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Eireman Race report
The inaugural Eireman festival took place yesterday, Sunday 23rd of August 2009 in Courtown Co. Wexford in Ireland.
The festival encompassed 4 different Triathlon races & distances, all being held for the first time on the same day. The races included a full Ironman distance race, a Half Ironman, an Olympic distance and also a Sprint distance race.
It appeared that Mother Nature had other plans though as competitors woke to gale force winds and overcast skies, after a night of torrential rain. Due to the extreme weather conditions, the difficult but sensible decision to cancel the swim segments of each race was taken. “I was definitely disappointed that the swim was cancelled, but you only had to take one look at the sea and you knew that it would have been far too dangerous to go ahead” on competitor recalled.
The back up plan was for the full Iron distance athletes to run on an adapted course, which included an 8k run followed by the standard bike and run sections of their race. But after consultation with the athletes, it was decided to eliminate the initial 8k run, and instead for the Ironman athletes to complete the full bike and run distances (still an incredibly gruelling test). The athletes were then started on their bikes one at a time, leaving at 30 second intervals from the transition area.
Meanwhile the start of the Half Ironman distance race was subsequently postponed from the original time of 6:00am, to 8:15am, as a result of the altered Iron-distance start. The Half distance course was also initially altered to an 8k run – 93k bike and half marathon, but ultimately ended up as a 4.5k run – 97k bike and half marathon.
All competitors faced a varied and challenging bike section, which offered them both extremes of speed and heartbreak; “I would say it was the best road surface I have ever cycled on, absolutely perfect motorway tarmac. When you cycled in the direction of Dublin with the wind behind your back, you’d discover yourself clocking incredible speeds with little effort. But once you reached the turn around point, it was a heartbreaking battle to cycle back into the teeth of what seemed like gale force winds”.
The run section also provided athletes with a test of endurance as one athlete recalled. “From the briefings I had been under the impression that the run course was going to be flat, but discovered that it was quiet rolling with plenty of small hills, steps, gravel and turns. I was definitely delighted to finish!”
Some reports have suggested that a number of lead athletes in the half-distance race may have been mistakenly sent in the wrong direction, leading to some confusion regarding the actual final results of the race. Certainly once the official results have been released, we will update this article.
The Verdict
Overall the Eireman festival triathlons have enormous of potential.
Had the weather been different, Courtown bay would have provided a perfect swim location with transition only a short distance away. The bike course once again suffered due to the weather, but that doesn’t seem to have taken away from the athletes’ appreciation of the high quality road surface and closed motorway, to race on. Finally the run course seems to have certainly taken many athletes by surprise with its’ varying surfaced and rolling profile.
As with all inaugural events it appears that Eireman has suffered from teething problems, but these were unquestionably exacerbated by the extremely unseasonable weather conditions. There is no doubt that this is an event with massive potential, and we hope that the organiser perseveres, makes whatever changes are needed and that the festival and races return again next year
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Myself and three others travelled over from England for the race (HIM distance) and overall we can see the race has huge potential. I think trying to run four events all at the same time was the biggest problem on the day. The organisers tried their best, but, cannot help the weather. When people were shouting out, swearing and making truly daft suggestions about asking competitors to vote on whether they wanted to swim, I was truly staggered. The right decision was made. As for competitors going the wrong way (especially if they are elite) I can only say that your preparation was not up to scratch. I looked at the maps sent and listened carefully at the briefing. I then asked questions if I wasn't clear. I believe the winner/one of the top finishers was the Italian guy who took a wrong turn on the course? If this was the case, he was stood just behind me at the briefing on Saturday and chatted to his mate throughout it, not listening to a word being said - I had to move so I could hear better. I hope the race is organised again next year. It's is so easy to criticise, at least an event did take place and just think if the race had been 24 hours earlier or later - would there be the level of negativity that I am seeing?
I know there were mistakes at this race, but I think people should give the organiser a break. I'm sure he didn't mean for the day to unfold the way oit did - and would have hoped for all athletes to have an enjoyable race.
Eireman should change their name to Nowhereman.
Thanks a million for that update Champion Chip!
I can only imagine how tough it was to operate in that weather and with the confusion of the day.
Your post is much appreciated!
The results and splits were all done and completed by 11pm on Sunday night, last chap crossed the line at 9.50pm. They are yet to be published until the issues with runners being sent the wrong route in some cases are resolved. From the chip timing point of view the race was perfect and all splits were recorded in wet and testing conditions. We could have texted the splits out late Sunday but we felt it was unwise to do so. Some competitors we around on Monday morning such as Peter Coughlan and Elena Maslova and they were able to see their splits and confirmed they were accurate.
A tough race and a tough day. I quite enjoyed the challenge but would rather have done the swim.
It is everyone's responsibility to know the course, not the marshalls' this is the same all over the world.
Challenge Roth, the biggest in the world has no special needs bags and no marshalls telling you where to go, you just follow the course.
Yes there are some shortcomings to the event and lessons will be learned, but I heard the run instructions loud and clear.....You come out of the woods, turn left, then around to cone and head to tesco.
My only concern is that i came to the finish at end of lap 1 and no one knew what i was supposed to run around.
I take my hat off to Eoin, he tried and got a lot of things right.....but a few things to work on for next year.
Pity about the swim being cancelled as it certainly leveled out the field but did not suit us swimmers. Safe decision though as many people are not truthful about their swimming ability.
Would agree with the comments about the marshals, I had to roar at most of the marshals at junctions/turns etc. to ensure I was following the correct route, need more local club triathletes involved with the organization etc.
More razzmatazz needed at the start/finish areas music, MC's etc. all helps, hope to be back next year and would hope the organizing committee have learned a thing or two...
I dragged people to support me from Limerick. Thought it would be a good day out....wot a distaster!! the weather was out of the organisers control, fair enough, there was no atmosphere at the start line, and especially not at the finish line. No medals!! wot a joke!!! for all the signs advertisising the race, surely a few to direct competitors around the course would have been a good idea!! especially considering no one could hear the briefing!...oh yeah, i forgot we were supposed to study the fantastically confusing microsoft word diagrams on the website. if you're not gonna invest in a megaphone, get a designer to do the map diagrams for you. bit of a joke, felt the cost of it was put totally into the marketing rather than the atheletes and their supporters that were there on the day.
Entered the sprint triathlon, but the marshall sent me the wrong way ending up cycling 40k instead of 20k....this happened several athletes.
Basic mistakes by the marshalls - ruined the race for lots of athletes...
Very poor race with lots of potential. Too many distances and not enough proper planning/briefing. Particularly annoying for international competitors and elite athletes sent the wrong way. No excuse. Work harder at organising and less at marketing!
When we finished our race we were actually kept in transition and told we couldn;'t leave with our bikes & gear, because besides the Bike entrance and run exit, there was no other access to the transition area. Total joke, after finishing our race we had to stand in the howling wind until someone found tools to open a new access point in the fence!...
No medals? There was absolutely nothing at the finish. Was a big let down, especially for the fist timers like me.
And where are the results? It was chip timed, so results should be out within an hour?
I took part in this race yesterday. Great bike course, but how is it possible that there were no medals at the finish line?