Contributed by: Wheelworx The day started at 5am, we had run out of food at the last race so we decided we would nail it this time. 5 dozen eggs, 3 buckets of coleslaw, 1/2 a pig, about a hundred slices of cheese and 10 large sliced pans. I should probably add that I actually got up at 7, Gretta took on the job of food and by the time I got downstairs there was platters of sambo’s all over the kitchen………..
The forecast on Sky News was for a massive world ending storm all weekend, we were to be washed away, blown away, snowed out and hailed on. It did not bode well for a bike race with wheels like sails, deep section frames and aero helmets that would give a bad case of whiplash when caught by a cross wind.
Despite all the predictions of needing an Ark to get to the race the sun was shining and there was no wind at all as I left at 8:00….maybe we would be lucky and the weather would miss us and maybe wipe out Offally or something….
Competitors started arriving a short while later and Gretta got down at about 10 with the food. a couple of sneaky sandwiches later and we were open for entries, 2 more egg sambos and the briefing was out of the way. More tea and some ham and cheese snacks and I was about ready to start the race.
The pace was set by Ruaidhri Geraghty who didn’t seem too phased by the fact that he had recently become a father….twice on the same day. He pulled out a 10 second lead early on and held off the rest of the chasing pack led by Wheelworx sponsored Kim Visby to take the first run by about 10 seconds.
Eimear O Brien for the second race in a row led the womens race into transition followed closely by Elena Maslova.
The first 5 men were seperated by less than 30 seconds heading out of T1, we had lost communications with the turn around point (Probably the storm had headed for Wicklow instead and they were too busy pumping out the water to answer) At this point I decided some food was in order, just to keep my energy levels up.
Kim Visby was first back to T2 and was looking good for the course record and a possible 500 euro bonus. He went out of the transition like he was shot out of a gun, some one needs to tell him about jelly legs anfter the bike because he obviously was having none of it!
Geraghty came in a minute down and had the good grace to run a bit wobbly for 100mtrs or so before getting into his stride, Fernando Fuentes also racing for Wheelworx came in 3rd place his Ironman training not slowing him down too much.
Elena took control of the Womens race on the bike and had no intention of letting the Womens course record and bonus slip through her fingers.
Kim was watching his speed and distance and at 1km to go had 4 minutes to spare to get the record, what he hadnt taken into account was that the second run is about 200mtrs longer than the first, he realised his mistake at about 300mtrs to go and had to sprint in to dip just 3 seconds below the course record.
Kim’s Sprint For the record
Geraghty came in 2 minutes later and Fernando held off Peter Kern to take 3rd.
Elena left it almost as tight to take the womens race and a new course record by 8 seconds. Eimear O Brien took second place.
Elena after breaking her own record
The weather held off thankfully until later in the afternoon when the forecasted snow, hail etc hit Naas with a vengance but at that stage we were all at home in front of the fire.
Special mention to Aidan Sharkey Who’s chain broke just at the turn around near Blessington (Lance would have been proud to have this guy on his postal team). He then ran all the way back to Punchestown with his bike (free wheeled down any hills that could help him out) rack his bike and finished off the second run. After the guy finished, he had a joke or two to share with us about his recent experience. Well done.
Thanks to all who came down and joined us for the races, we will look forward to seeing you all next year.
Rob Cummins
results available :
