Tri an Mhi (half)

NeedsTraining

In my opinion this is a big loss to the racing calendar.

Its also sad to see our governing body ignoring a club race like this.
Tri an Mhi have always put on a good race. Yes, they have been hampered by cold weather on a couple of occasions, but they moved the race to mid June to mitigate against this.

Always well organised by a good club. It had a local feel to it, was well marshalled and a good buzz around the finish line.

Hopefully we'll see it back on the calendar, if not for next year, then 2017.

Well done Pearse and Co.

rooneyjm

bryangiggsy wrote: »

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.

Would have to second this. Tri an Mhi at the start of June is ideal for anyone doing Dublin 70.3 and could be marketed as such. Also C.K. sold out last year and was really well supported the day before Dublin 70.3

bryangiggsy

BTH wrote:

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.

We are all agreed it's a cracking location for a half. If Tri an Mhi want to step away from it maybe another club might be willing to step in to save the Collingstown HIM. Eugene 3d have been looking for a race location for a while now. Would they perhaps be interested in running a Half from there?

rooneyjm

bryangiggsy wrote: »

We are all agreed it's a cracking location for a half. If Tri an Mhi want to step away from it maybe another club might be willing to step in to save the Collingstown HIM. Eugene 3d have been looking for a race location for a while now. Would they perhaps be interested in running a Half from there?

Do they have a new race in May? There is a new race on the calendar, "North Dublin Triathlon" linked to the 3D website

BTH

rooneyjm wrote: »

Do they have a new race in May? There is a new race on the calendar, "North Dublin Triathlon" linked to the 3D website

bryangiggsy wrote: »

We are all agreed it's a cracking location for a half. If Tri an Mhi want to step away from it maybe another club might be willing to step in to save the Collingstown HIM. Eugene 3d have been looking for a race location for a while now. Would they perhaps be interested in running a Half from there?

Living 10k west of Galway city centre I'm a little out of the 3D tri loop these days

If they've a new race in the offing that's probably going to be enough for them for next year anyway.

Kurt_Godel

rooneyjm wrote: »

Do they have a new race in May? There is a new race on the calendar, "North Dublin Triathlon" linked to the 3D website

Hope this isn't stealing anyones thunder, but its been up on the NAC calendar for a while... 22nd May 2016

http://www.nationalaquaticcentre.ie/NAC_events.php

RacoonQueen

FWIW to Tri an Mhi, I would say there are a lot of athletes who would have chosen Tri an Mhi BECAUSE it is a club run race.
The expense involved in travelling and overnight stays for Lough Cutra and Challenge Galway are negatives for those races as well as them being commercial.
Be Athy double for me then, most likely...though in honesty, not overly keen on supporting Athy.

rooneyjm

Kurt_Godel wrote: »

Hope this isn't stealing anyones thunder, but its been up on the NAC calendar for a while... 22nd May 2016

http://www.nationalaquaticcentre.ie/NAC_events.php

Looks like it's on the same day as Carlow but pool based so great for beginners or the soft lads as Peter puts it. See you all there so.

BTH

MOD HAT: Please, no more discussion of any other race in this thread, if you want to discuss another race please start a new thread on that

BTH

Please keep this thread to discussions on the loss of this race to the triathlon calendar and the disgrace that is TI supporting and promoting commercial races and not giving club run races an equal crack at whip. Where does more of their money come from? Commercial races or club members??

trainerman

RacoonQueen wrote: »

FWIW to Tri an Mhi, I would say there are a lot of athletes who would have chosen Tri an Mhi BECAUSE it is a club run race.
The expense involved in travelling and overnight stays for Lough Cutra and Challenge Galway are negatives for those races as well as them being commercial.
Be Athy double for me then, most likely...though in honesty, not overly keen on supporting Athy.

Have to agree with this and with what Peter said earlier - its a great location that is easily accessible for a wide range of people as a day trip race without the cost of accommodation etc. It's also better value than most, very well set up, marshaled & communication and information with/from the Pierce & the organisers is first class. Also a great, fair & challenging course! Very disappointed to see it go - was definitely on the list for 2016.

sconhome

BTH wrote: »

Where does more of their money come from? Commercial races or club members??

You really need an answer to that?

tunney

BTH wrote: »

Please keep this thread to discussions on the loss of this race to the triathlon calendar and the disgrace that is TI supporting and promoting commercial races and not giving club run races an equal crack at whip. Where does more of their money come from? Commercial races or club members??

Mixing mod authority with personal opinion here.

There are two sides to every story and then the truth.
While I am no longer a huge fan of TI, Tri an Mhi have historically been less than stellar with the timeliness and accuracy of their communications.

Exactly how was Tri an Mhi not given a fair crack of the whip?

