What better way to end the triathlon season than with a tip in the Atlantic Ocean?
There was no accommodation available in Westport itself so we ended up staying outside of the town in rural County Mayo. The internet download speed was 500 mb/s. This is what happens when a country invests in infrastructure.
The weather wasn’t particularly kind and it rained heavily overnight but eased off to on-and-off showers. But thankfully I had my support team with me so I had a robe to wear until just before the race.
The swim
The swim was in the harbour and a chilly 12 degrees C in the water. I was nervous about drowning and freezing to death and had a rocky first third of the course as we wam the first side of a triangle. Then we turned and swam across the bay with the second third going face on into the waves. The final side was easier but seemed to take forever so I was pleased to get out of the water.
A big thank you to the water safety crew for looking after us. The water temperature was unpleasant but I have definitely had worse and the group warm-up before the race really helped.
The cycle
it is a fantastic bike course. It is an out-and-back along the Wild Atlantic Way. Relatively flat and I never felt like I was going into a headwind, but did feel like I had a tailwind on the way back. The view was beautiful across the bay with Croagh Patrick on the other side.
The run
The run goes up the greenway out of Westport. That means it is uphill but only gently so you can still run a comfortable pace both ways. There was an aid station at the turn around point and despite the poor weather, I was so warm by this point I went for the old cup of water over the head before making the return journey.
The result
My overall time was:
1:26:53
And my splits were:
| Discipline | Time |
|---|---|
| Swim | 12:02 |
| T1 | 5:50 |
| Bike | 42:43 |
| T2 | 2:00 |
| Run | 24:15 |
That was good enough for second place overall! With the important caveat that there were only 19 of us in the try-a-try distance. They did have prizes for the top three men and women, though, so I came home with a prize!
It’s a lovely event if you don’t mind a sea swim and want some fantastic views packed into a sprint distance.
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Tags: triathlon
This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 23rd, 2025 at 11:00 am and is filed under Sport. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.