Kenmare town is fast gaining a reputation as Ireland’s fittest town. On the October weekend, Saturday Oct 29th Kenmare will host its first duathalon, a 40km Cycle and a 6km Run. It is open to everyone, individuals and relay teams. Funds raised from the event will be donated to Kenmare Underage Rugby teams and Kenmare Hospital Development Fund. Participants are coming from all corners of Ireland and the World in what promises to be an exciting event and a fun night afterwards.

Kenmare offers stunning scenery and the 40km cycle will go from Kenmare to Molls Gap, back towards Sneem, turning left for Blackwater and on again to Kenmare. The town of Kenmare offers award winning restaurants, traditional pubs and some of the best fun in Ireland. From Five star hotels to wonderful hostels the selection of restaurants is second to none. Its the ideal place to spend a weekend.

Simply log on here, and complete the form, entry fee €45.
Email enquiries to humptydumptykenmare@gmail.com

See the website http://www.thehumptydumpty.com/ for full details.

All Present and Correct!

Well done and a big thank you to everyone that took part in the charity swim and run from Templenoe pier to Star Sailing last Saturday. We were blessed with a beautiful evening and calm water. Over €350 was raised for ORBIS Ireland and I think a good evening was had by all.

The swim wouldn’t have been possible without the help of the safety boats and Kayakers, so a special thank you goes out to PJ and his Kayakers at Star Sailing, Paul Kelly, Donal Lynch, Christopher Harrington, Paul Tanner and James Mulchrone for kindly providing the hot drinks and biscuits and doing the timing.

Paul Tanner easily won the Swim in an impressive time of 38.41 minutes, almost 7 minutes ahead of the second swimmer; John Edwards, who was closely followed by David Niblock. In the ladies Lisa Stapelbroek and Denise Casey came in in just under 50 minutes. Jerry O’Shea won the run, beating Bobby Harrington and Maureen Harrington in a sprint finish.

Star Sailing ensured any hungry Swimmers and Runners were looked after by putting on a BBQ for  us and some great prizes were available thanks to our generous sponsours; The Park Hotel, Kenmare Bay Hotel, PF McCarthy’s Bar&Restaurant, Prego, Mango Crafts, Quills, The White Room and The Soundz of Music.
Many thanks to all and hopefully we will see everyone again next year!

See Timing below:

Swimmers:

Name                                Minutes

Paul Tanner                         38:41

John Edwards                      45:32

David Niblock                       46:23

Ellen Vitting                         46:56

David Sowerry                      49:09

Lisa Stapelbroek                  49:51

Denise Casey                      49:59

Aiden McCarthy                   50:47

Colm Horgan                     1:01:10

Ryan Langley                    1:03:04

Mary O’Connell                  1:04:11

Sinéad Ní Néill                   1:06:40

Liz Allen                            1:07:50

Michael Merrigan                1:07:58

Helen O’Shea                     1:10.01

Runners:

Name                                Minutes

Jerry O’Shea                       1:01:50

Bobby Harrington                 1:01:55

Maureen Harrington              1:02:11

Ger Morgan                         1:02:31

Niel Gilmoar                        1:02:31

Triathlon Ireland eBulletin – 23/09/09

Welcome to our latest update. This time around, I’m taking the lazy option and providing you with an update straight from the TI office in Kilmacanogue. Each Friday, Amanda provides the board with some details of the work carried out that week. As you’ll see from the report below, a lot of effort goes in behind the scenes. This is a typical week at headquarters:

1.  Membership 2010:  Mary and I were testing the 2010 membership system yesterday and I’m pleased to say we’re almost ready to open it up. We just have a few updates to make and hopefully, it will open in the next week.

2.  Race admin: Still chasing outstanding money from races, and it is constantly trickling in, so we’re not going too badly on that front.

3. Race results: Now that we’ve had our last NS race for this year, I will be updating the NS rankings on Monday and we should have all NS rankings finalised by mid October. The jerseys which went to all age group winners each month have been a hit. A lot of the winners have contacted me when they received their jersey and thanked us for them. I think they were a great idea. Maybe next year, we should look into Eamonn’s idea of a gilet for the winners – something a bit different to this year.

4. Race equipment: The renting out of the Leinster race equipment hasn’t run as smoothly as we hoped. It turns out that the person who was checking the equipment after each race, wasn’t checking the equipment off an updated inventory I sent them in July, and an ocean buoy and water boom have gone
missing. We can’t track which race it was and of course, after asking the race organisers, they all say they returned all equipment. Jag is looking into how we handle this for next year.

