The Edge Sports Blackwater Triathlon will be takingplace in Fermoy on Sunday the 11th of August 2019. Despite the well publicisedissues with the river, following the damage to the weir, our races will begoing ahead as normal. There will be three different distances available toathletes on the day, a try-a-tri race, a sprint distance race and an Olympicdistance event. The try-a-tri race is designed with the needs of beginnertriathletes in mind and is made up of a 250m downstream swim followed by a 20kmcycle and a 6km run. This year will be the 12^th running of thesprint race, which is made up of a 750m swim, 20km cycle and a 6km run. It hasbeen a very popular event over the years, attracting large numbers of highclass competitors to Fermoy from all over the country. Last year was the firsttime we held the Olympic distance, also known as a standard distance, race andit proved to be an instant success. The Olympic distance race consists of a1500 metre swim, followed by a 40 km cycle and a 10 km run. This year theOlympic race will also be part of the Tri Munster League, which consists of aseries of 9 triathlons of various distances, sprint, standard and middledistance, where top athletes compete for points. This ensures a very highstandard of competition on the day. In fact, we have had to add an extra waveto the Olympic event this year to facilitate the numbers. At this stage thereare very few places left for anyone who is interested in taking on the Olympicchallenge this year. Fermoy is uniquely situated to hold an event such as this.The town is based in the heart of Munster with excellent road links and ofcourse we also have the River Blackwater, which is ideal for the swim. Likelast year, in order to facilitate the extra numbers and the longer duration ofthe race, we have, in conjunction with the Fermoy Town Council and Gardai, madethe decision to hold the races with a Sunday morning start. While it will meana very early start for the Triathlon Club members who are organising the eventand for the athletes taking part, it will also ensure that the town of Fermoyitself suffers the least possible amount of disruption. The race will be overby lunchtime and the competitors and their families and supporters will be ableto relax and enjoy the hospitality of Fermoy for the afternoon. Once again wewill be relying on the good will of the people of Fermoy and hopefully theywill come out in large numbers to support the athletes during the race. Entry tothe races is available  via the TriathlonIreland website. For further information please check out the Blackwatertriathlon Club website and Facebook page.