Liam Ball Sprint 2013
Almost 200 exponents descended upon Templemore Sports Complex in Derry in what was the 28th instalment of the North West Triathlon Club’s signature event the Liam Ball Sprint (NS) – the second oldest running Triathlon in Ireland.
You usually get 2 or 3 Pulse affiliates representing the club every year at this event but this year there was only one, yours truly. At least I could always say I was the first Pulser home and that’s a first.
I had viewed the forecast for Derry at the beginning of the week for what it was worth and was shocked to see that it was predicting clear blue skies with temperatures of 19 degrees. I checked again mid-week and it said 15 degrees and dry. When I checked again on the Friday it said dull with outbreaks of rain and temperatures ranging from 10 – 14 degrees – there we go, now that’s more like it!
Sure enough come race morning I was met in transition with a strong wind blowing from the Donegal direction (which marked the route for the bike) with persistent light rain just to prevent overheating, lovely. My wave wasn’t out until 11am so time for my warm-up which consisted of sprinting straight back to my car and turning on the heating!!
As this was my hometown race I wasn’t relaying on interclub competition to fire me up for this one. Knowing a lot of the Northwest lads I was hoping to put in a decent performance and shave a minute or 2 off last years’ time.
Being a pool swim we set off based on times given. It was agreed among the 5 others in my lane and at 13mins for the 750m I would go out last – fine by me. What happened next is real schoolboy error stuff. After 10 lengths of avoiding the toes in front of me I decided to sit back a bit to give a bit of space to get into some sort of rhythm – big mistake. The next time I looked up I was about 12 foot off the man in front of me. This gap bridged and I ended up having to swim 2 lengths on my own after the rest had gone. I got out of the water and looked at my watch; what’s going on, I go faster in training all the time!!
A minute and a half later I was out of T1 and heading straight for the border into Donegal and would you believe it the rain had stopped and the sun was out – happy days! I knew I had a lot to do when I couldn’t see the next rider in front of me so it was time to hammer down into the wind and hope to catch them on this “flat as a pancake” 20k route. At the turn around point I had passed everyone in my lane so now it was time to try and bridge the gap going into the run.
This is my 7th year at this crazy game and despite my years of racing my calfs still cramp when I jump off the bike and start to run. They return to normal after approximately 3 minutes and I usually find some form after that, but that’s a lot of time in a sprint. I got the 5k done in just under 21 minutes to beat last years’ time by 20 seconds overall. Can’t say I was delighted but to be honest given the swim, it could have been worse.
The Northwest Triathlon Club laid on a full spread of chicken, ham, pasta and sambos afterwards, so time to fill my boots before I hit the road. I love this wee course and in my unbiased opinion is definitely one of the best and most enjoyable races in the triathlon calendar year.
Written by: Dermot Duffy.