Lough Hyne Challenge 2012

Baltimore, West Cork was the venue for this race. It was a long drive; we headed off in our camper on Friday evening as usual it was raining and very windy. We hit a bit of traffic in Cork city so decided to stop for a bite to eat. It was on then from Bandon to Skibberren and what seemed like 2 hours later we arrived in the small fishing village of Baltimore at half past 8. Registration was open until 10 so I picked up the goody bag and headed to the pier to park up for the night where we found barriers so we had to double back to the town where we found ample parking across the road from some newly built Holiday Homes. By now it had stopped raining but was still chilly. We took a walk up to the local pub which was busy with holidaymakers enjoying a few drinks overlooking the bay. Not for me though! I had an early night, it was very quiet in this village with very little noise or traffic.

Race day morning thank god it was bright and warm. With an 11 o clock race start and residing not far from transition there was no huge hurry in the morning. There was a very low key atmosphere at this race; you would not have guessed it was a national series race with only 180 entrants. There was only myself and Cork native Paul flying the flag for Pulse.

Race briefing – They informed us that they had to change the course and take out the famous Lough Hyne mountain which I was relieved to hear and they informed us of the bad road surface and dangerous bends. I wasn’t hoping for a great time in this race as I had not been feeling great since Athlone and I had been on an antibiotic for the week for a chest cold so the aim was to just get through another Olympic distance race.

So on to the mass start. This was a triangular swim that brought us out to the first buoy and across with a left turn across to the next buoy which seemed to last forever but at least the sun was out so it was warm. I just got into a nice rhythm until the end. It was definitely a measured 1500 swim! Just a short transition up the jetty and onto the bike. They were a bit short on stewards and I nearly missed the first turn on the bike which was up the first of many short but steep hills. They were right about the roads, they were really gravelly with lots of lose bits. Out to Skibberen and back in on a loop, very slow bike for me but the scenery was breathtaking. Still though I was glad to get the back into transition in one piece where I saw my husband being put to work as a marshal at the start of transition. Onto the run, felt fine at this stage but the run was straight up to a hill where I found it a bit tough. It was like this for the first 2km but then I began to feel good and passed some people on the final 5km which was quite flat with a steep downhill to the finish. I came through the finish and I knew it was slow as people had already begun to collect their bikes to brink home. With a time of 3.24 this is the slowest race I have done but it had the toughest bike route. Headed into the sea to help cool down the leg muscles and got chatting so I decided to stay for the prize giving ceremony. I needed to wait a while to get the food that was on offer, salad, pasta and burger but it was very nice. I was about to head back for a shower when I couldn’t believe I had got 2nd in my age group. Needless to say there were probably only 2 people in that group! I had a lie down for an hour or two then headed out to the local pub for some fresh fish and chips but they had no Coors or Bulmer’s light in this pub so we were not pleased. We managed to drink a few of the full versions before heading to a different pub which did supply them. We got chatting to locals and holidaymakers before wobbling back to the camper, bed at last.

Next morning, not feeling great more due to the hangover than the race and as usual the mild winter that we’re having continued with more wind and rain so we took a walk up to the local Centra for the Sunday papers but they had no breakfast rolls so we had to make due with cereal. Imagine a Centra with no breakfast rolls! So we got back on the road home again to see how I recover for the next one

Written by: Irene O’Connor