Quest adventure Kenmare
OnSaturday the 7th March, 3 Blackwater Triathlon Club members, Kay Quirke,Michael Mulcahy and Frank Kiernan, travelled to Kenmare, County Kerry to takepart in the first Quest Adventure Race of the 2020 season. Quest Adventureraces are one day, multi-sport events consisting of various run, cycle andkayak stages. Quest Kenmare had 3 different events on offer on the day thattook the athletes on routes through the picturesque mountains and valleys ofthe Beara Peninsula and the boutique charm of Kenmare Town. The three distancesavailable were the 28km “Challenge” race, the 43km “Sport” race and the 78km“Expert” event. Kay took part in the 43km “Sport” race, while Mick and Frankwent the “Expert” route. Kay’s day consisted of 6 tough stages starting with an18km cycle, followed by an 8km run and then a 14km cycle. The day finished offwith a 1km run, a 1km kayak and then a final 1km run. Kay crossed the finishline in an excellent 2:52:25. Mick and Frank had to contend with 8 stages, startingwith a 26km cycle, followed by an 8km run before taking to the saddle again foranother 19km. This was followed by another 8km run and then a 14km cycle. Theirday also finished off with a 1km run, a 1km kayak and then a final 1km run. Definitelya challenging start to the race season for everyone who took part. Mick Mulcahywrote an account of his and Frank’s adventures on the day for us.
“Itwas a very tough day out. On the plus side the rain decided to hold off for theday. Unfortunately we had very strong winds instead to replace the rain. Fairplay to the folks down in Kerry, there are always very welcoming. We started at8:45am and kept a steady pace at the back of the large group for the 1st legcycle of 26k. We didn’t want to show our hand too early. As was expected inthis beautiful but mountainous part of the country, there were plenty of hillsin the cycle. When we got to T1 the marshals told us there were soup andsandwiches at the top of the mountain. We were delighted to hear that and therewas an extra spring to our steps as we jumped off the bikes, got out of thebikes shoes and put on the trail runners. Frank got a bit upset though whensome lad who had just come down said he nearly lost his shoes in the mud. Frankwas hoping to wear his to work Monday morning after only getting them 2 days earlier.At this stage Frank was determined to drop out, purely for the sake of hisshiny new shoes! I persuaded him to carry on by promising to help him wash hisshoes after the race. So off we went...and you’ll never guess what? There wasno soup and sandwiches at the top!! After climbing for nearly 3km we were nothappy! We decided to head back down and we had a word or two with the marshals,expressing our disappointment in a very civilised manner. I won’t repeatexactly what we said here, in case anyone of a delicate disposition is reading.The marshals were very apologetic and explained that they had made a perfectlyunderstandable mistake. The soup and sandwiches were at the top of the othermountain! Fortunately, we had our own stash of sandwiches anyway, so back on withthe bike shoes and off we went on the 21k spin of nice big hills. Strong windstayed with us for company. We really put in an effort on this leg. We got wordback the leaders heard about our efforts and got worried so they put in a big effort.A while later we got word again that they had made massive time on us. You’llsee their finish times and we like to think that we helped in our own small wayby inspiring them. Myself and Frank had to rethink our strategy, so we calledand emergency meeting and pulled over and had our sandwiches. Let’s not panicwe said. So we called it as we saw it, we couldn’t do anything about the top ofthe leader board, so....let’s focus on the other end of it. Genius!!! Back onthe bike and off we went. We had to get off and walk some of the climbs. Strongwind decided to mess about with us, hitting us from all angles. At 1 stage Ithink I was 30 degrees with the road side angled into the wind. We got to T2 ready for the next mountainclimb of 8k. Whispers were flying around transition about the mountainconditions. They told us we would enjoy the descent, look forward to that. Welooked across the valley from transition and saw all these yellow and orangespecks miles away. Frank and I were looking at each thinking Jaysus, do we haveto go there? Whose idea was this anyway? Off we went. The start of the mountainclimb was nice and clean. Frank was thinking he’d still be able to wear therunners to work Monday morning. By the time we got to the top, there wasn’t ahope he would, unless they made some pretty extreme changes to their dresscode!! Back down the mountain we tore, flying it!! Frank went off piste for awhile, thinking he could get steadier ground. I was a bit higher and could seewhere he was going. No way was he going to steadier ground. That didn’t work,so back on trail he came. We got back to transition, it was then I realisedthat all the effort we put in to our training over the last fews months wasreally standing to us, and our decision to refocus our efforts on the bottomend of the leader board was paying off!!! There were about 10 bikes left in transitionfrom several hundred! Then they told us there was no kayak section due to theincreasingly strong winds! We were delighted to hear that! There were really strongwinds all over Kenmare and they were playing havoc with us and the otherathletes. It got so bad we could hardly stand in one spot. Fair play to the windsthough, they give as well as taking away and helped us out on the last leg stayingat our back all the way on the 14km cycle back to Kenmare. We weren’t allowedto go straight to the finish line, they made us run/ walk again for 2k to thefinish line. By Jaysus were we glad to see that. It’s was only then that we gotthe soup......and no blooming sandwiches!!! They weren’t at the top of climb 2either. We finished the race in a time of 5:28:14, missing out on a podiumplace by a mere two hours and 14 minutes! Obviously if they’d had thesandwiches at the first stop we’d have pit a little more pressure on thewinners. All and all it was a great day out. The marshals were fantastic allthe way around the course, soup and sandwich propaganda aside. There was greatscenery and great craic. We enjoyed our coffee and croissant in the French cafeFrank loves after. Well worth it. Now all we have to do is clean those bloomingrunners for Frank!!”