Monday 6 September 2010

Photo's

I will get some images for my previous races as soon as i can, i just concentrated on getting the posts up in the first place and getting the blog up to date, so just to let you know there will be some pics to come in the near future.

keep checking. :)

Budapest here I come --------->>>

Finally found out that I will be competing in the Junior Elite Race in the World Championships, Budapest.

I'm so happy!!!!!!! :):):)

Hopefully I will be able to come back and post a very exciting race report, with a very pleasing outcome.

Fingers crossed!


Finally Up to date!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

It has taking me ages, but finally I have got around to it, and have all my race reports upto date.

From now on i can just use this to post random things that are currently happening to me in the way of triathlons, as well as my future race reports.

I hope you enjoy reading them all, I know they go on a bit, but I will work on cutting them down in the future, and also I'm sure there is the odd, or maybe very common spelling mistake, and probably no doubt some dodge grammar, but i'm not too worried about this being Shakespeare standard, it is just to record and document my triathlons.

Hope you enjoy, keep reading.

... and also if u want to contact me leave a comment, or drop me an e-mail.
Thanks :)

Lord of the Lake.

At Camlough, my nearest open water venue. They held a competition, to swim the full length of the lake from one end to the other, (1.7 miles)

So I managed to win it by a margin of 2 mins.

I went 30 mins exactly, could they not have gave me 29.59.99, that would have been alot better.
But never mind there is always next year.
I was told that it mite actually me the course record, its not official yet but lets hope so.

It was really good fun, i really enjoyed it, i'm sure there is plenty of people that would disagree, and say that swimming non stop for 30mins is madness, but to me it isn't.

I seen a t-shirt for a half ironman today, on the back it quoted all the distance and underneath it said;

" WHY? Because I can! "

I thought that it was brilliant.
from now on that will be my response to anybody that tells me what I do is crazy etc.


London Junior Elite Triathlon

London Junior Elite Triathlon

London Docklands/Ex-cel Centre

8th August 2010

The worlds largest triathlon, it was crazy, it was just a constant stream of participants.

All ages, all shapes and all sizes competing in different distances.

I was in the Junior Elite race. This race was mainly made up of the Top Juniors from across Britain. This was my chance to see what I was like against our friends from the mainland.

The swim was in the docklands, with an in-water start.

Had a decent start, and was going up towards the 1st buoy in line with the front bunch, coming upto the buoy everyone just crammed ontop of eachother, it was like nothing I had ever experienced - it was scary, I thought my race was over there and then.

I had to thing quickly I see what was the best thing to do, I had no water to catch so I bailed out of the bunch and went up the inside got around the buoy ok stayed where I was until the next one, and managed to get around it without much drama. Finally clean water! Now the huge straight. This was my chance, I swam straight up the inside along the rope I didn’t even sight, I just followed the rope the whole way up, I just was passing loads, I was making up all the places I lost at the buoy. The rest of the swim was fine and exited with the front guys maybe 8th out of the water, happy enough.

Had another super T1 maybe 1st or 2nd fastest, this helped me get out on the bike in 4th place. The cycle was pretty uneventfulfor the majority of it, just sat near the front of the lead bunch, was not a very fast pace at all but still the chasing pack wasn’t gaining anything on us.

Then coming back upto the Ex-cel Centre, the race completely changed, I was at the very front of the pack, the course was meant to go on past the Excel Centre, around a round-about and back in. the only problem was the marshals wanted us to go straight into the centre without going past it, and therefore not the correct course. As I was leading the bunch I knew I had to go on, I started to go past the entrance, but I seen the majority of the pack turn in, I decided I had to do the same. I had to turn back. From being at the front I was now at the middle to back of the pack, I had lost so many places.

Another good transition made a few more places up and onto the run, feeling ok I just had to forget what had just happened and try and do my best on the run.

Run went ok nothing special, but still ok.

