West Cork Triathlon Club would like to congratulate Katie Cooke on her amazing achievements this year, most of us can only dream about what it takes to compete at this level:
"The season started not so far from home with the Skibbereen duathlon on 25th April. This 3k run followed by a 30k cycle and another 3k run was run by the Skibbereen Rowing Club. I had spent the previous 10 days in sunny and windy Lanzarote chasing Joyce Wolfe around on a bike so I wasn't sure what shape I'd be in but it was time to start getting some race practice in. Lizzie Lee put in a very fast first 3k run (as per usual) but I managed to catch her on the bike and extend my advantage over the tough 30k bike route to finish in 1h27 with Lizzie in 2nd place with 1h31 and Aoife O'Mahony 3rd in 1h35.
Next up was saturday 22nd May and the first triathlon of the season. Valentia Island triathlon is always very popular selling out within the hour. The weather was vastly better than last year and the triathlon was a sprint distance consisting of a 750m swim from the mainland to the island, followed by a 20k cycle around beautiful Valentia Island and finishing with a hilly 5k run. Amy Wolfe won in 1h04.57 with Elena Maslova 17 seconds after her and me in 3rd place with 1h08.
Two weeks after Valentia I travelled with 4 other Cork triathletes to an Ironman 70.3 race in St. Polten, Austria. This was my first half Ironman abroad and I would highly recommend these Ironman run events. The atmosphere was amazing and the event itself was brilliantly organised. The distances involved were a 1.9k swim, a 90k cycle and a 21k run. The swim was novel in that the first 1km was swum in one lake. We then had to exit the water, run 500m across a bridge and enter a 2nd lake to complete the final 900m! Transitition times were also long as the transition parks had to be rather large in order to cope with the 2712 athletes competing! The bike course consisted of stretches of flat roads interspersed with three large hills and the scenery was stunning with a large part of the course running alongside the River Danube. The run was largely flat with two 10km laps and passing through and finishing in a purpose built arena where the atmosphere was electric. Joyce Wolfe of Cork triathlon club finished first in our age group (30-34) in 4h45.45 and I was second in 5hrs00.03. We both qualified for the Ironman 70.3 world championships held in Florida in November. However, neither of us took the place for various reasons. This was a preparatory race for the Ironman and so we travelled to southwest Austria after the race to practice on the Ironman course in Klagenfurt. It was at this point that I realised that the Ironman cycle wasn't going to be as easy as I had thought! It was far more hilly than I expected and although there were plenty of fast descents, there were few total flat stretches. However the 2 days spent in Klagenfurt gave us a good insight into the course and area.
Following St. Polten at the end of may, the next race on my schedule was a local sprint triathlon in Schull. It was another fine day and perfect racing conditions and I finished in 3rd position having the lead on the bike at one point before being overtaken by Joyce. Lizzie Lee put in another fantastic run time to catch me at 4k on the run and so the final results were Joyce 1st in 1h13.58, Lizzie second in 1h14.51 and me in 3rd in 1h15.44.
Joyce, myself and Sean Finn (Cork tri club) returned to Austria at the end of June for the big race of the season. The ironman (3.8km swim, 180km cycle and 42km run) was held on 4 July in the beautiful setting of Klagenfurt. The days leading up to the race had been warm but on race day itself the temperatures reached 34 degrees celsius and I found the heat particularly hard to deal with. There was a mass swim start with 2562 triathletes all starting together from two beaches on Worthersee, the large lake beside Klagenfurt town. There were fists and feet flying and I didn't really have clear water until the midway mark. The water was far warmer than off our Atlantic coasts and I was actually too hot swimming in my wetsuit by the end of it! The last 900m were swum through a canal that joined the lake with the town and the support along this section was amazing with the banks of the canal and the bridges above it crowded with people. The time on the clock was 59mins50 as I exited the canal and my swim split was 1h00.10 as I crossed the timing mat. The 180km on the bike consisted of two 90km loops. There were two main climbs on each loop but numerous smaller pulls and a very undulating course overall. It got extremely hot on the second loop before there was a thunder and lightning storm just before we descended from the bigger of the climbs. Limited visibility and slippery roads made for an interesting descent! However the bike went well and I was very pleased with my time of 5hrs35. Unfortunately the rain had cleared by the time the run started and so we started the marathon in very hot conditions. The run consisted of two 21km loops with half of the run alongside the lake and the other half through Klagenfurt town. The run was again very well supported and there was plenty of encouragement from my mother and Joyce's family who had all travelled out to watch and cheer us on. Unfortunately, the combination of heat and caffeine affected me badly in the run and by the 7km mark I had started to feel sick. I ended up having to walk quite a bit of the marathon because of this even though my legs weren't tired. I eventually made it over the line in a time of 11hrs13 (16th out of 60 in my age group) which I was pleasantly surprised with as I had walked so much of the run. I've already signed up for the same Ironman next year and hopefully the lessons learned this year will help me enjoy the run more next year! Joyce had an amazing race and finished 1st in our age group, and 7th overall in 9hrs46. She qualified for the world championships in Hawaii, the holy grail of ironman, and will compete in Kona on 9th October 2010. Unfortunately she just missed out on setting a new Irish Ironman record by 46 seconds. Sean finished in 10hrs 25 also having a tough time on the run but with a very impressive time all the same.
