Caroline Kearney 2014 Race Report -Lizanne Barnwall
This was my 6th National Series race of the summer and I was pretty exhausted by this stage. I started doing triathlon last year and clearly I’m still too inexperienced to understand that racing so many duathlons since March and Triathlons since May was just too much for one year! I wasn’t leaving enough time for adequate recovery and buildup of training again in-between races. Motivation was dwindling by July and apparently racing 6 months solid is just far too much. Anyway, it was too late by now. My lower back pain was already at its worst and a recent MRI told me I had a disc protrusion issue. This was my last race left so I said I’d just go for it. Nurofen (the race-legal type!) was a great help.
My goal for this year was to try doing my best on the Triathlon Ireland National Series (NS) rankings table because I didn’t even know what National Series meant last year! So I only entered NS races. I was also told this year that my age category (30-34) is the most competitive with the top finishers being in the 30-34 age bracket which scared me. This nearly made me rethink my beginners attempt at competing in the National Series. But I’m glad that I went for it now.
And so came the Caroline Kearney Triathlon which happened to be my last NS race for the summer. I registered at the venue the night before and as usual, met Irene and Sean parked there in their camper-van having tea! We had the chats & we hoped that the rain would hold off for the race the next morning. I came back early the next morning and as usual, looked around for familiar pulse heads.
The first person to come over was Michelle Dawson, smiling away despite being 7.30am! I instantly showed her the little frog that was on the grass by my car and I was afraid that I, or my bike, would accidently squash him. He just wouldn’t hop away. She carefully picked him up & brought him away from the car park so that he could avoid trampling! Orla Jordan then came along and we chatted briefly about the race and the frog! Then I started to see more of them…. Bryan, Shane, Ciarán, Kim, Miriam, Dervla, Edel and the rest of the pulse heads. A great Pulse turnout is always good.
We started setting up our transition but within 20 minutes the heavens opened with torrential rain! Everyone flocked from transition to their cars. So much for the talc powder in our bike shoes being soaked again. The race briefing informed us that all distances were accurate for 1,500m swim, 40k bike & 10k run. Some races can be a bit short/long. So we walked down to the lake for the 1,500m swim.
Wave 1 (men up to 44) were off first, followed by wave 2 ten minutes later which was the rest of us. Swimming is my weakest discipline having started swimming just 2 years ago in 2012. I was out injured all that year with Cruciate Ligament knee surgery so I forced myself to start swimming which lead me into the world of triathlon and Pulse at the end of 2012…. but my swim time improvements are very slow. I did this swim in exactly 26 minutes (a PB!) and into T1.
I grabbed my bike and out onto the 40km cycle. The first few k’s were on back roads which were a bit bendy but the course was very nice otherwise with only a couple of hills. I was really enjoying the cycle & paced well. For the last 5km’s however the heavens opened big time again & the roads filled with water very quickly. I’ll never forget passing one guy during that downpour saying “fu*k, fu*k, fu*k” to himself out loud! I couldn’t help smiling. Our shoes were filling with water pretty quick. Flying into the dismount line & jumping off your bike was just not an option. It was very wet & dangerous so the only option was to approach slowly & dismount carefully. I completed the bike in 1hr 10 mins which I was very happy about.
Here was my hiccup (because I make at least one stupid mistake at every race) When I was in T2 my fingers were just too wet & cold. I couldn’t unclip my helmet. I kept trying and just had no choice than to run with it on! Coming out of T2 I saw a marshal and ran to him asking him to please unclip it for me as I can’t run with it on. At first he was hesitant because he’s probably not allowed to interfere but what could he do – tell me to go run 10km with it on!? He unclipped and off I went shouting my thanks back at him and started the run with Orla Jordan at this point. The run route was great as it was an out-and-back road then back to another out-and-back road which meant we were all constantly passing each other on the other side of the road. I was feeling strong surprisingly and just paced it.
I remember a few pulse guys all coming along close together…. Kieran, John, Mairtín, John, Bryan and Barry and we all exchanged hello’s with a bit too much breath I now think. Perhaps we weren’t pushing hard enough if we had any energy to say hello! Coming into the last kilometer I could see Shane Farrell just ahead of me. I caught up with him into the finishing straight. He knew I was behind and turns around to shout, COME ON LIZANNE! It was encouraging and maybe I should have sprinted it out but I just didn’t bother for some reason which I then of course regret! I finish the run in 42 minutes. I wasn’t so happy with that time as I had hoped for 41 mins but I was told that overall it was a good finish time of 2 hrs 21 mins. I was the 6th female overall. I also came 3rd in my age category (30-34) but technically it was 4th which I explain at the end!
The food on offer was nice but I missed the burgers. Was raging, I love burgers. I know that Bryan was raging even more about missing the burgers!! We had to make do with the pork sandwich & pasta which was grand. All summer I’ve been coming 4th in my age category for every race except one. While I should be very happy about this, always coming 4th was becoming a bit de-motivating to be honest. If I was coming 5th or 6th onwards it wouldn’t be as frustrating but always averaging 20 seconds outside 3rd place was a killer all summer! I realized that all of the national series races I entered were some of the most popular with really good athletes always turning up. But Caroline Kearney did something that I thought was very cool….
While technically I came 4th in my age category again I had actually placed 3rd and won a prize (Crystal Trophy), much to my surprise & happiness. Because the 1st male and 1st female were removed from their age category rankings, with the 1st girl overall being in my age category 30-34, therefore she was excluded from the category placing which meant that I moved into 3rd position. It was such a great feeling to finally get somewhere in a race! I’ve been training hard consistently since winter and felt like I wasn’t getting very far. It was a very welcome moment to finish my last race on such a high 🙂
Irish Crystal for 3rd Place!
I’ve been very lucky to get the opportunity to go and race in Canada next week with the Irish Team in my Age Category at the World Triathlon Championships. An opportunity that might not be so easy to get again, nor may my body be able for it, so I’m grabbing it this year while I can as it’s such an honour and an experience to represent Ireland. I’ll go to Canada on a high now after finishing at Caroline Kearney and I will give it my best. I would have to say that Caroline Kearney was one of the nicest races I did this year in regards to the course, atmosphere and location. I’d strongly recommend it!
Summer Racing 2014