from www.bryankeane.com I was swimming at the Irish National Championships and Olympic trails last week when it all hit. A kid of who was half my age in my heat asked me what time I hoped to go in the race. The last time I raced a 1500m in the pool would have been 1995 so I was hoping to go faster than I did back then I told him.
He said he wasn’t born back in 95. I wished him good luck as we hopped up on the blocks and I’m guessing later on he told the story about racing an old man. He might call me old, Id say experienced. I got all nostalgic thinking of my sporting life and put this little snap shot together, it is best to keep it short otherwise we could be here a long time and I’d prefer not to bore you to sleep.
Irish Schools !
It makes me feel very old when I think of my sporting life and what I have done and achieved in it, I’m 31 going on 21 right now. I look back over almost 20 years of competitive sport and look at what I have won, lost, and experienced and yet I feel I have not achieved a huge amount and that there is still so much more I have to yet do and achieve in sport.
That experience over the years has covered many sports and many national championships; sailing and rowing being my first outings in the mid 90′s. They would have been raced in a not so competitive environment on my part, which was mainly due to lack of ability and not for want of trying hard and giving it my all. My competitive edge was kept busy in swimming, running up stairs, running to the shop, touching the ground, eating my dinner. That all kept me sharp as a kid and in 1996 I started to wonder about this thing called triathlon. I joined Leevale AC to help get me started. I got side tracked into running where I had my first real experience of winning and liked it. I raced Nationals in cross-country, track and mountain running. If it could be raced, I raced it, and loved it all. I got my first national track title in 1997. I went into each national champs with a realistic chance of winning. Running gave me a lot but soon I had had my fill.
My love for running began to dwindle which was to the benefit of cycling and within 3 years I would race a Cycling Nationals Championships in Road, Time trial, Criterium and Cyclo Cross. With my best cycling Nationals finish of 6th in 2005. Soon the old familiar pattern emerged and I packed sport away for a while until It was time to finally bring it all together and this is how I ended up starting in triathlon in 2008. It was a very long Journey but a worthwhile adventure to get here the way I did.
From where I am now, coming into the start of my 4th year in Triathlon I feel there are many more years ahead of me and I have no intention of joining the real world of 9-5 work. I would like to race professionally until 2020 which is not so far away and put a 4th decade on my list of competing in National, European, and World Championships, I don’t think Ill be able to add more sports to the list as I am quite content to be a triathlete until then, with many titles to race for (Hello 70.3 and IM in the coming years). After that who knows where the adventure will go.
Sailing Nationals Mirror 1996
- Rowing Nationals 1997
- Swimming Nationals 2012 (Schools Swimming Nationals 1995,1996,1997)
- Running Nationals. (Cross country & track) 1996,1997,1998,1999,2000 mountain running (2001,2002,2004,2005)
- Cycling Nationals. Road, (2004,2005,2006) TT (2005) Cyclo Cross(2005) Criterium (2005,2006)
- Triathlon 2009.2010,2011
- World and European Championships European Schools, FISIC games 1996 Mirror European Championships 1998
- World Cross Country 1999
- World Mountain running Trophy 2006
- European Cross Country 1999
- World University cycling Championships 2006
- Triathlon World Championships 2010,2011
- Triathlon European Championships 2009,2010,2011
A strong look
He said he wasn’t born back in 95. I wished him good luck as we hopped up on the blocks and I’m guessing later on he told the story about racing an old man. He might call me old, Id say experienced. I got all nostalgic thinking of my sporting life and put this little snap shot together, it is best to keep it short otherwise we could be here a long time and I’d prefer not to bore you to sleep.
Irish Schools !
It makes me feel very old when I think of my sporting life and what I have done and achieved in it, I’m 31 going on 21 right now. I look back over almost 20 years of competitive sport and look at what I have won, lost, and experienced and yet I feel I have not achieved a huge amount and that there is still so much more I have to yet do and achieve in sport.
That experience over the years has covered many sports and many national championships; sailing and rowing being my first outings in the mid 90′s. They would have been raced in a not so competitive environment on my part, which was mainly due to lack of ability and not for want of trying hard and giving it my all. My competitive edge was kept busy in swimming, running up stairs, running to the shop, touching the ground, eating my dinner. That all kept me sharp as a kid and in 1996 I started to wonder about this thing called triathlon. I joined Leevale AC to help get me started. I got side tracked into running where I had my first real experience of winning and liked it. I raced Nationals in cross-country, track and mountain running. If it could be raced, I raced it, and loved it all. I got my first national track title in 1997. I went into each national champs with a realistic chance of winning. Running gave me a lot but soon I had had my fill.
My love for running began to dwindle which was to the benefit of cycling and within 3 years I would race a Cycling Nationals Championships in Road, Time trial, Criterium and Cyclo Cross. With my best cycling Nationals finish of 6th in 2005. Soon the old familiar pattern emerged and I packed sport away for a while until It was time to finally bring it all together and this is how I ended up starting in triathlon in 2008. It was a very long Journey but a worthwhile adventure to get here the way I did.
From where I am now, coming into the start of my 4th year in Triathlon I feel there are many more years ahead of me and I have no intention of joining the real world of 9-5 work. I would like to race professionally until 2020 which is not so far away and put a 4th decade on my list of competing in National, European, and World Championships, I don’t think Ill be able to add more sports to the list as I am quite content to be a triathlete until then, with many titles to race for (Hello 70.3 and IM in the coming years). After that who knows where the adventure will go.
Sailing Nationals Mirror 1996
- Rowing Nationals 1997
- Swimming Nationals 2012 (Schools Swimming Nationals 1995,1996,1997)
- Running Nationals. (Cross country & track) 1996,1997,1998,1999,2000 mountain running (2001,2002,2004,2005)
- Cycling Nationals. Road, (2004,2005,2006) TT (2005) Cyclo Cross(2005) Criterium (2005,2006)
- Triathlon 2009.2010,2011
- World and European Championships European Schools, FISIC games 1996 Mirror European Championships 1998
- World Cross Country 1999
- World Mountain running Trophy 2006
- European Cross Country 1999
- World University cycling Championships 2006
- Triathlon World Championships 2010,2011
- Triathlon European Championships 2009,2010,2011
A strong look
