Tramore Duathlon
Asthe spring starts to make an appearance it’s once again time to dig out thetriathlon gear and start competing again. It’s still a little on the cool sidefor open water swimming but it’s time to start taking part in duathlons. 350hardy souls took to the roads of Tramore at the weekend to take part in theTramore Duathlon. These events consist of a run followed by a cycle and thenfinishing with another run. Despite theunseasonably wet and windy weather we’ve been experiencing this year so far theday was dry and a little breezy. On arrival it was clear that the organisation and marshalling would beexcellent and there was no shortage of friendly faces to guide the athletes toregistration, bag drop and transition. Blackwater Triathlon Club members Justin Ryan,Michelle Kearney, Harry Feeney, Bernard (Barney) Kiernan and Stephen Collins travelled down to Waterford to take part on the day. For most this was their first duathlon of theseason so it was sure to be a testing morning. It was arelatively flat and fast course around the seaside town of Tramore. The firstrun was, as described, 5km and bar one or two small inclines was a course thatcertainly provided a few seasons best run splits. The bike leg was an 18Km outand back spin before finishing the morning with the last and final leg, a 4kmrun. Despite being a similar course to the first run leg it was much morechallenging given the tired legs.
The first home from the Blackwater contingent was Justin Ryan in anexcellent 56:54, 11th overall and first in the 30-34 age group.Clearly Justin is starting the 2020 season in the manner he finished 2019! Nextof the BTC contingent to cross the line was Stephen Collins, finishing in1:04:23, followed closely by Harry Feeney in a time of 1:05:07, nearly 3 and ahalf minutes faster than Harry’s 2019 time of 1:08:27. Barney finished in 1:15:28,an improvement of just under 12 minutes from his time in the same event lastyear. Michelle Kearney was the sole female athlete from the BTC on the day andshe finished in 1:33:13. Great performances all round from all the competitorsand a really good start to the season. Kudos to Waterford Triathlon Club forrunning an excellent race and to everyone who travelled to Tramore to take parton the day.