TriAthy X

Claude Burgundy

I had a very productive meeting yesterday and here's some info.

Each race will have its own transition and while the Olympic/double are going on you'll be able to set up for the sprint/try in their own transition area.

Here's a few points.

1 - New enlarged finish area with food, post race rubs etc all in one dedicated area over the river. Larger carpeted finish chute as well.

2 - Family entertainment at the end line area.

2 - New bag drop, you bring your bag to the start line and its taken from you and brought to the finish area where you can collect it post race. Its good for shoes/flip flops as well get back.

3 - Transition for sprint/try will open as soon as the last swimmer is out of the water from the Olympic ( around 11am )

4 - New express registration using QR codes

5 - Enlarged area for bike check.

That's some off the top of my head, any questions just let me know.

thejaguar

Thanks for the update Claude - sounds like they're doing a lot of work to address the isues over the last while...

Claude Burgundy

thejaguar wrote: »

Thanks for the update Claude - sounds like they're doing a lot of work to address the isues over the last while...

Honestly more than i thought they would. The lay out is more athlete friendly, the finish area is going to be a big focal point and is much much larger than the one previously.

Only thing is its a lot more work for me:D

Ranjo

Notice on twitter that registrations just passed 1000. I recall last year it was over 2000? Would there be much of a late influx of registrations?

Based on Claude Burgundy's post above, shoudl be well run. Looking forward to it.

Claude Burgundy

Ranjo wrote: »

Notice on twitter that registrations just passed 1000. I recall last year it was over 2000? Would there be much of a late influx of registrations?

Based on Claude Burgundy's post above, shoudl be well run. Looking forward to it.

The race is open until May 30th i believe and could sell out. It was over 2,000 last year but his year is much more spread out and easier to navigate.

and still ricky villa

Glad to hear of the improvements.
A genuinely nice, challenging race once you got going.
It was the bit before the start and after you'd finished that were muck but I'm looking forward to this now a lot more

MojoMaker

What time is wave 1 from each away at Claude? Did I read somewhere that Olympic start is 7am?

Claude Burgundy

MojoMaker wrote: »

What time is wave 1 from each away at Claude? Did I read somewhere that Olympic start is 7am?

Double Olympic - 07:45

Olympic - first - 09:15
last - 10:19

When the last Olympic swimmer is out transition for the sprint/try will open.

Sprint - first - 13:30
last - 14:18

Try - first - 14:40
last - 15:04


Also the "main" transition area from before will now be finished with before the sprint even starts.

At the latest everything will be finished at 16:00.

double/sprint/try transition area will be set up on the Thursday with olympic being done on friday evening by the company supplying all the infrastructure for transition.

MojoMaker

Thanks CB - very useful.

Claude Burgundy

Entries have gone over 1k now and still 36 days left so i'd expect 1,500 to 1,800.

Claude Burgundy

About 250 to 300 places left in total.

Claude Burgundy

Roughly 150 left i believe.

Meeting the RD tonight so any questions just let me know.

Claude Burgundy

Just some info after last night.

At registration everything will be in one envelope so speeding up the process.

Transition for the double and olympic will open at 6am and as i said previously, each race will have its own transition.

For the double as you leave transition there will be a bag drop, this is a van that will take your bag and have it at the finish for you to collect.

For the olympic the bag drop is at the swim start so you can wear shoes up and then pop them in the bag. Once again there will be a van there that will take your bag and bring it to the finish line.

The sprint and try transition will open at roughly 10am ( once we have the majority of olympic swimmers out of the water ). This means no waiting around to get into transition.

The bag drop for the sprint and try will be the same as the olympic with your bag at the line.

Any questions let me know.

Claude Burgundy

Info pack

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/spa/fdg1s1i9w4xou8p/Exports/RaceInfoPack/RaceInfoPack.html

Finn Dub

I did the Swim Athy 750m last weekend, it was great to experience the swim course. The first 250m against the current is tough but once you round the bouy the final 500m down river is much easier. It was my first river swim, took a while to get used to the poor visibility and current. Looking forward to the Tri on Saturday, seems to be well organised so far.

and still ricky villa

Claude Burgundy wrote: »

Olympic - first - 09:15
last - 10:19

When the last Olympic swimmer is out transition for the sprint/try will open.

That'll be me so. Last fecking wave again
I've worked hard to address my slow swim this year by buying a faster bike though

Claude Burgundy

and still ricky villa wrote: »

That'll be me so. Last fecking wave again
I've worked hard to address my slow swim this year by buying a faster bike though

I'll be on site from 05:15 so you haven't got it too bad:D

Ranjo

I've been nursing a sore neck the last week so have been 50/50 on doing it. Unfortunately, being in the last wave (Olympic) doesn't make it all that attractive now. It'll be a minimum 2 hour wait from the last transition to start time. Given my hour & half drive, I think I'll ditch it.

Claude Burgundy

Ranjo wrote: »

I've been nursing a sore neck the last week so have been 50/50 on doing it. Unfortunately, being in the last wave (Olympic) doesn't make it all that attractive now. It'll be a minimum 2 hour wait from the last transition to start time. Given my hour & half drive, I think I'll ditch it.

Briefing at 08:25 with transition closing after that, last wave at 09:48 i believe.

and still ricky villa

Congratulations on some major improvements this year though registration was still a bottleneck.
It seemed fine until a queue developed and there was a log jam at the identification/waiver signing stage.

