Naaswheelworx In what proved to be a challenging day for organisers and competitors alike,
– with too much Ice on the roads to safely have a bike leg we proceeded with a 3
lap run of the course.
Our decision to utilise Timing chips paid dividends, as we have split times for each lap.
(Just remember the first lap doesn’t include transition so it slightly faster)
Many thanks to all the people who helped out with all of the marshalling,
organisation and all the other efforts required to run such an even
It seemed Nice and quiet when I woke …Good the storms of the day before are gone 😉
Then I had a Glance out the window ….Where did that ice come from ..F**k
I didn’t order ice …WHO Ordered ICE ….I’m really sure it’s not part of the plan .
A text has arrived in ,snow in manyooth ?
Well it’s not that bad here , so come on ,we’ve a race to run . My estate (housing ..not a mansion )
is always icy on cold morning , but the main road was fine ..excellent ….take the turn to Blessington /Punchestown
still ok ….ok a bit worse …ok lost of Ice …The turn at beggars End up to Punchestown had me enter ‘winter wonderland ‘ . !@%$#%@ !@%$#%@ !@%$#%@
It was still quiet dark when I arrived ..I better mention that Ed our race director arrived first 😉 ,
but the sun popped up over the mountains ..ahh some heat (ok not really ) …please melt the Ice .
It was only nine O clock ….3 hours before the race ..hopefully enough time to clear the roads.
It was not to be …it stayed quite cold , and as the decision deadline approached we had to
move to a run only race ..three laps of the Punchestown Ambulance Track – recently resurfaced.
TI did a Final check on the run course & gave the go ahead and we opened registration .
With it being one of the first races of the year – TI membership and One day licences are not as straight forward as in later races – but we got through .
The timing chips worked really well , quick results , split times , and a great turn out despite the weather
and lack of bike section , and a big thank you to all the athletes who despite the sleet , snow etc got out seems to have a good time
Over to Rob ( who took part ) ….
Myself Aisling and Brendan headed to Punchestown for the first of the Wheelworx Dirty Weekend duathlons, this would be my first time racing one of them, I have either directed or helped out at all of the races to date.
As soon as we got out of the house and saw how badly frozen the roads were we realised that it would have to be a run only event…damn I had my new bike and was hoping that any small advantage I would have would be on it, not on the run…..
The distance would be 10k. Before the race the skies opened and we had sideways sleet and rain, this stopped briefly before the start but started again on the first lap so it took a while to get warmed up. I ran with Brendan from the start, he is a lot better than me at pacing so the plan was to stay with him as long as possible.
I dropped off his pace a little at the start of the second lap loosing about 30 seconds but managed to pull back about half of that at the end of the third lap. It was the first time in a race I’ve started as slowly as we did but it’s also the first time
I haven’t blown up and been passed. I made up about 10-15 places during the course of the race, a first for me on a run so lesson learned for the next time.
In the womens race Aisling Coppinger and Kiera Eva Mooney started and ran the first half lap together, on the drag at the second half of the lap Aisling pulled out a
12 second advantage and pulled away to win by over a minute. Noel Cavanagh and Mark Doyle ran together until Noel pulled away in the 3rd lap to win the mens race by 7 seconds.
Looking forward to the second race, well done to all in the Naas Wheelworx Club for a good race in dificult conditions.
Rob Cummins