On our return to Ireland I took some time out but was soon back racing at my home triathlon, the Lough Ine challenge in Baltimore. Just two weeks after the Ironman, I had no idea how I would find my legs but luckily enough the local support and knowledge of the course helped me to a 2nd placing in 2hrs25 behind Amy Wolfe (cork tri club and the best short course triathlete in Ireland this year by a long way) in 2hrs 18. 3rd place going to Karina Teahan (cork tri club) in 2hrs34.
Another two week break from racing before Joyce and I returned to Munich airport for the third time this summer for the World Long Distance championships in Immendstadt southern Germany. Immenstadt is a town nestled in the northern Alps and although this should have been a clue, neither Joyce nor I had realised just how challenging this race would be. The distances involved was a 4km lake swim, a 130km bike and a 30k run. The swim was even more crowded than the previous Ironman swim, perhaps because such a long swim would put off weaker swimmers. I exited the water after 1h04 and started off on the bike course. It had been described beforehand as ambitious and challenging, however neither Joyce nor myself had any idea just how challenging it would be. It consisted of 1980metres of elevation over 130km with plenty of 18% gradients. It was quite simply unbelievable and at some points in the 2nd loop of the cycle people got off their bikes and walked as the climbs were so steep. 4hrs49 mins later, I dismounted and started off on the 30km run. The temperature's were much more pleasant than Austria at a cool 28 degrees but the cycle had taken alot out of us as was shown by the number of people walking. The run consisted of three 10km loops with 3km of this trough the town and part of it run around the local sports track. Again the support was brilliant with many people travelling from as far as Australia and New Zealand to compete. I finished the race in 8hrs55 and 9th in the 30-34yrs age group. Joyce once again won the age group with a time of 8hrs09. We were part of a team of seven triathletes representing Ireland and there were approximately 800 athletes in total competing. It was once again an amazing experience but probably the toughest race either of us have ever done. We had been "immenstadted"-a term the organisers coined to describe the challenging race course and distances involved.
The worlds were held on sunday 1st August and after a week of rest I competed in Kenmare Tri club's little Bo peep last saturday 7t August. Unfortunately our bikes were still being shipped back from Germany so I had to use my training bike but I felt reasonably okay by the saturday and lined up with 180 triathletes to compete in the olympic distance triathlon. I had a good swim leaving the water ahead of all the other female competitors and extended my lead over the 36k cycle. I was then in a comfortable position on the very hilly 10k run and so finished 1st in 2hrs16 with the Fentons, Vivienne and Vanessa in 2nd and 3rd with times of 2h21 and 2h22 respectively. This was my first ever triathlon win and it was even nicer as so many of the friends I have made through Triathlon were either competing or supporting on the day.
So, next up for me will be the Dublin City olympic Triathlon on 29th August. Then Youghal sprint triathlon on the 4th Septmeber and the season ends with the Lost Sheep Half Ironman in Kenmare on 11th September, one of the most challenging and scenic triathlons Ireland has on offer. Ten triathlons in total and all five different distances....it's been a busy summer."
