TI National Series/Championship 2018

boysinblack

Kurt.Godel wrote: »

Schull Triathlon Club hosted a brilliant NS race today, the sun blazed down upon a wonderful part of the world. It was pretty hot from early on, the water giving welcome relief with ne'er a wave to be seen. Donncha Kiely, Trevor Woods, and Fabian Mangan took the honours for the gentlemen (a very wide spread of ages there) and Katie Hickson just edged a very tight ladies race on the run passing Amy O'Keefe and Katie Cooke.

Huge kudos to our very own BoysinBlack on a brilliant 4th place!

Results

Cheers Kurt. Schull such a beautiful place! Tri was well worth the driving.

MojoMaker

Well done Micheál :cool:

TopOfTheHill

Kurt.Godel wrote: »

Schull Triathlon Club hosted a brilliant NS race today, the sun blazed down upon a wonderful part of the world. It was pretty hot from early on, the water giving welcome relief with ne'er a wave to be seen. Donncha Kiely, Trevor Woods, and Fabian Mangan took the honours for the gentlemen (a very wide spread of ages there) and Katie Hickson just edged a very tight ladies race on the run passing Amy O'Keefe and Katie Cooke.

Huge kudos to our very own BoysinBlack on a brilliant 4th place!

Results

Only down the road from me, and have done it the last 3 years , since I started triathlon - its a great starter race.

Always a great race and great atmosphere, the weather was amazing, and the water as pancake flat.

Well done to Schull Tri Club.

Kurt.Godel

EC1000 wrote: »

Just noticed there are still spots available for Kilkee next month. Is that purely a reflection of it not being NS this year or is there a lingering resentment about last year's pricing strategy? Big change from a couple of years ago when there were 1000+ and a lottery system.

It's still open with 2 weeks to go- that's pretty much unprecedented over the past few years. They lost a lot of brand goodwill when they raised the price to €90 last year (since lowered to €75 for 2018). Limerick Tri are a great club and Kilkee a great race but they raised the bar on price entry way too high.

boysinblack

Getting seriously frustrated with the amount of drafting in this years national series. Two national series races so far haven't even had motorbike marshals and no signs of any penalties even been handed out at the other two

TriFirst

boysinblack wrote: »

Getting seriously frustrated with the amount of drafting in this years national series. Two national series races so far haven't even had motorbike marshals and no signs of any penalties even been handed out at the other two

I did the Westport triathlon and there was no mention of drafting in the pre race briefing, but the communication was poor generally at this triathlon, not helped by a clapped out P.A. system and officials / race directors who were found wanting. It was my first time doing a national series race and other than in name there was very little difference in organisational standards and communication compared to even the smallest non- triathlon Ireland sanctioned events. The conditions were testing and temperature was cold, with sideways rain and gales blowing, so insisting all competitors stand around for 20 mins in the cold while they attempted to give an inaudible race briefing was pointless as was explaining the run route which nobody could hear. And as for the goodie bag ? ... a chocolate cake !!! Not sure I'd do this particular race again, but the Westport scenery was stunning.

jester1980

TriFirst wrote: »

I did the Westport triathlon and there was no mention of drafting in the pre race briefing, but the communication was poor generally at this triathlon, not helped by a clapped out P.A. system and officials / race directors who were found wanting. It was my first time doing a national series race and other than in name there was very little difference in organisational standards and communication compared to even the smallest non- triathlon Ireland sanctioned events. The conditions were testing and temperature was cold, with sideways rain and gales blowing, so insisting all competitors stand around for 20 mins in the cold while they attempted to give an inaudible race briefing was pointless as was explaining the run route which nobody could hear. And as for the goodie bag ? ... a chocolate cake !!! Not sure I'd do this particular race again, but the Westport scenery was stunning.

Had to laugh at the choc cake bit there, I did this as well and came down from Dublin, I wasn't sure what to expect when given the goodie bag, the cake made me laugh, I thought maybe they had ran out and that was what I was left with. But I ate it today with my work friends and everyone loved it.

I did see a good bit of drafting on the bike, I think I came out high enough on swim but was overtaken on bike by good few people drafting. You see these things though which is a pity.