I managed to gained more places along the way, and ended up finishing in 6th, very close to 5th, if I had another 100m I would have had him, but I didn’t, so 6th it was. Therefore I was pretty pleased, didn’t manage to fulfil my aim of top 5, but I think it was very good considering the major mishap that was uncontrollable.

All in all a really enjoyable weekend, and a good race to finish it off. Looking forward to this race next year.

LISBURN CITY TRIATHLON

LISBURN CITY TRIATHLON.

1/8/2010

Today was the day of what I classify as my local race; the swim section was held in the swimming pool that I train in everyday of the week. This time however it was a different experience, not a typical training session and very different from any race I have ever taken part in. No tumble turns!!!

I was in lane one in the final wave, I took up the mantle and lead the lane out. I wanted to win this race, and I had to do it the only way I knew how; from the front!

I have always been a swimmer and in order to make the most of this natural advantage I had to go hard right from the start. My swim went to plan, and was out of the water first, it was a long run to the first transition so I pulled my running flats on to get to the bike as fast as possible in hind sight this mite not have been the right thing to do as I didn’t gain as much time in running fast to T1 as I lost by putting the shoes on. T1 went well and I was out of transition before the 2nd athlete made it in, with a 50 second advantage. I knew that Brian Campbell was not going to be far behind me, and this week he knew who I was so he knew what he needed to do, therefore I didn’t have the element of surprise this weekend. I knew I needed to have a fast bike and that I wasn’t going to be able to let him take anytime off me if I was going to stay away from him on the run.

The bike course was 2 laps of the Lisburn 10k run course; (on open roads) there was loads of traffic lights to negotiate and left hand turns which meant that it was hard to establish a strong rhythm. Thankfully I didn’t get stopped at any red lights, but to be fair I don’t think I would have stopped if I had hit any.

Despite all of this I was able to stay out in front of Brian Campbell (former commonwealth triathlete) however he had made slight in-roads into my lead of 5 seconds or so. I knew that Brian was a very strong runner and this was going to be a fight to the finish.

I was right; the run consisted of 5 laps on the grass around the football pitches, it was the hardest run I have had to do so far, I was lucky that it was an open course and was able to see where he was at all times, I didn’t constantly check as I was finding it tough and digging deep but at the top end of each lap the run went around the perimeter of a football pitch so I was able to look across and check what the gap was. I could see that he was closing in with each lap, this was going to come down to a tough finish.

On the last lap very near the end he came up on my shoulder and the only thing I could think of was a saying the Oliver constantly tells me “acceleration kills people!!!” so as soon as I knew he was there I kicked – I had nothing left but I somehow kicked. He managed to respond he was back on my shoulder but I knew he was hurting cause if he was strong enough he would have went past me.

There was a 90* courner just before the finish line and as soon as I hit it I kicked again only this time with everything I had. I had got him he had nothing to respond with. I crossed the line – 1st place by 2secs, the commentator came over and started talking to me he said “…where did that final sprint come from – were you leaving a bit for the finish?” my response was “nope, I don’t know where that came from, I was bust” – and that was the truth. Before the race I told my dad a saying and that’s how I ran the race. “I’m going to hurt --- if anyone wants to beat me they are going to have to hurt more.”

I crossed the line in 58.08, with a 2 second advantage. I won the overall male title as well as being placed top junior.

Three weeks – three races- three first place finishes,

I feel like I’m getting stronger with every race,

Roll on London next week!!!!

Big Splash Triathlon, Portglenone

Big Splash Triathlon,

Portglenone.

24th July 2010

2nd race in a row, was hoping this race would go the same way as last weekends race.

Still being an unknown, I was hoping to slip under the radar and surprise a few more people this week again.

The swim was in the River Bann, and was very short, ended up it had been measured wrong; if only I could do 4mins50 for all my 750m swims it would be amazing.

Still managed to exit the swim in 1st place, but was closely followed.

After a very speedy T1 I was well on my way and had a gap between myself and 2nd place. It was a 20km out and back course which gradually climbed up to the turnaround point, the only problem was it was hard to make up the time on the downhill because there was a headwind back to the transition area.

