Dunmore East Triathlon
7th July 2007
Report by Peter Munn
Leading up to the Friday the forecast wasn’t too clever with winds looking to be in the mini hurricane range and with the previous days cat cancelled it wasn’t looking too promising. Friday morning arrived and it seemed pretty breezy with Stenna’s website and answer phone service giving little or no details Richard actually spoke to a real person and it was thumbs up and a real rush ensued to get to Fishguard on time. That just gave Jim time for a haircut and next thing you knew we were off.
Alongside 8 of us from last year we were joined by Ian, Alex, Darren, Julie, Mark and Mandy. The crossing was very rough and everyone was looking around for Huw Lewis, well at least a lot of people were calling out for him. It was 2 hours of hell and the 14 of us were rather pleased to be on terra firma with pleasant sunshine welcoming us for our 90 minute transfer to Dunmore East. We were split into 2 B & B’s, the sensible crowd 100m from a pub and the young ones + Jim just 10 m away. What a result.
We reconvened in bike kit for a recce of transition area and a tour of the run route which included the 3 peak challenge. Darren had borrowed Mark’s solid wheel and he said he was going to seriously kick some butt, but not before causing a 12 bike pile up with Dave falling off and grazing those silky smooth legs. Mark then took Darren out for a lesson on solid wheel biking. He said it was just like taking your 5 year old on a 1st trip without stabilisers. I pushed the pace back to Dunmore, I was dehydrating at an alarming rate! We all then had an excellent meal and a couple of beverages before retiring to our respective hostels.
Saturdays weather was similar to last year – scorchio and with a bigger field it was hectic in the village with over 300 participants the atmosphere was high. With a short swim or walk to the start area it was open males off 1st followed 12 mins later by ladies, wrinklies and relay teams. It was the most aggressive swim I’ve been in with it resembling WWF wrestle mania. Richard had to stop to let this nutter pass him, he was fed up of being assaulted. On stopping he realised it was Karen ( she is so competitive). Ellie had a superb swim, 1st out and Julie got the dream team relay off to a good start, 3rd out of the water. It was then up the north face of the Eiger to transition, and then an out and back route on for us fairly flat good surface road.
Everyone cycled well with me, Jim and Richard just 4 secs apart with Dave, Alex, Val and Darren looking strong. It was a great spur to be cheered on by a very vocal Mandy, Julie and by now finished Darren as we came back to transition. Out on the run Jim showed me a clean pair of heels. The 1st 2k is a trio of steepish climbs and as I got to the summit of the 3rd or as me and Mark like to call it, Everest Richard drew alongside barely breathing and trying to make conversation. I soon told him were to go and he promptly did as he disappeared over the horizon. After that I felt quite good (for me) and actually passed a few people. It was a great relief to arrive back in the village with about 400 people lining the finishing straight and I felt a million dollars running to the line with the Welsh flag draped around my neck. ( I know the dollar is weak these days but you know what I mean).
Everyone donned the flag coming in and the local announcer bigged us all up as we sped to the line. Soon we were all finished and before you could say ‘king of the swingers’ Elen was up to her usual tricks climbing to the top of the tallest tree closely followed by Julie. Then all the local kids were bombed off the tree swing. It was the first time the locals had seen a ‘dope on a rope’ for a while.
We retired for a shower and gathered for the presentation at the ‘Ocean Hotel’ were the girls once again did us proud with Ellie retaining her crown, pipping the 2nd place girl within 400m of the finish line. Success did not stop there as Karen coming in as 2nd vet and Val 3rd. Well done indeed. With over 300 racers Dave had an exceptional race, 6th overall and Alex must have been delighted with his 40th spot. Jim had another solid race and Richard must be pleased to recover after the swimming assault. I had a good race and came 3rd in my category, ok there were only 3 of us. For Mark it was a toughy with lack of training taking its toll, especially on the 7.2 km run. Elen too had a solid race with a good run split. As for the dream team of Julie, Darren and Ian they were unlucky as they finished 19th overall but unlucky to come up against the relay team of Phelps/ Boardman and Radcliffe as they all performed admirably. They will return as I suspect we all will.
It was then onto the main event of the weekend, drinking, eating and general merriment and a good time was had by all. Val was a little devastated though, a distinct lack of drunken hobo’s and we didn’t even have a kebab on the way home. Gutted. Sunday brought an early flurry of swimming, cycling and walking before a leisurely lunch and general chill out. The trip back was thankfully calm and before you knew it we were home for 4hrs kip for some. Special thanks to greatest cheer leader Mandy, who was ace.
Results:
297 starters
| Name |
Swim |
T1 |
Bike |
T2 | Run | Time | Position |
| Dave Astins | 12.04 |
54 |
35.35 |
36 |
26.44 |
1.15.52 |
6th |
Relay Julie, Darren, Ian |
13.08 |
44 |
35.17 |
35 |
31.49 |
1.21.32 |
19th |
Alex Illyat |
14.46 |
54 |
38.06 |
35 |
30.50 |
1.25.09 |
40th |
Ellie Jones |
12.14 |
55 |
41.22 |
41 |
30.31 |
1.25.41 |
44th |
Jim Buck |
15.47 |
67 |
39.01 |
42 |
30.58 |
1.27.34 |
57th |
Richard Brown |
16.32 |
59 |
39.02 |
53 |
32.23 |
1.29.49 |
66th |
Peter Munn |
15.39 |
78 |
39.00 |
45 |
35.09 |
1.31.48 |
81st |
Karen Corcoran |
16.14 |
74 |
42.53 |
69 |
34.31 |
1.35.58 |
123rd |
Mark Jones |
15.45 |
95 |
38.37 |
64 |
41.30 |
1.38.29 |
142nd |
Elen Jones |
18.24 |
81 |
46.11 |
41 |
35.08 |
1.41.43 |
164th |
Val Brown |
21.41 |
80 |
42.09 |
74 |
36.18 |
1.42.42 |
172nd |