My only small complaint about the race was the run markings, 1km marking was @1.5, 2 @ 2.5, 3 @3.5 4@ 4.1 so was strange, as you said couldn't hear about the run but I thought maybe they had added 500 m to run because the swim was 60/70 m short.

toomuchdetail

TriFirst wrote: »

I did the Westport triathlon and there was no mention of drafting in the pre race briefing, but the communication was poor generally at this triathlon, not helped by a clapped out P.A. system and officials / race directors who were found wanting. It was my first time doing a national series race and other than in name there was very little difference in organisational standards and communication compared to even the smallest non- triathlon Ireland sanctioned events. The conditions were testing and temperature was cold, with sideways rain and gales blowing, so insisting all competitors stand around for 20 mins in the cold while they attempted to give an inaudible race briefing was pointless as was explaining the run route which nobody could hear. And as for the goodie bag ? ... a chocolate cake !!! Not sure I'd do this particular race again, but the Westport scenery was stunning.

I am not sure of what you were expecting or what experience you have on the triathlon scene in this country but as race director I can categorically say that neither the officials or myself have ever been found wanting , we had a race briefing document that mentions drafting in it 7 times and drafting was mentioned in the briefing on race morning and allowing for the weather perhaps it got lost in translation. The organisation standards for NS are very high we for example submit a 28 page event plan and we also had a 18 page race briefing , we had 14 life savers on the water ,2 ambulances, 2 garda cars , civil defense, 2 ribs and the coast guard all on site on race day.We also provided free food for 250 people and the 70 marshals , free ice cream for the kids or those who wanted it and this level of detail is not unique to ourselves , alot of very conscientious clubs organising big or small triathlon in the country does the exact same thing but alot don't ,I will also happily provide my details if you want to run your experienced eye over our event plan and on how we executed it and I would be happy to chat on where you personally found me wanting and on how I can improve . I am delighted you took the time and spent your money with us and we hope you come back to Westport , we had 1 person from the 300 competitors make a comment on the run markers which we will take on board and we had no complaints on the free cake, free medal, free hot food, free fruit or the free ice cream.

toomuchdetail

jester1980 wrote: »

Had to laugh at the choc cake bit there, I did this as well and came down from Dublin, I wasn't sure what to expect when given the goodie bag, the cake made me laugh, I thought maybe they had ran out and that was what I was left with.

I did see a good bit of drafting on the bike, I think I came out high enough on swim but was overtaken on bike by good few people drafting. You see these things though which is a pity.

My only small complaint about the race was the run markings, 1km marking was @1.5, 2 @ 2.5, 3 @3.5 4@ 4.1 so was strange, as you said couldn't hear about the run but I thought maybe they had added 500 m to run because the swim was 60/70 m short.

Drafting is always an issue at most events and perhaps 2 motorbike officials is not enough, in an out and back for 10k each side it is hard to avoid. Drafting is an athlete issue and if someone decides to take an illegal advantage it is cheating by the athlete involved. The run measured 5.01k in total , the signs mix up happened as a tree blew down on the course on race week and we had to replan the run. Most people have garmins so they will be self guided. We hope you make it back to us and make a weekend of it .

Kurt.Godel

That was my first time doing Westport and I didn't think it too bad for drafting compared with most other races. Sure it goes on but after a while you realise cheaters gonna cheat... the motorbike draftbusters seemed to be doing a decent enough job from what I could see.

My only gripe was the shortened swim course which I thought was unnecessary, but it was only short by less than 100m or so, so no big deal. I too noticed the run km signs in the wrong place but this didn't affect me as I paced from the watch.

Sometimes we can comment on the negatives and leave the positives for granted- FWIW I was very impressed with the organisation on the day. Registration was quick and efficient. Plenty of lifeguards in the water and I don't ever think I've seen surf rescue boards used in previous tri's, they were very effective in Westport so well done there. The bike was well-marshalled, any tight corners were forewarned loud and clear which is what you want at speed on the bike. The run course was a treat through those grounds, and again there were loads of efficient marshals (some of whom had to face that exposed wind for a couple of hours and stayed smiling throughout). Plenty of food and drink at the finish (I didn't get to hang around for the hot meal). Results, prizegiving, photos etc all up promptly, €49 entry price... having raced tri's all over Ireland for the past five years I'd say Westport should be a template on how to run things well. A big thank you from me anyhow!

