Kinsale 2006

I  arrived at the  race  start at a little after 9am and the weather was
miserable  with  rain and a strong wind blowing. I walked around transition
chatting to fellow Pulsers for a while before setting up my bike. The race
briefing was  at  10:15am.  We got underway at about 10:30. There were two
waves  and I  was in the first. The 750m swim was a triangular course out
into the sea, then a left turn at the first marker, then another left turn
back towards the shore.  The wind had picked up making the water choppy. At
the  sound of the hooter the first wave set off in what I can only describe
as a  washing machine. There  where bodies everywhere. I concentrated on
maintaining  a straight line by spotting every 5/6 strokes and keeping a
steady pace. My swim time was 13mins.

We got  out of the  sea and ran about 70 meters to the transition area.
While  I was there I noticed that my runners had filled with water from the
rain so I emptied them out, helmet on, grabbed my bike and ran out of the
transition trying not  to slip on the wet grass, onto my bike and  away I
went.  The bike route was 20km out and back.  It was only when I got going
that I realised just how hard it was raining with the all the water on the
road surface. The first 5km was fast as the wind was behind us. I put the
head down and settled into the tri bars and managed to pass a few people.
The road surface was good but with the rain and wind you had to concentrate
going  around  the bends. The second 5km was lumpy, up and down a few hills
and  I was  overtaken on this section of the course by what seemed like a
line of competitors.   At  the turnaround we faced  back into a strong
headwind.  For the 10km back to Kinsale I managed to claw back a few places
on the  bike. Overall I was happy with the bike section as I haven't been
able to train on the bike lately. Time was just under 40mins.

Back in T2 I racked my bike and put my rain filled runners on. The run was
5km  up  and back! I soon forgot about the rain when I saw the hill that I
had  to  run up. I tried to get going by taking small strides but the legs
wouldn't move.  I was  struggling. I looked around and there where bodies
flying past me and up the hill as if it wasn't there. At this stage Mark
Kelly  had come up to me and with a few choice words he got me going again.
Thanks Mark, I am not too sure what Mark said but it worked. It was good to
have a fellow Pulse member slow down and help me. I had to dig deep to get
to the  top and once over the hill the rest of the run was ok as the legs
were on auto-pilot.  On  the way  back  the hill didn't seem as bad. I
finished in a time of 1:21:10 over all.

A  big thanks to Mark and well done to all Pulser's as it was a tough race.


John Woods