Titanic Duathlon                     by Darren

My first Duathlon, and first report too! The day started out perfect, sun was shining; no wind and a late start so a few extra hours in bed! There were 8 Pulsers out for this race, me Mark Dave Julian Tim Eoin Edmond; Kathy was flying the flag for the girls! It had the making of a good battle around the titanic harbour, where the only thing taller than the MASSIVE cranes that built the Titanic and dominated the skyline, was our own Big Julian!

Everyone arrived around 1ish for registration, but it wasn’t your usual location: a derelict building and not a toilet in sight, which was bad news after two hours in the car (the bushes had to do!).

Most of us had our pulse gear on, the competition were already worried, and so they should have been, we had 5 finishers in the top 20, the most out of any other club there! Well Done Lads!

From the start line you could see the long mile out ahead of you but it seemed a hell of a lot longer, didn’t help with Dave saying every 2 mins, “are we there yet?”
The pace was very quick but we had a good group together at the start with “The Man With The Tan” Mark Dowling (he’ll tell you its real but I dunno) about 20 yards ahead. Dave was quickest out of transition, still don’t know how he does it, and don’t think he even stopped running, just picked his bike up and went! Just had to burn him then on the bike, sorry man!

The bike was fast, a tail wind on the way out and a little head wind then coming back but still quick. Everyone could see each other because of the turn around and cheered each other on. Trash talk was also exchanged ain’t that right Mark and Julian!!!
5 laps passed quickly and back out for more torture on the run. My legs were like jelly, pushed hard on the bike, a completely different pace to tri’s and what I’m used to. I never looked back on the run till the turnaround, I knew Dave, Julian, Eoin where in hot pursuit.
Ran on my own really on the run, no one to latch onto but finished strong in 51mins.

Everybody from pulse waited at the finish line and cheered the rest of the club in along with Mick Dowling, which was well appreciated, and made a difference on the day. Mick had a tri colour for any one brave enough to carry it across the finish line, but no one fell for it. Nice try Mick! Well done to Mark who finished 5th and 1st junior, collected himself a bank breaker of €43. Mark I thing they’re doing 2 for 1’s on all fake tan products in Boots so no doubt his money will be spent there! Hurry while stocks last!

Great day altogether, finished by a deadly steak in the Carrickdale hotel on the way back!
Mark 49.26, Darren 51.09, Julian 51.48, Eoin 51.59, Dave 52.14, Tim 61.47, Edmond 62.50 and a sprint finish from Kathy in 66.22!
Quote of the Day by Mick Dowling:” Kathy your legs were open for the whole race!” innocently referring to the fact that Kathy cycles with her knees out, but we still got a laugh out of it! Bring on race 2!