Oh, and I loved the cake! It was well received in my household!

EC1000

TriFirst wrote: »

I did the Westport triathlon and there was no mention of drafting in the pre race briefing, but the communication was poor generally at this triathlon, not helped by a clapped out P.A. system and officials / race directors who were found wanting .

Did you read the briefing? It's up to you to know the rules in advance.

Found wanting how? If you are going to point the finger at an individual you should at least be specific.

jester1980

toomuchdetail wrote: »

Drafting is always an issue at most events and perhaps 2 motorbike officials is not enough, in an out and back for 10k each side it is hard to avoid. Drafting is an athlete issue and if someone decides to take an illegal advantage it is cheating by the athlete involved. The run measured 5.01k in total , the signs mix up happened as a tree blew down on the course on race week and we had to replan the run. Most people have garmins so they will be self guided. We hope you make it back to us and make a weekend of it .

Oh ill definitely be back next year, the drafting is not your fault at all, you see it in all races, maybe a good bit of it was relay teams.

Good to know on the run, in my head I just thought I had misheard something when you said swim was shortened, I thought I missed something like an extra 500 m to make up for it on run haha, the stuff that goes through your head on the run,

Have to say hats off on bag drop, great idea using van that moves up to end of run then. The food at the end of the run was excellent also, haven't seen as good a one anywhere I can think of.

TriFirst

EC1000 wrote: »

Did you read the briefing? It's up to you to know the rules in advance.

Found wanting how? If you are going to point the finger at an individual you should at least be specific.

My point was, the pre-race briefing is part of the organisers remit, if it is not audible for whatever reason the responsibility lies with them. I would have expected that a national series standard race would have a P.A. system that could do the job. I have competed in other triathlons that weren't sanctioned by Triathlon Ireland nevermind National series, who did a better job with communication. The pre-race briefing is essentially a safety talk if I cant hear it then that's an issue. I wasn't the only one who had difficulty hearing it. If its sufficient to just read the race brief then fine, dispense of the pre-race brief. But if you are going to give a pre-race brief it MUST be audible. In THAT regard I found the organisers wanting.

peter kern

its a slight irony, while you make potentialy a valid point I found your communication wanting in your first post lol , it wasnt really clear what you wanted to say... So maybe try to put a bit more thought into it when you criticise people and try to make it more constructive.

Simply saying you had issues to listen to the briefing is a fair point.

TriFirst wrote: »

My point was, the pre-race briefing is part of the organisers remit, if it is not audible for whatever reason the responsibility lies with them. I would have expected that a national series standard race would have a P.A. system that could do the job. I have competed in other triathlons that weren't sanctioned by Triathlon Ireland nevermind National series, who did a better job with communication. The pre-race briefing is essentially a safety talk if I cant hear it then that's an issue. I wasn't the only one who had difficulty hearing it. If its sufficient to just read the race brief then fine, dispense of the pre-race brief. But if you are going to give a pre-race brief it MUST be audible. In THAT regard I found the organisers wanting.

ShineyShiney

Great event, v well run, only someone with wildly unrealistic expectations and experience of triathlon in Ireland could find fault. See ye next year

Domo1982

peter kern wrote: »

its a slight irony, while you make potentialy a valid point I found your communication wanting in your first post lol , it wasnt really clear what you wanted to say... So maybe try to put a bit more thought into it when you criticise people and try to make it more constructive.

Simply saying you had issues to listen to the briefing is a fair point.