5. Disciplinary hearing: We are now starting a disciplinary hearing between (text removed for confidentiality purposes) and (text removed for confidentiality purposes). At this stage, Jag has spoken to both parties and I’m preparing letters to go out to them both next week.

6. Junior Squad training camp: There is another camp at the end of October which will run into the next Talent ID day on 31st Oct in Dublin. After the Talent ID day, we will reconfirm the members of the Junior Squad.

7. Dev Squad training camp: The next training camp for the Dev Squad will be in Spain at the end of Nov/early Dec. At this stage, it looks like there will be about 10 athletes and 3 coaches/support staff going over.

8. Talent ID Day: Mary has been working on the Talent ID day in Dublin on 31st Oct and has everything under control.

9. Coaching conference: The coaching conference being held in Dublin is arranged and up on the website. After the first day, we had around 10 people signed up. From the enquiries Mary and I have had through emails/calls, we should have a good turnout.

10. Office furniture: and finally, Mary had a friend whose office is closing down and they have kindly given us 2 x 6ft tall cupboards and 2 smaller ones for free. They are really nice timber ones. We picked the cupboards up today and the office is looking a lot tidier with all the kit stored in them.

I didn’t get time to sit down with Mary this afternoon and get an update on what she’s been up to this week, but I think a lot of it has been spent on putting together profiles of our elite athletes. The profiles look really professional and are now at the printers being printed in colour on good quality paper. This will be great to use for prospective sponsorship etc.

Add in the constant stream of phone calls and correspondence and you have a busy week at HQ. Hopefully this helps to provide an insight into what has made triathlon Ireland’s fastest growing sport. Although we have make great strides this year at junior, elite and age group levels, the work will continue over the winter in preparation for your season in 2010. Training may be winding down but the work goes on.

Keep an eye on the website for details of how to book your place at the coaching conference and the long distance seminars planned for the new year.

Yours in Sport

Conal Heatley

Secretary, Triathlon Ireland

secretary@triathlonireland.com

Tel: 00353 83 374 6607

Triathlon Ireland eBulletin – 14/09/09

Welcome to the first of our eBulletins which are intended to keep the wider membership better informed of what actually takes place within Triathlon Ireland. This method of communication was suggested back in February at the AGM and at last we are able to fulfil a promise. My apologies for the delay, but a simple lack of time has been the reason. Which brings me nicely onto the main theme of this particular missive.

Triathlon has been experiencing incredible changes across the country over the last few years, with more races than ever before and an ever growing number of participants. To date, your sport has been organised at national level by a very small team of volunteers and just the over worked Amanda running the office. Yet members of TI expect, quite rightly, for races to be insured and sanctioned with proper officials in place, race results to be made available within hours of their finish, membership queries to be answered, National Series points to be awarded, international selections to be made, coaches to be trained, child protection policies to be put in place, elite athletes to be identified and nurtured etc. etc.. This is hard bloody work.

But we’re hopefully seeing light at the end of the tunnel. Triathlon is now a sport which is recognised and funded by the sports councils on both sides of the border. This funding is allowing us to put in place a professional structure, in line with other Olympic sports. But funding also brings responsibility, and we are expected to increase the accessibility of the sport and involve more women, juniors and those with disabilities at all levels, from club to international. Two important steps in this process are the appointments of a Performance Director (P/T) and a Chief Executive Officer. Interviews have already taken place for the Performance Director post and short listing is under way for the CEO role.

As a funded sport, all appointments are overseen by both the Irish Sports Council and SportNI. Representatives of both bodies approve all job specifications and sit on interview panels. Their HR guidance is invaluable.

Hopefully this has provided a little insight into the workings of Triathlon Ireland. I will endeavour to supply regular eBulletins over the coming weeks and months, so if there are any particular topics you would like covered, drop me an email and I’ll try to oblige.

Yours in Sport

Conal Heatley

Secretary, Triathlon Ireland

secretary@triathlonireland.com

Tel: 00353 83 374 6607

Hi,

Dr. Siobhan McArdle, Dublin City University, School of Health and Human Performance,is conducting a study exploring athlete’s willingness to seek help for disordered eating. The study entails completing a short online questionnaire (link below), which asks questions designed to try and understand why athletes may be reluctant to seek help for disordered eating behaviour. The purpose of this research/questionnaire is not to identify individuals with eating disorders. Rather, it is to gather insight into some of the barriers that might exist to seeking help if an athlete did develop an eating disorder. It is hoped that the findings from this study will be used to inform and improve support services for athletes.