BTH

tunney wrote: »

Mixing mod authority with personal opinion here.

Absolutely not, hence I made two separate posts, one as Mod and one as personal opinion. But I wouldnt expect you to do anything less than to try and find an argument that isnt there.

tunney wrote: »

There are two sides to every story and then the truth.
While I am no longer a huge fan of TI, Tri an Mhi have historically been less than stellar with the timeliness and accuracy of their communications.

Exactly how was Tri an Mhi not given a fair crack of the whip?

Commercial races come in, say "We're taking this date" and TI say yeah no problem, we'll give you all the TI officials you need. Popular club run race looks for date on the TI calendar and looks to be added to said calendar so they can start promoting their race as an affordable alternative to the commercial races, but TI drags their heels so the commercial races can fill their pockets first. Is that a fair crack of the whip. And I dont doubt that there are other reasons for this race not being on the 2016 calendar.

Somebody above commending Tri an Mhi for their excellent communications. Have you ever done one of their races or are you going by hear-say??

catweazle

BTH wrote: »

Commercial races come in, say "We're taking this date" and TI say yeah no problem, we'll give you all the TI officials you need. Popular club run race looks for date on the TI calendar and looks to be added to said calendar so they can start promoting their race as an affordable alternative to the commercial races, but TI drags their heels so the commercial races can fill their pockets first. Is that a fair crack of the whip. And I dont doubt that there are other reasons for this race not being on the 2016 calendar.?

I always used to hate how Athlone and Athy could start offering early bird prices literally the day after their race for the following year leaving most of the club races waiting to hear back from the their TI overlords about when they can get a date in their calendar.

sconhome

Unfortunately this is becoming a bickering fight about TI.

No reflection on Tri an Mhi in this comment, however there is absolutely nothing stopping any club race from stepping forward and saying "thanks for a great attendance, next years event is opening tomorrow, same time, same place in 12 months."

Club races need to take a commercial approach or they are going to go through no fault of commercial races or TI. They need to step up their game. Make their own entry portal. Tell TI we are racing that day, we are a club and we want sanction.

No different to a commercial race in that approach.

Communication is important. My hearsay that Tunney is 'quoting' is fact. The comms on that particular day were brutal, not just my opinion. End of.

All other comms were excellent but that very often is down to the sponsors pushing the message to ensure they get a return on their investment.

There is a lot of work making a race a success. Clubs have to take a commercial approach to keep and retain sponsors and to grow the sport for themselves. Nobody can sit back on laurels anymore.

tunney

catweazle wrote: »

I always used to hate how Athlone and Athy could start offering early bird prices literally the day after their race for the following year leaving most of the club races waiting to hear back from the their TI overlords about when they can get a date in their calendar.

You have heard of a "fait accompli"?
or
"Its easier to ask for forgiveness than permission"?

triboy

tunney wrote: »

Mixing mod authority with personal opinion here.

Agree with u Tunney. Was a bit surprised when I saw it to be honest.

pgibbo

triboy wrote: »

Agree with u Tunney. Was a bit surprised when I saw it to be honest.

As BTH stated, he used 2 different posts. One to keep the thread on track and a seperate one to offer his opinion on the subject. Is he not allowed to have a personal opinion?. Let's just keep the topic on subject and stop derailing with comments like this and about new races, etc.

peter kern

well said
at the same time given that there is so few races left around dublin i struggle to see why the cheapest half ironman race on the calender ( and even if its not on the calender) would have to advertise when all the time we have threads that race entry fees are too high?

re the importance of a race calender
at least what we see in this thread many people, including myself had already planned on doing the race without it being on the calender as it is an established race.

I would love to see them sending out a message to their ex particpants with a final line
reply to this email if you want to race 2016.
then they would have a very good idea of real interest in the race.

Me thinks canecelling the race has been fantastic promotion to make people want to enter the race ;-)
we could start a boards poll who would do the race to give them some encouragement.

AKW wrote: »

Unfortunately this is becoming a bickering fight about TI.

No reflection on Tri an Mhi in this comment, however there is absolutely nothing stopping any club race from stepping forward and saying "thanks for a great attendance, next years event is opening tomorrow, same time, same place in 12 months."

Club races need to take a commercial approach or they are going to go through no fault of commercial races or TI. They need to step up their game. Make their own entry portal. Tell TI we are racing that day, we are a club and we want sanction.

No different to a commercial race in that approach.

Communication is important. My hearsay that Tunney is 'quoting' is fact. The comms on that particular day were brutal, not just my opinion. End of.

All other comms were excellent but that very often is down to the sponsors pushing the message to ensure they get a return on their investment.