I managed to get back to T2 still in 1st place – my biking has really came on leaps and bounds. T2 wasn’t great, 1st of all I was obstructed into the transition area by the lead car, and then when I went to run out of transition I started to run the wrong way, it wasn’t until I heard everyone shout that I realised that I wasn’t going the correct way. As I was running out I managed to see the next two men coming in from the cycle and I was able to judge how much time I had, I was pretty confident that I had a strong lead but this race was still far from over.

The run was an out and back course as well, so I was nearly always able to see the gap between myself and second place. On the run second place was Brian Campbell, I knew he was an extremely strong runner, as he is 3 time Irish cross country champion and commonwealth triathlete, so I knew that if I wanted to win this race I was really going to need a very strong run.

At the halfway point I seen that I had a good lead, and felt very comfortable so I was able to just keep going and managed to finish in 1st 2 weekends in a row. Once I finished my coach Oliver Harkin came over to me to congratulated me and he said “I don’t think you realise how big a scalp that was beating Brian Campbell!”

I was so happy to have won today as it meant that last week wasn’t a fluke and that

I had found a bit of form; hopefully this run of form would last for a good while.

2 wins in 2weeks. J

Muckno Mania Triathlon

Muckno Mania Triathlon.

Castleblaney.

17th July 2010

1st Race since the Europeans, was really looking forward to get back racing and staying on the bike this time.

The swim was in Lake Muckno, the coldest swim I have done so far. At one point I didn’t know if I was kicking or not because my feet were so numb.

The swim was good, came out in the lead, it had felt very comfortable and I had felt in control but it didn’t feel that fast, it was hard to see all the buoys, they weren’t very viable and had birthday balloons to try and make them easier to see, but didn’t really work, it was all made harder as there were 5 buoys so u had to swim in a pentagon, therefore, a lot of time was spent sighting rather than just swimming.

Wetsuit didn’t really come off as easily as I would have liked but still managed to exit T1 still in first.

On to the bike, 1st time using my new Mavic Cocmic Carbone SL wheels, they elt amazing, the cycle was shorter than the usual 20km, and very fast, I didn’t see anyone on the cycle, and I didn’t really know the course so it was good that I had a car to escort me the whole way around the cycle.

T2 happened very smoothly, and was out on the run in no time, the run course was great there was a wee island and it was two laps of it, it was virtually a completely flat and gravel path and was really easy to run on.

This has been my best run so far, it was very fast and very comfortable, still hadn’t seen anyone, just kept running though as it was hard to see who was behind. I kept the foot on the gas to the very end, after leading the whle way I wasn’t going to give it up at the end.

I managed to stay in 1st the whole way winning by a margin of 2mins 37secs. I had just got my 1st, 1st overall in my very short career.

3rd then 2nd now 1st in my past 3 races, going in the right direction anyway. J

European Junior Championships

European Junior Championships.

Athlone, Ireland.

4th July 2010

The biggest race of my extremely short career to date.

Home turf and everything, was really up for this, there was no pressure on me at all, just enjoy the experience and see what I could do – see if I would be able to cut it with the big guys.

Race was on the Sunday, so was down with the whole team from Wednesday. First major competition so it was an experience itself to be with the seniors and have a management team around me, it was brilliant.

I loved the atmosphere of the whole weekend it was just incredible, it was really good to see all the races before me and see how things were going.

Sunday;

Cycled down to transition area with my kit, got tri-suit pictured and get my numbers on me, and got transition all set up, everything was going smooth, was really excited and just wanted to get at it.

Got my wetsuit on went in for a quick swim warm up, was feeling on form, then when we were lining up it was announced that the race was going to be delayed, so had to go back into the athletes lounge.

The delay was caused by the strong winds blowing tiles of the roof and barriers fallinf down. At this stage I didn’t realises how much of a factor this strong wind was going to be to the outcome of my race.

