Just back from his Ironman success in Lanzarote on the 18th June, we caught up this week with James Slowey to hear about his race in what is considered to be second toughest Ironman course in the IM series, only behind Kona, Hawaii where the world championships take place.

It was an early start in Lanzarote for James at 4.30am to get some breakfast and head to transition. The race began with a 3.8km swim at 7am with 1,910 competitors all into the water together. James completed the 1st 1.9km in just over 35 mins. The IM series have an “Australian” exit, so halfway through the swim, it’s out of the water for a very short run on the beach and then back into the water for the 2nd half of the swim.

This was much more difficult as people were getting tired but James still managed just over 42mins for the second lap and finishing the 3.8km swim in 1hr 17min 07sec. It’s clearly not just Ireland which is having unusual weather at the moment, as there was rain in Lanzarote that morning – for the first time in over 22 years of the race.

The wind was already strong at this early hour and after about 45mins the sun came out and started to evaporate the surface water causing the humidity levels to rise. According to James, he struggled at points for the first half of the bike, but the head just said “keep turning the pedals”. At the 100km mark a quick stop for some cake and a drink picked him up for the second half of the course. Once you turn at the Mirador, the last big climb, with breath-taking views of the northerly islands, you have 65km back to transition with a tail wind and some nice descents. James had a close call on one of these technical descents and nearly lost the bike about 12km from the finish, but he managed to steady himself and returned to transition in a time of 6hrs 18mins 57 secs.

Out of transition and a full marathon lay ahead. It was three loops, one of 21 km and two of 10.5km approx. After passing the family and friends James quickly got into his stride, he has been running extremely well of late (having completed 2 marathons in 2 days back in February) and was aiming to break a 3:30 Ironman marathon. James hit the turn-point at 1hour 31min which he thought was slightly too fast to be able to hold the pace, so he backed off a little so not to blow up as he “was nearly on empty”.

On the last 3km the cramp started to set in, but James wasn’t going to give in at this stage, with the finish line almost in sight. His son, 13 year old James Slowey Junior (who has had his own successes in triathlons this year) ran in the last few hundred metres and father and son crossed the finish line with an overall Ironman time of 11 hours 22 minutes and 56 seconds, having completed the marathon in a time of 3hrs 26min 48 secs.

Although tired the feeling of accomplishment at having completed this massive task in such a fantastic time made all the pain and struggles worth it. James later said “a big thanks must go to my family and friends who travelled with me and to all the support I received before and after the race. A special thanks goes to my son James Slowey Junior, whom without his support before, during and after the race would make it an impossible task”.

Congratulations to James on such a huge achievement, we look forward to hearing what James “the Ironman” Slowey has lined up next!

The Lough Cutra Triathlon was held last weekend near Gort. This race is part of a series of races held in castles in the UK, France and for the 2nd time here in Ireland. There were several races held here at the weekend including an Olympic, sprint and a mid distance and then 3 kids sections 8-10, 11-12 and 13-15. Over 400 people took part so it was pretty well attended! The great part was seeing how many kids showed up, there must have been about 80 kids in total! Which is a phenomenal turnout for the underage triathlons.

Ed Bates and his 10 year old daughter Anna were racing. Anna competed in the 8-10 category. This was Anna’s first triathlon. The race was a 100m swim, a 4km bike and a 1.3km run. Anna competed the race in 33 mins 21 seconds and finished in 2nd place, this is a fantastic result for her 1st race and no doubt she’ll be on the podium again. Considering the water temperature was under 12 degrees, makes this an even better achievement (most of us wouldn’t even dip our toes in water that cold!). At water temperatures this low, under Triathlon Ireland rules the swim could have been cancelled but it didn’t put Anna off! Well done from all at Blackwater Tri Club. Ed Bates also competed in the Olympic distance event with a 1.5km swim, 40km bike and 10km run and finished in 5th place in his age group with a time of 2hrs 43 mins 33 seconds.

This weekend Niamh Fleming, Michael McCarthy and Mick Mulcahy are all racing in Athy on Saturday. Also, Adam Blaiklock, Lorraine Cliffe, Joe Scanlan and Laura Heffernan are all completing the Cork City Marathon on Monday, best of luck to them.

Anyone interested in finding out more about the club or joining the club check out www.blackwatertriclub.com or contact Niamh on 087 9814035. Entry to The Edge Sports Blackwater Triathlon is only €35 up until the 13th June, so enter soon before the price goes up. You’ve plenty of time to go from the couch to triathlete between now and then, why not come along to a few training sessions and make this a summer to remember.

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