There is a lot of work making a race a success. Clubs have to take a commercial approach to keep and retain sponsors and to grow the sport for themselves. Nobody can sit back on laurels anymore.

sconhome

HOLD YOUR HORSES!!!


Cancel nothing yet

tunney

Now pick up your toys Tri an Mhi and put them back in the pram.
Unless of course there was another reason all along for canning the race.

zico10

I only did it twice and found the race to be tremendously well organised with fantastic support. Still from reading others' comments, I don't think it would be too much of an assumption to say, that for five consecutive years Tri an Mhí put on a great half-iron distance race. Precious few other clubs in Ireland can make such a claim. Indeed most clubs will probably never attempt staging a HIM. The prize money they paid out, should convince anybody that profit was never a motivation in staging the race.

The race organiser who is under no obligation to any of us, has come on here to post in the thread, with what we can only assume are legitimate reasons as to why the race is not going ahead. He didn't use boards to drum up publicity for his race and we should accept what he says at face value.

If people had already paid entry fees for 2016, I might understand the gripes. But it was even on the calendar, for Christ's sake. He doesn't need to explain himself to any triathlete in Ireland, let alone the boards TDAR community.

I don't think this is the reason, but had he said, he and the member of Tri an Mhí couldn't be bothered undertaking such a huge and thankless task, for minimum profit for the sixth year in a row, then I'd still say thanks for putting on a brilliant event for the last two years and I hope it will happen again in 2017.

zico10

peter kern wrote: »

we could start a boards poll who would do the race to give them some encouragement.

All three of us would make quite a powerful lobby group alright.


I agree with most of what you say, Peter. But seriously in the context of triathletes in Ireland what percentage of them are regular posters on boards?

I think people on here seriously overestimate the influence the boards TDAR forum has on triathlon in Ireland. I meet one or two boardsies at most races I do, but the vast majority of people I talk to are only vaguely aware there is a forum at all.

Discussion on boards might lead to heightened awareness in some small circles, but would any issue only raised here make it onto the agenda at a TI AGM, or in this case the next race committee meeting Tri an Mhí hold?

MojoMaker

If there genuinely is an open slot and support within the local community for a race it would be great to see another club step in and run an event in Collinstown. There are ways and means of shoring up a balance sheet both before and after a race.

But fair point on TI if they really failed to deliver for a popular club running a popular race at an eminently suitable location (not many left nationally).

peter kern

i agree boards is small but at the same time on this small place there is already 14 people that said they had penciled in that race for next year without it being announced.
I think what Pearse says is that they are afraid to run a loss ( and as you rightly say they have absolutely no obligation to stage a race ) but if they saw that there was 25 plus people on boards wanting to do the race that would encourage them to send out a letter to their previous racers to see what the interest is like.

plus if some of those 25 would ask their club members on the club forum or whatever if they are interested to do the race ...
that might already show a solid numbers of interested people...and might encourage them more ;-)

zico10 wrote: »

All three of us would make quite a powerful lobby group alright.


I agree with most of what you say, Peter. But seriously in the context of triathletes in Ireland what percentage of them are regular posters on boards?

I think people on here seriously overestimate the influence the boards TDAR forum has on triathlon in Ireland. I meet one or two boardsies at most races I do, but the vast majority of people I talk to are only vaguely aware there is a forum at all.

Discussion on boards might lead to heightened awareness in some small circles, but would any issue only raised here make it onto the agenda at a TI AGM, or in this case the next race committee meeting Tri an Mhí hold?

peter kern

BTH wrote: »

Please keep this thread to discussions on the loss of this race to the triathlon calendar and the disgrace that is TI supporting and promoting commercial races and not giving club run races an equal crack at whip. Where does more of their money come from? Commercial races or club members??

BTW did you ask a guy with the initials B.C if he felt TI promotes commercial races more ;-)

rooneyjm

To drum up a bit of business they could offer half price for one of their Duathlons if you sign up for the HIM before the end of Jan. surely TI would allow that to be advertised on its website as there is feck all other news in Dec/Jan

tunney

zico10 wrote: »

All three of us would make quite a powerful lobby group alright.


I agree with most of what you say, Peter. But seriously in the context of triathletes in Ireland what percentage of them are regular posters on boards?

I think people on here seriously overestimate the influence the boards TDAR forum has on triathlon in Ireland. I meet one or two boardsies at most races I do, but the vast majority of people I talk to are only vaguely aware there is a forum at all.

Discussion on boards might lead to heightened awareness in some small circles, but would any issue only raised here make it onto the agenda at a TI AGM, or in this case the next race committee meeting Tri an Mhí hold?

Delusions seem to be part and parcel of boards though.

BTH

So it seems tri an mhi are running an oly instead that weekend.