more about contingencies on the day.

Unlike you I've no issue with body fat (bar too much of it) so I'm well ready for cold water.

It's sad to see something that is important to a club and local sport development getting the cold shoulder from the organisation tasked with developing or sport nationally - but there may be a side to that we don't know about.

We've said it before it seems to be the commercially viable races which garner most support as these are the ones that will grow in numbers capacity wise and subsequently 'grow' with the sport. I know Lough Cutra has plenty of room and financial ability to grow and grow their festival idea for a weekend of racing.

End of the day it is sad to see both Tri an Mhi and Swinford middle distance races disappearing off the calendar but maybe they both will be back some day later in the season.

MojoMaker

hadn't done the half yet but raced the sprint there and loved the location. Had pencilled this race into the plan for next year so disappointed now - any chance it can still be saved if TI came around?

peter kern

well people like you that want soft races can do 70.3 dublin there is races for atheltes that dont cry if the water is a bit cold and races for poser ;-)


seriously of course no race appeal to everybody but really the only reason why this race could not be popular is because people want to draft and want a razzma tazz races (and for this we do have dublin 70.3 ) anybody that lives in or around dublin and just wants a good race where you leave your house at 8 and be back at 5pm should really not need more its a great race to expose weaknesses.

tunney wrote: »

Just cause no one else has said it, and fully expecting to be savaged now as when I was when I said this a few years ago but....... does May/now early June work for a swim in such a cold lake?

Was the damage done to the race the few times the distances were changed and/or the reports of "oh my god it was so cold"?
That put me off doing it to be honest. Is it simply a case of no demand for as many HIMs as there are on the calendar and numbers dropped off in the less popular ones. Were the NS and NC being viewed as a potentially life saver for a race that lacked appeal?

Roll on the personal abuse like last time............

Mr Tango

BTH wrote: »

Water temperature issues when the race ran in mid May yes, but any water temp issues in June can't really be legislated for. Mid May there has to be some expectation of cold water but June *should* be fine for a 1900m swim to go ahead.

The year I did the race the swim was 1900m but was a two loop swim instead of one loop. It was cold, and some people struggled because of that, including a few who saw the back of an ambulance. I would argue that the majority of these people went into the race fearing the cold water and likely facing their first OW swim of the year, and hence were not properly prepared for the race (that includes some experience triathletes). I have poor circulation and very low levels of body fat but the cold didnt bother me because I was focused on racing, not on the cold water. And I had 3/4 OW swims done already that year.

I would hate to think that this race is leaving the schedule because athletes didn't properly prepare themselves for a 1900m swim in mid May and the conditions they were likely to face on the day.

I did it that year to. People were hoping for swim to be cancelled. It was Baltic but once the gun went you just get on with it. I was first out of the water and lapped a few people. Doubt today it would have been run but it was still a good race. First time I wore a winter jacket and gloves on the bike!!! It was sunny tho.