No vanity, just a little insanity in the sun

TRIATHLON/TRI-ATHLONE CHAMPIONSHIPS: IAN O'RIORDANwas on hand at the Tri-Athlone Championships in which athletes of all shapes and sizes ran, cycled and swam to their heart's content

PEOPLE WHO take part in triathlons will tell you they are primarily motivated by health and fitness. But that simply isn’t true. For all the cheap thrills at our fingertips these days, most of us lead pretty dull lives, and bored with our daily routines, need to find something less ordinary.

The golf course might be alright for some, and good luck to them: for others, motivated by fearlessness and a little craziness, it is swimming, cycling and running – and in quick succession. This is what gets the adrenaline pumping for the proper life junkie and if it helps keep the veins free of cholesterol then that’s a mere side-effect.

“Imagine how KNACKERED you’d be,” says one local kid, after asking me what was going on here. If he was trying to make sense of the scenes unfolding in front of him then he probably wasn’t alone: the zipping and stripping of wetsuits – Orca, 2XU, Zoot; the clipping into and dismounting of bicycles – Cervelo, Pinarello, Cannondale; the lightweight flats and half-naked running . . . No wonder Nike keep coming up with such catchy slogans.

“Wave Five to the pontoons, please, Wave Five,” says the announcer, barely audible among the crowds that have gathered along the banks of the Shannon.

“What colour bathing cap is John?” asks a young woman, apparently trying to identify her husband.

Most of these scenes will only make sense to those who were involved in them. It’s no secret that triathlon is among the fastest growing sports in the world, and Ireland is no exception – and Tri-Athlone is up there among the biggest events in Europe, and definitely among the best.

On arrival, however, it was like the old days, when Athlone was a bottleneck, and the section of the main Dublin-Galway road was invariably chaotic. Particularly on a Saturday afternoon. Then they built the motorways and by-passes, and towns like Athlone went quiet, sometimes very quiet. Perhaps these scenes are simply things changing back, to the future, if that any makes sense.

But triathlon is no craze, although it helps if you’re a little crazy. There is no vanity here either, only a little insanity. From three o’clock in the afternoon they start spilling into the Shannon, about 2,500 in all – and in all shapes and sizes too. Wave after wave of them, which is actually how they stagger the different age groups, and distances, and it’s not long before they’re splashing about in the water like shoals of startled piranhas.

Now in its sixth year, the Tri-Athlone is designed to attract all levels of participants, and indeed it does. At one level are the elites, and the event doubles as the Irish Sprint Championship – which in triathlon means a 750-metre swim, 20km cycle, and then a 5km run. This turns out to be an intense competition, but in the end Gavin Noble underlines his status as the best triathlete in the country: he completes the three disciplines in less than an hour, sprinting over the finish line by the town plaza in 58 minutes and 29 seconds.

Noble has made a living out of triathlon, has been competing since his schoolboy days in Enniskillen, and his victory, just ahead of emerging junior Owen Cummins, was another small stepping stone towards his ultimate goal of qualifying for the London Olympics.

“That’s what gets me out of bed in the morning,” says Noble. “It’s sneaking up on us now, and we have to be highly consistent. I just have to avoid injury, and keep doing what I’m doing. But we have an excellent support team now, and hopefully I’ll be there.”

Aoife Lynch took the women’s Irish Sprint crown, in 1:09:29, even though she finished in one of the later waves. Nothing unusual about that: triathlon is nearly all about racing against yourself anyway, pushing your strengths, concentrating on your weaknesses. Out on the bike course drafting is strictly illegal – which means there’s a time penalty if you’re caught in the slipstream of your opponents.

There wasn’t much wind to hide from anyway. Conditions, fittingly enough, weren’t too unlike Hawaii, although this made it tougher for those competing in the Olympic distance of a 1.5km swim, 40km cycle, and 10km run. The overall winner there was Bryan McCrystal, in a very impressive, 1:51.19 – although a time like that was nicely aided by the downstream swim.

Then comes everybody else – which in the triathlon could be anyone else. Athlone also stages a Try-a-Tri, which is a mere 200-metre swim, 20km cycle and 5km run, and that can be broken into relay legs, with a team of Rose of Tralee participants inevitably drawing extra applause.

As they spilled across the finish line the final task was to find some of those to whom triathlon was an entirely new adventure, who had come to Athlone for no other reason than seeking a life less ordinary.

Laura Ward was the very first woman stopped, and having only recently learnt to swim, already has several other triathlons lined up for the rest of the summer.

The very first man stopped was John Finnegan, who had just finished his first triathlon after no training, on a bike borrowed from his dad, and evidently having been on the beer in Barcelona for the past week.

If these are just some of the people being drawn into the triathlon then maybe the county’s health will take care of itself.