The irony continues.......:rolleyes:

this forum is dying a death and of absolutely zero use to someone looking to enter and grow in the sport.

dapower

Well done to every single volunteer marshal and member of Westport Tri Club who made this race happen. I'm a race director with Belpark, organising 4 events this year and I realise how much effort goes into putting on a successful event. While boards can be a forum for all sorts of feedback, it helps if the group can balance itself. As the RD said, most of the 300 competitors had a great day out. Disclaimer: I've never done the race, but do appreciate the effort at getting a successful race over the line. It's not a day's work - it's probably 9 months work, planning since last August 2017 for a race in June 2018. If anyone does have feedback, please put yourself in the shoes of an organiser and realise that everyone wants feedback and is looking to improve and set the highest standard in racing, and that's what the NS series can help achieve. However on the day some things can go wrong - marshals not showing up, accidents, bad weather, equipment failures, etc. Competitors do have personal responsibility to know the rules and follow the rules and instructions of officials. None of the competitors are pros either - you're all doing it because you choose to do it. I think you'd be hard pressed to find a better value sprint than €49. Enjoy your season everyone.

peter kern

https://touch.boards.ie/thread/2057786666/1

What did you find of zero use if I may ask?


The irony continues.......:rolleyes:

this forum is dying a death and of absolutely zero use to someone looking to enter and grow in the sport.[/quote]

Domo1982

one thread in 2 years? that the best you can do Peter? Do you feel smart for digging that out?

Do you not see the amount of unanswered questions and threads on here?

Its basically a clique for "Elite" triathletes. The majority of who look down their nose at new people entering the sport. That's what I've found after 2 years of trying to use this as a resource

Your own attitude at times has left a lot to be desired Peter. Sniggering at guys who take 14 hour plus to do the iron man was one that sticks out recently. Being condescending in general and it going unchecked. Giving communciation advice to a poster this morning when you have issues with the same yourself. The arrogance and lack of self-awareness is comical.

And just for the record I did raise this issue(lack of help for people new to the sport) with the mod a while back and made a suggestion but he didn't have the basic manners to reply. Sounds about right really

griffin100

dapower wrote: »

Well done to every single volunteer marshal and member of Westport Tri Club who made this race happen. I'm a race director with Belpark, organising 4 events this year and I realise how much effort goes into putting on a successful event. While boards can be a forum for all sorts of feedback, it helps if the group can balance itself. As the RD said, most of the 300 competitors had a great day out. Disclaimer: I've never done the race, but do appreciate the effort at getting a successful race over the line. It's not a day's work - it's probably 9 months work, planning since last August 2017 for a race in June 2018. If anyone does have feedback, please put yourself in the shoes of an organiser and realise that everyone wants feedback and is looking to improve and set the highest standard in racing, and that's what the NS series can help achieve. However on the day some things can go wrong - marshals not showing up, accidents, bad weather, equipment failures, etc. Competitors do have personal responsibility to know the rules and follow the rules and instructions of officials. None of the competitors are pros either - you're all doing it because you choose to do it. I think you'd be hard pressed to find a better value sprint than €49. Enjoy your season everyone.

After the Carlow Tri our RD sent out requests for feedback from competitors. Some of the responses we got were really useful, and things that we thought worked out on the day didn't for some athletes, so we will look at them again for next year.

That said some of the responses were a bit surprising. These included:
- We should be providing a hot meal after the race rather than cake and sandwiches
- The bike course is too tough
- The swim should not have a turnaround point as this makes the swim much tougher
- Some marshals were not encouraging enough when they were passed

Constructive criticism is always welcome by a RD, if you have some send it on after the race. But remember as mentioned above, things happen on the day that can affect the race and are beyond the control of the RD. My two biggest fears on race day are that a load of marshals wont show up and / or the weather becomes wet and windy causing bike crashes. Ultimately to run any club race depends on the goodwill of a large number of people who are giving up their time for free.

MalDoc

Domo1982 wrote: »

one thread in 2 years? that the best you can do Peter? Do you feel smart for digging that out?

Do you not see the amount of unanswered questions and threads on here?

Its basically a clique for "Elite" triathletes. The majority of who look down their nose at new people entering the sport. That's what I've found after 2 years of trying to use this as a resource

Your own attitude at times has left a lot to be desired Peter. Sniggering at guys who take 14 hour plus to do the iron man was one that sticks out recently. Being condescending in general and it going unchecked. Giving communciation advice to a poster this morning when you have issues with the same yourself. The arrogance and lack of self-awareness is comical.

