The Hell Of The West Triathlon
The Kilkee Hell of the West Triathlon is an OlympicDistance Triathlon which has been up and running now for over 30 years – makingit one of the longest continuously running triathlons in both Ireland and theWorld. Organised by the Limerick Triathlon Club this race falls annually on thelast weekend in June. Hell of the West starts with a 1500m swim in therelatively calm waters of Kilkee’s Horse Shoe bay, followed by a 45km cycleagainst the winds of west Clare and a 10km hilly run along the rugged coastlineof Loop Head – They don’t call it The Hell Of The West for nothing. 15 membersof the Blackwater Triathlon Club travelled to Kilkee for the 35th Hell of theWest on Saturday the 29th of June. Some decided to make the most of it and headup on the Friday night while others made the long journey on the morning of therace. There were 3 waves on the day, starting with the women’s wave just before9:30am with the two mens wave soon after. Kilkee is famous for being one of thetougher standard distance races, especially on the swim but this year the seawas calm with barely a ripple to swim through. The clear blue water madespotting jellyfish easy but also all the nature underneath. Sighting on the wayback into the beach was made difficult due to the sun but following thesplashes in front helped. Next was a run on the beach to transition beforejumping on the bike. There were plenty of hills to test the legs but thedownhills made up for it with some fast descents to bring up the average speed.There were some interesting road surfaces in parts but overall it allowed forsome good times. The wind direction meant you had to work hard on the way outbut definitely helped on the way back into town. Those extra 4km seemed to passby quickly. There was great support around the town for the athletes when theygot to the start of the run and they needed that knowing what was to come. Therun began with 5km of climbing with onlya couple of downhills to loosen the legs and with temperatures hitting mid 20sit was going to take a lot of hard work to get to the finish line. The viewswere amazing which helped distract from the pain, but once you got to theturnaround there was plenty of downhill running to make up some time. A Mr Potatoman made of balloons was a welcome distraction and the water stations were usedby everyone on route to keep cool. Getting to the finish line was hard but thesupport made it worth the pain. First home from the BTC was Gearoid Murphy in 2:36followed by Jonathan Kenneally in 2:40 and Peter O'Brien in 2:42. Dave Bartleycrossed the finish line in 2:43, a whole 10 minutes quicker than last year,closely followed by Deirdre Morrison, our first lady home in 2:47, 3 minutesfaster than last year. Mick Beston finished nearly 9 minutes faster than lastyear in 2:50 with Eileen Ryan and Gina Lyons finishing in 2:52 and 2:56respectively. Stephan Dalton finished in 2:57, with Shane Fleming in 2:59,Ashleigh Byrne O'Brien in 3:03 and Kevin O'Farrell in 3:06. Jim Crowley camehome in 3:09 with Ann Lyons in 3:10 and Niamh Fleming in 3:25. The post racedip in the sea was very welcome for some very tired and very hot athletes.These were excellent times on such a tough course. Well done all four of them for yet anothergood performance in BTC colours. All the BTC crew really enjoyed their day outin the sun of West Clare agreed that it was a really well run race with plentyof stewards, a big marquee for changing and storing gear, and really good postrace refreshments. The people of Kilkee also came out in large numbers tosupport the racers, cheering on the participants along the beach front at thestart and then later at the finish line.