Blackwater Triathlon Club would like to wish a HappyNew Year to all club members and their families and to all the businesses andpeople of Fermoy and the surrounding area, who helped make 2018 a bumper yearfor the club. In 2018 we introduced an Olympic Distance event to the EdgeSports Blackwater Triathlon. This was a hugely popular event and will berunning again this year on Sunday the 11^th of August. We now havethree separate distances for triathletes of every level on the day. We are alsorunning an Aquathlon again this year, on Wednesday July the 10^th. .Registration for both events is now open on the Triathlon Ireland website. Oneof the core aims of the Blackwater Triathlon Club is to promote the sport oftriathlon wherever possible and one of the best ways to do this is to get asmany people as possible taking part. Club membership is now at an all timehigh. Last year every weekend from March until December saw members of theBlackwater Triathlon Club competing in triathlons, duathlons, aquathlons,adventure races and other events all over Ireland. We had several members whocompeted in the ultimate Triathlon event, an Ironman, three of whom were doingit for the first time. This consists of a 3.8km swim, 180km cycle and 42km run.To put this in perspective this is equivalent to swimming 152 lengths of thepool in Fermoy, followed by cycling the Ring of Kerry and then running the CorkCity marathon, back to back, in one day. This year we hope to increase the numberof Ironmen in our ranks as Ironman comes to Ireland for the first time and anumber of our members are hoping to complete Ironman Youghal this summer. Wealso had people cycling the Ring of Kerry, running the Dublin Marathon andswimming in such exotic places as Lough Hyne and Glendalough. The second GreatBlackwater Swim was a resounding success and we hope to improve on that againthis year. It takes place on the 6^th of July this year andregistration is open on Eventbrite. We also found time to train, to organiseour own triathlon, work, eat, sleep and spend time with our families. All inall 2018 was a great year for the Blackwater Triathlon Club. Hopefully 2019will be even better.