And just for the record I did raise this issue(lack of help for people new to the sport) with the mod a while back and made a suggestion but he didn't have the basic manners to reply. Sounds about right really

This forum, along with the running forum is still the best free resource for a triathlete in Ireland.

Had a quick look at the first two pages and every question has been answered.

You were given great advice in the thread linked also.

It's a free forum not a subsidised government service.

Hundreds of questions have been answered previously in the main forum (After a few searches, it's very rare I don't find an answer to my own queries) and there is blueprint after blueprint in the training logs as to what's required in order to complete your first sprint to qualifying for Kona and everything in between.

peter kern

Generally my advise would be if you dont have time to train for long distance you are better of trying to become faster at olpmpic.
Ie better doing a good oltmpicsthan a 14 hour ironman
Its fine if you dont like that advice, but its something I peronally believe stromgly in . An ironman is nothing special but it needs time to be prepared and many many years of training


"Do you not see the amount of unanswered questions and threads on here?"

Did you make any attempt to answer them?
I believe you are now an experienced athlete that can help.
You can complain or you can try to make a differnce about what you complain, I dont think you have tried to answer any of those questions...
I suggest start a thread with what you habe learned simce you started triathlon.
And the you could add value. .

Domo1982 wrote: »

one thread in 2 years? that the best you can do Peter? Do you feel smart for digging that out?

You say 0 advise so I checked if that was true, I think we agree it wasnt.

"Do you not see the amount of unanswered questions and threads on here?"

Did you make any attempt to answer them?
I believe you are now an experienced athlete that can help.
You can complain or you can try to make a differnce about what you complain, I dont think you have tried to answer any of those questions...
I suggest start a thread with what you habe learned simce you started triathlon.
And the you could add value.

Its basically a clique for "Elite" triathletes. The majority of who look down their nose at new people entering the sport. That's what I've found after 2 years of trying to use this as a resource

Your own attitude at times has left a lot to be desired Peter. Sniggering at guys who take 14 hour plus to do the iron man was one that sticks out recently. Being condescending in general and it going unchecked. Giving communciation advice to a poster this morning when you have issues with the same yourself. The arrogance and lack of self-awareness is comical.

And just for the record I did raise this issue(lack of help for people new to the sport) with the mod a while back and made a suggestion but he didn't have the basic manners to reply. Sounds about right really

Domo1982

MalDoc wrote: »

This forum, along with the running forum is still the best free resource for a triathlete in Ireland.

Had a quick look at the first two pages and every question has been answered.

You were given great advice in the thread linked also.

It's a free forum not a subsidised government service.

Hundreds of questions have been answered previously in the main forum (After a few searches, it's very rare I don't find an answer to my own queries) and there is blueprint after blueprint in the training logs as to what's required in order to complete your first sprint to qualifying for Kona and everything in between.

Appreciate the response MalDoc but I respectfully disagree.

MalDoc

Domo1982 wrote: »

Appreciate the response MalDoc but I respectfully disagree.

No worries. How about we both post a question on the main forum and test out your hypothesis?

peter kern

MalDoc wrote: »

No worries. How about we both post a question on the main forum and test out your hypothesis?

Last 6 month 2 questions where not answered and one was by an athlete he considers elite as she has been many times on the podium.So one beginner question not answered

MalDoc

peter kern wrote: »

Last 6 month 2 questions where not answered and one was by an athlete he considers elite as she has been many times on the podium.So one beginner question not answered

Would you believe there are companies paying people to achieve that sort of a response rate.

peter kern

MalDoc wrote: »

Would you believe there are companies paying people to achieve that sort of a response rate.

Well most forums struggle those days and of course the answers could be more helpul sometimes but I go every few month to tritalk in UK and I think boards is holding up well.

At the end its what people put in the forum . one can complain, or try to make ita better place by actually putting in some Effort...rather than telling those that try at times that they do 0 to help...

BTH

Folks, this thread is about the national series and the national championship races. Let's keep it about those topics please.

RacoonQueen

Harbourman today and boy was that run tough.

stampydmonkey

RacoonQueen wrote: »

Harbourman today and boy was that run tough.

Will have nightmares about the out and back section... excellent race btw. One of the nicest clearest swims I've ever done. Never seen so many marshals out on the course.