The sixth running of the lost sheep half ironman took place in the lovely town of kenmare in co kerry on saturday 6/9/2008. It wasnt in my plans to race this event, primarily due to a lack of the required training mileage for such an event, however i was talked into doing it by a friend in dublin who incidentally didnt turn up himself.

I arrived in kenmare on friday night for registration, where i met pauric. the weather was atrocious, and with an early start next day an early night was had.

5.15 am on sat, quick breakfast, and made my way to transition in the dark. It was still drizzling a little and the wind was howling. Practically everyone there was equally enthusiastic ( NOT ) about the thoughts of geeting into a cold sea to swim the 1.9k, and moreso about the beast of a cycle and run to follow.

We had a 1k walk to the start of the swim, and a quick dip confirmed that the water temp was indeed nut shrinkingly cold. At least it was bright by now and soon we were off.
The swim took us straight out kenmare bay to a buoy almost invisible in the distance, which we rounded before heading back towards transition. The return leg was supposed to be fast as the tide was still coming in, however the opposite was the case. We were swimming straight against the strong flow of the river emptying into the bay, which was swollen with all the recent heavy rainfall. The last few hundred metres, which was now in the actual river, took us under the bridge where the current brought most swimmers almost to a standstill. I found thet i had to swim flat out to make any progress, and in fact many swimmers had to abandon and climb out early, making there way to transition by foot.

I could scarcely believe my eyes when i saw my time - over 38 mins. To put it in perspective this was 37th fastest in the field of over 350 entrants.
Despite the time I knew I was well up as the transition area was still almost full of bikes. I took my time in transition making sure to put on a longsleeved top, and that I had all my drinks and jells etc.

Having raced this course twice before I was careful not to overcook it in the early stages, especially as I had no long cycles done since May.
Soon I was on the first big climb of the day at Tousist, a nice leg softener before the real hardship that was to follow. Already I was being passed by quiet a few riders, but decided to stick to my race plan and keep things steady. Next was the 1st cat healy pass which didnt prove too difficult as the wind was following. A fast if somewhat dodgy drop off healy took us riding back northwards towards Glengarrif. This is where things really started to become tough, as the next 10 to12 mls drag uphill and on this occasion were into the teeth of a gale. I could see my avg speed drop as each mile passed, but I was holding my positionwise.

After Glengarrif we turned left and almost immedietly started to climb the caha pass, another cat 1 climb. The lower slopes were ok as there was good shelter from the wind, but once we reached the barren slopes near the top things became very interesting. I saw my speed drop to 6 or 7 mph for the next two to three miles, and it was a challenge to just stay upright and moving at times. Was I glad to see the tunnell that marked the top of the climb!.

Usually from the top of caha the last section ( approx 12 mls ) is very fast downhill back to trsnsition. Instead, with Trevor Woods at the top warning riders to be extremely careful on the descent, the swirling headwinds made it very difficult to avail of the long drop, and speeds were well short of what they could be.

On arriving back at transition I was glad to be getting off the bike. I had lost about 15 places on the cycle section but had hept something in the tank for the run, unlike some of the cyclists that had pushed too hard and D N F ed. My bike time was about 2-54, with avg speed just over 17 mph. I think this indicates just how hard this cycle is, as normally I will avg up yo 24 mph on a flat olympic distance course.

I immedietly picked up two places on the first k, and tried to settle into a rythim. Initially I was running about 5 min per km, and settled down to about 4-40 after 3k. I maintained this pace and continued to make ground up to about 15k.
At this stage my lack of mileage started to show, and my pace started to slow. I was determined to complete this race without walking and just took each km at a time. By about km 19 I was so tired that I didnt care where I finished or in what time. I got to the 20 k mark with some sense of releif and looking back was glad to see nobody close.
I crossed the line ln 5hr 21min, in 40th position. I was first in my catagory, with 11 mins to spare over my nearest rival. overall a satisfactory result all things considered.

Was I glad I did it ?.
Actually i was. With an ironman coming up next year it was a good reminder of just how hard these events are, and how necessary it is to be properly prepared. I had entered this event on a whim, and although I survived on the day thanks to the fact that I recognised I wasnt fully ready and remained disciplined, it could have easily gone pear shaped and been a dnf.

Very well done to Pauric Cooke and Dave Martin on their successful finishes. Im not sure if i saw Dave on the course as I dont know him yet, but when i met Pauric on the run course he looked like he was out for a stroll - completely relaxed and looking as fresh as a daisy. Fair play to them both.
Thats definately the end of my tri season, im now getting ready to run the Dublin city marathon ( on another whim )
Roll on next year.
See you all soon.
Mick.