Some Pre-Christmas Party Training

Prior to the festivities on Saturday night, some of our members took aspin down to Waterford to take part in the annual Waterford AC Half marathon.The Blackwater Triathlon Club was represented on the day by Peter O’Brien, LiamO’Connor, David Harte and Eleanor Fennessey. They lined up at the start linewith over 2000 other athletes. The race is based and organised around thesuperb facilities of the Waterford IT campus.  It was anice bright morning and the rain of the previous days held off. An early starttime of 9:30am saw the runners make their way from the campus onto some ruralback roads around Waterford.  The first sectionwas relatively flat, with the first hill not until mile 3; however, strongwinds were obvious once you got into the open roads of Waterford.  The eventbared its teeth after mile 8 with a long climb hurting the runners just as theirlegs were beginning to feel heavy.  The second half ofthe race took in a more undulating profile than the first and the final miledelivered a stiff test with a sharp 600m climb prior to the finish, whichforced all the athletes to work very hard cross the finish line. It was atesting race, but a great event with excellent marshalling at all junctions andpacers aplenty and a really good way to work up an appetite for the Christmasparty that evening. There were some excellent times for the BTC team on theday. Liam O’Connor powered home with a superb time of 1:24:29.  Liam wasfollowed by Peter O’Brien in 1:33:53, David Harte in 1:39:43, and EleanorFennessey in 1:47:00.  Well done to all whotook part and the organisers of a very well run race.