But, baggage van was a great idea.
There was real effort to get the waves off on time or at least without so much waiting around.
The new finish was a nice end too.

Personally, I was a shed load quicker than last year and benefited from the calmer river (sorry Kurt) and swanky new bike

dforde

Overall it was a great day...would have been nice to get a medal at the end though!!

Seanie_H

Fairly decent event alright. I did Double Oly and got an medal. It also meant there was next to no queue being there so early in the morning.

My only criticism would be the second water stop were the two girls were over run with people at times. They seemed to get another helper later on which sorted it out. And there seems to be some issues with timing chips.

joeKel73

Very well run event I thought. The marshals were very helpful and the course was well marked. Keeping the finish over the the river was a very good idea.

Seanie_H wrote: »

My only criticism would be the second water stop were the two girls were over run with people at times. They seemed to get another helper later on which sorted it out. And there seems to be some issues with timing chips.

There was only 1 young girl trying to run that water station when I passed the second time, felt very sorry for her. There was a line of lads holding out their plastic cup... come on lads, if you're waiting for a few seconds give her a hand and line out a few rows of cups while you're there.

iwillhtfu

Spoke to a few marshalls and Gardai apparently the volunteer turn out was very poor. They draughted in a local gaa club as marshalls.

I was there between the Olympic and sprint but from what I could see there didn't seem to be much of a spectating crowd.

The finish area across the river was a good idea but they didn't make the most of the space available to them.

Tri Athy is always a mixed bag but I was amazed at some of the entrants only learning to use their gears/adjusting saddles etc only 5 mins before race briefing. Wheelworx bike support looked to be swamped.

Seanie_H

iwillhtfu wrote: »

The finish area across the river was a good idea but they didn't make the most of the space available to them.

What do you think was missing?
I thought it was decent enough back there, herded the crowd together nicely.

iwillhtfu

Seanie_H wrote: »

What do you think was missing?
I thought it was decent enough back there, herded the crowd together nicely.

Nothing really missing as such I guess just thought it could be a better run in to the finish and a bit more of a finishing "village" atmosphere.

Possibly have the finish area spread out from the finish line instead of shuttling them back out of the way and losing the atmosphere.. There was certainly plenty of space in comparison to the finish on the other side.

Also at least a dozen spectators asked me where the finish line was there didn't seem to be any signage directing spectators. Perhaps I missed it though.

noc231073

Credit where credits due they work hard to improve it this year ..
Run route much improved and was in and out of there fairly rapid no waiting around for transition etc ..
A top 25 place always helps ðŸ‘ðŸ‘ðŸ‘😀

Seanie_H

iwillhtfu wrote: »

Nothing really missing as such I guess just thought it could be a better run in to the finish and a bit more of a finishing "village" atmosphere.

Possibly have the finish area spread out from the finish line instead of shuttling them back out of the way and losing the atmosphere.. There was certainly plenty of space in comparison to the finish on the other side.

Also at least a dozen spectators asked me where the finish line was there didn't seem to be any signage directing spectators. Perhaps I missed it though.

Yeah, fair enough. Moving the finish seems to have unblocked the town a small bit, it was well out of the way alright.

sullivlo

I did it. It was my first event. A few thoughts:
- I arrived in plenty of time to get registered, which is very lucky as the queue was massive. There were only 2 people scanning codes and one of them kept getting called away. Also the amount of people who stood in the line for 20+ minutes and waited until they reached the top to get their ID out!!!
- I had pre-ordered a t-shirt but was given the wrong size in the envelope. Had ordered an XL, was given a S!! When I went to exchange it they had no tshirts left so I ended up with a men's tshirt. Minor thing as I still got a tshirt, but I ordered the women's fit for a reason!
- there was a major lack of signage. Walking to transition to rack my bike, I ended up wandering around for ages looking for the entrance. Also, some distance markers along the run would be super helpful, as I had no idea how long was left.
- the course itself was great. Particularly the bike course.
- they ran out of bananas at the finish and cups at the second water stop on the run.

Overall it was a great day, if not a little warm! I plan to aim for an Olympic next year if I can get my run up to speed!

Supernintento Chalmers

Really enjoyed the event, I did the sprint version.
To be fair, there were 4 events and a lot of people and they somehow seemed to get the waves off in good time.
That poor girl at the final water station
And as for that clown of a woman who was stood at said water station, blocking the path, throwing cup after cup of water over herself.
I thought she was going to whip out a bottle of Timotei :mad:

Some minor things that could be improved for next year.

• Transition - Could have done with some signs up high, marking the rows. Had to do a fair bit of searching to find my spot. This whole area was fairly chaotic, Try Laois did a better job of it.
• Marshalls - In transition it wasn't straightforward which way to go when running in and out, marshalls should be directing people rather than just standing around.
• Registration was very slow.
• Runners and cyclists sharing a route - At points where were 3 lines of traffic, two directions of cyclists and one of runners. I was on foot and had a near miss with a fella on a tri bike who was reaching for the his bottle and veered towards me.
• T-shirt, I was by no means the last to regsiter and was passed out by people in earlier waves who we asked to let skip us. This resulted in me not getting a M t-shirt, which I had ordered.