The Lost Sheep Triathlon.
The 17th annual Lost Sheep Triathlon tookplace in Kenmare on Saturday the 31st of August. This middle distance event,which takes place through some of the most beautiful parts of Kerry and WestCork, is renowned as one of the toughest races on the Irish Triathlon calendar.Entries are limited to 400 each year and competition for those places isfierce. Amongst the entrants this year were more than a dozen members of theBlackwater Triathlon Club. Traditionally staged in late August or early Septembereach year, the race starts with a 1900m swim in the scenic Kenmare Bay. This isfollowed by an 83km cycle which takes competitors from Kenmare out along thering of Beara peninsula before going up and over it to the other side. Thisjourney takes competitors over two category one climbs. The first of these isthe Healy Pass, where the competitors cross the county border from the northernKerry half of the peninsula into the southern Cork side. This is a relatively short but very challengingclimb featuring a really steep lung busting 8% gradient section at the verytop. Then having successfully made the ascent the athletes are faced withhaving to navigate their way down the other side with its 6 switch back hairpins.A true test of the Triathletes’ tour de France style descending technique onwhat can only be described as Ireland’s answer to l’Alpe d’Huez’s. The routethen continues on down to the ring of Beara, through the small town of Adrigoleand on to Glengarriff. On this stretch of road the competitors are treated tostunning views over Bantry bay with Sheeps Head and Whiddy Island in thebackground. The next challenge is the Caha pass which takes the riders fromGlengarrif back to Kenmare over the Caha mountains. This is a longclimb of over 9km with the cyclists climbing over 300 metres to reach the top.The 150 metre tunnel at the summit of the Caha pass takes the cyclists backinto Kerry and a long descent back to Kenmare and T2. The recently updated 21kmrun course is almost as challenging as the cycle! Its quiet country roadsundulate along by the river Sheen before turning back and approaching Kenmare town over morehilly terrain. The final few kilometres of the race sweep downhill tothe finish line in the heart of Kenmare town. This is not a race for the fainthearted or poorly prepared.TheBlackwater crew travelled down to Kenmare on the Friday evening to attend themandatory race briefing. It’s a challenging course and the organisers, Cork TriClub, take the safety aspect very seriously. Following the briefing it was timefor plenty of carb loading and a good night’s sleep before an early start onSaturday morning. The race started at 8am so the athletes were up and aboutwith the dawn, eating plenty of porridge and making sure everything wasprepared. Conditions on the day were pretty mixed. The swim section wasparticularly tough. The wind was high and the sea was quite rough with lots ofbig rolling waves to contend with. To make matters even more difficult, therising sun was directly in the swimmers’ eyes as they tried to find the secondof the marker buoys, making sighting extremely difficult. Of the 362 athleteswho started the race that morning, 46 failed to make it past the swim section.Even in a notoriously hard race like The Lost Sheep, this is a very highattrition rate. Many were just exhausted coming out of the water and a fewmissed the cut-off time, including a couple of our own members. The seaconditions made for some very slow swim times. Last year, BTC’s Stephen Dalton,on his middle distance debut, finished the swim in a very impressive 33:52.This year it took him 51:58. Having survived the swim, the athletes now had totake on the bike course, hoping that the scenic nature of the route would helptake their minds of the effort required. Fortunately the inevitable rain heldoff until towards the end of the cycle, which made the climbs, and moreimportantly, the descents, somewhat easier. The run section of the Lost Sheepis very hard, with BTC member Eddie O’Brien describing it as “nothing short ofphysical and mental assault” after his first attempt at the race a few yearsago. The runners were cheered on along the energy sapping miles by lots ofcheering spectators, including their own friend and families. Justin Ryan wasthe first of the Blackwater contingent home, crossing the finish line in4:38:39, finishing 5th overall and 2nd in his age group. Eileen Ryan and BrianBaker also had good results, both finishing in 3rd place in theirrespective age groups. Eileen finished in 5:53:37 and Brian came home in5:44:28. Well done to the entire BTC contingent who took part on the day and totheir long suffering and very patient families. Credit must also go to CorkTriathlon Club for once again organising such a fabulous event. The atmosphereon the day was amazing with lots of encouragement from organisers and marshalsthroughout the course.