If your triathlon club is interested in participating in this study, could you please forward this email, which contains the link to the online questionnaire, to your members. Thank You.

I. Background to the research

Research suggests prevalence rates of disordered eating amongst athletes as high as 62% among female athletes and as high as 33% among male athletes.

Disordered eating in athletes is characterized by a number of maladaptive eating and weight control behaviours. Susceptibility of athletes to disordered eating is a serious concern because of the physical demands of sport involvement and because of the long-term physical and psychological effects of disordered eating. It is hoped that the results from this study will be used to try and create better education and support services for athletes. NGBs and athletes who participate in the study will receive a summary of the results after the study is completed.

II. Details of what involvement in the Research Study will require

We hope to recruit athletes aged 18 years and older from a number of different sports to participate in this study. Athletes will be asked to complete a short on-line confidential questionnaire. The questionnaire explores two areas 1) understanding of eating disorders and 2)perceived barriers to seeking help for disordered eating. The questionnaire does not try to identify whether the athlete does or does not have an eating disorder.

To access the online questionnaire please click on the following link:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=o4zV08JKOGjzusdJCZiC6g_3d_3d

III. Potential risks to participants from involvement in the Research Study

There are no foreseeable risks in participating in this study. To learn more about eating disorders or to receive support for disordered eating behavior, the following are links to available support services.

> http://www.eatingdisorders.ie/ (information on eating disorders,

> support/treatment:Republic

of Ireland)

> http://www.bodywhys.ie/ (information on eating disorders, support/treatment:

Republic of Ireland)

> www.eatingdisordersnetwork.com (information on eating disorders,

support/treatment: Northern Ireland)

> http://www.b-eat.co.uk/Home (information on eating disorders,

> support/treatment:Northern

Ireland)

> http://www.sheenasplace.org/ (information on eating disorders, how to

> help

friends or family with eating disorders)

IV. The athlete’s identity, or other personal information, will not be revealed or published. Participants will be assigned an ID number under which all personal information will be stored in a secure file and saved in password protected file in a computer at DCU. The investigators alone will have access to the data. Confidentiality of information provided can only be protected within the limitations of the law. It is possible for data to be subject to subpoena, freedom of information claim or mandated reporting by some professions.

V. Data will be stored for 12-months following the completion of the project, in line with University regulations for examinations. The data will be destroyed by the principal investigator.

VI. Involvement in this research study is voluntary. Participants may withdraw from the study at any point by contacting Brona Furlong, the research assistant on the project at brona.furlong2@mail.dcu.ie. There will be no penalty for withdrawing before all stages of the study are completed.

If participants have concerns about this study and wish to contact an independent person, please contact:

The Secretary,

Dublin City University Research Ethics Committee, c/o Office of the Vice-President for Research, Dublin City University, Dublin 9.

Tel 01-7008000

Thank you for considering participation in our study.

There will be a charity swim across Kenmare Bay in aid of ORBIS Ireland on saturday the 19th September. Details are as follows:

Date: Saturday 19th September

Time: 6pm

Start @ Templenoe Pier

Finish @ Star Sailing and Adventure Centre

Distance approximately 3km

Entry €15

The event is in aid of ORBIS Ireland which is working towards eliminating blinding eye disease in Ethiopia. To find out more about the charity see www.orbisireland.ie. If you are unable to attend the swim but would still like to contribute to the charity you can do by following this link: http://www.mycharity.ie/event/ellen_vittings_event/.

To register please contact Ellen on 086 0628755 or email ellenvitting@gmail.com. Registration will also be possible on the day from 5pm at Templenoe pier. There will be a BBQ at Star Sailing after the swim.

Many Thanks for your support.

Some upcoming Cycle Training:

12/08 – 40Km from Centra @ 6:30 (bring runners if you want a quick run around Tubrid after).

15/08 – 86Km Lost Sheep Route – 4 (ish) from the Pier (text Robert or Joseph or email if coming).  Note this will be an easy pace.

Two helmets and a bicycle bag found.  To arrange collection please email details to info-at-kenmaretri-dot-com

Some photos of the 2009 Little Bo Peep (thanks to Derek)

http://picasaweb.google.com/derek0207/KenmareTriathlon#

More photos to follow.

Little Bo Peep 2009 Provisional Results are now available here.

Thanks to all who took part and helped out.