Due to this unforeseen circumstance the route of the cycle and run was slightly changed in order to avoid the area around the castle.

So that was that, didn’t really mind the delay and I was ready to line up for the second time now.

I was so surprised; I didn’t even get nervous for the start.

Swim Start was fine didn’t even get cramped that much, but wasn’t really going as fast as I would have liked, but it wasn’t a disaster, wasn’t really able to see a thing either which didn’t help.

Got around the first bend fine and pretty comfortable, but once I got around it the punches came in thick and fast, but lets just say I was giving as much as I was getting, there was no point being mister nice guy when everyone else wasn’t.

One thing I hate is people trying to pull my zip down I just think that it is a really low thing to try, luckily my Blueseventy zip went the opposite way and it cant be pulled down.

The rest of the swim wasn’t that eventful, still didn’t know where I was position wise, but ended up exiting in 13th which wasn’t too bad for my 1st ever swim with people around me. Although unknown to me at that point it was going to be unlucky 13th.

T1 was amazing, have never got a wetsuit off so fast, was class, mounted the bike and the lead bunch was only 5m from me I thought I was sorted, but didn’t get into my shoes fats enough. Looking back that could have changed my whole race.

So missed the lead bunch, and waited on the chasing pack.

1st lap went ok, but wasn’t quite as comfortable as I would have liked.

On to the second lap, was at the front of the chasing pack, doing all the work and was just about to bridge the gap to the lead bunch coming up to the turn around point, they were so close. Then out from an entry there was a cross wind and a redbull can blew out, it was like slow-mo I could just see it coming, and I was prepared to dodge it, I was on the outside and I just seen it slide under the front wheel of the guy to my left, and he just lost it – went straight down and just slid and wiped me out – took my bike from underneath me, there was nothing I could do, then I could feel another fella go straight over the top of me (I had his tyre marks up my back and neck) so I was down, I had came of in the Europeans, what was I going to do? there was no way that that was the end I was finishing this race no matter what!!!

So up I got I didn’t even think about it I was pumping, got my chain back on as fast as possible and back on the bike. My shifters were both bent inwards, went round the turn around point and realised I couldn’t reach my breaks – I thought I was off again. I was still out of the saddle trying to make up time, but when I went to sit down I realised my saddle was sideways, this was a disaster, couldn’t sit down, hardly any breaks and ripped open down my whole right hand side.

On with the race I went there was nothing I could do. Got into the town again and just came in like a lone rider with my battle wounds, I could hear people cheering for me and then in their next breath – “o flip he has came off!”

Once I got through transition I sat up waiting on the next bunch, I was just freewheeling for ages waiting on someone. So as I was waiting I was trying to yank my seat around. Finally got it a bit straighter, at least I could sit now.

Two others caught me finally so worked with them as a three for the rest of the cycle, we were going ok and nobody else caught up with us.

Onto the run, first lap was awful, whole right side was dead from landing on it; hip was solid there was no spring off the ground at all, and to make matters worse I had taken a gel on the cycle for a pick me up, only thing was I had lost my bottles in the crash so hadn’t taken much fluids with it and it just sort of lay in my stomach making me feel awful, but I ran on.

Once I got a water station it helped and I was starting to loosen up, was getting into a rhyme.

I never knew if there was such a thing as home advantage, but after that 2nd lap I experienced it for myself, it was such a boost, I floated around that lap, somehow recording the 10th fastest 2nd lap run split (not bad after falling of a bike before hand) so that was it sprinting around the 2nd lap trying to make up as many position as I could.

In hind sight it wasn’t a disaster, infact there was many positives to take out of it. I finished 47th but I really thing I would have been top 20 at least if I hadn’t of coming off. The main thing was :- I now know I can cut it with the best in Europe, and the best part of it, I still have next year to redeem myself as a junior and really show what I can do.

Sorry that this has dragged on, but it was a bit of a dramatic race, I hope you enjoyed reading it, even if it took you a while.

Keep reading my blog – there is plenty more to come. ;)