gap triathlon

Killarney mountaineering club staged its second triathlon (or at least its version of one) yesterday. This involves a six kilometer run from Kate Kearney's cottage through the Gap of Dunloe to the head of the gap, then a turn left and climb/run up Purple mountain across to Tomies and down the north spur and back to Kates.This involves about 2500ft of ascent and about eight kilometers in distance on poor paths. Then on the bike for a 55 kilometer cycle through the gap and the Black valley, over Molls Gap, back to Killarney and return to Kates. We had 18 take part. It was won by Tony Holmes in 4hours six minutes. I was quite pleased with my own performance and I finished fifth in 4hours 46 minutes. All in front of me were seasoned hill runners and apparently it was the mountain stage where I lost most time(30plus mins). So I finished first of the normal operators. The weather was poor again this year but it cleared for the later part of the event. I would be hopeful that the event will take off and become an established on the calender in the future.