Paul May

Last year I did my first race at Blackrock, so it was nice to come back this year to give it another go. It’s not hard to see why a lot of people make this their first race; the race is incredibly well run with a short, shallow swim - and your race entry fee includes a post-race burger and a cracking view of the Cooley Peninsula from the beach; not a bad way to spend a day.

I arrived in Dundalk train station on the Enterprise a couple of hours before the race (If you didn’t know that the enterprise service has a whole carriage with bike hooks and storage for your gear then you do now). Dundalk train station is like a scene from Casablanca; black and white photographs of steam engines, station masters line the walls and the mist rolls over the walls onto the tracks from the local brewery.

A quick cycle later and I arrived in Blackrock, where work was well under way setting up transition and getting the canoe safety marshalls ready for the race. I got a great spot on the bike rack with plenty of room and next to an easy to find gap. I pottered around in transition for a while, setting my bike to a low gear, setting up my shoes and generally getting things in order. Last year I must have been close to winning the cup-of-tea-in-transition award, so this year I did without socks and all the other home comforts (tea anyone?).

The start came around really quickly. 200+ people had arrived and the small town was rocking; the local Centra was doing a roaring trade in sugary drinks and oat bars. We made our way to the start line, having been told that this year there was a fairly strict “No Running the Swim Course” rule after some of the shenanigans last year. You really can walk for 75% of the course, and last year people gave that a damn good go. This year the organisers had markers towards the end of the course where you were allowed stand up - but no running allowed before then. 500 meters must mean something different in Louth, because the swim course was definitely closer to 600 - but anyway - the Tricolour on the beach waved us off and I huffed and puffed my way around the course without incident, zig-zagging up the beach into transition while dragging my wetsuit off.

Shoes on and away on the bike, an 18K course out and back in a very simple loop. I was flattered, and mildly annoyed to have a few people draft off me on the way back in (seriously fellas, I’m not going this slowly because it’s windy) and I had a hilarious chain falling off the bike moment coming up the hill into the town, but I got it back on quickly (30 seconds or so) and got back to transition.

I lashed on my new runners (pain free running, a miracle) and trudged out through transition, remembering that just down the road there’s a hill that nearly killed me last year. This year it wasn’t too bad, the hill came and went and my legs slowly came back to life. I was passed by a good few people on the run, it’s definitely my weakest link, but I didn’t really mind - I have been injured for months and just coming back to running slowly, so I was happy enough to let them zoom by. I crossed the line in Blackrock in 1:12:03, a few minutes quicker than last year - so I was happy enough. The course ran about 5 minutes quicker last year, so I was pleased to have made some progress.

Anyway, I met up with the other Piranhas afterwards, grabbed a burger and cleaned up my gear. Sinéad came second in the women’s race, beating all bar one of the competitors in the swim, hats off to Sinéad. After the prizes I wearily cycled the 5K back to Dundalk to catch the Enterprise back to Dublin. The cup of tea and danish from the cart tasted nicer than usual, and I snoozed for most of the journey back to rainy Dublin. Not a bad way to end the day having cracked (sort of) the Rock.

Thanks to all the organisers. Well done to all who took part.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 20th, 2007 at 1:02 pm and is filed under Triathlon.