A NOVICE EYE VIEW
Words by Maureen McCoy
Photography By Paul McCambridge
The scene was of a calm lake, a small slipway flanked by two wooden jetties and the evening sun dancing on the water’s surface. Off to the right, tall reeds stood to attention, directly ahead lay a large marker buoy. This was the venue early that last day of May for both a double and single Ironman event and now a sprint triathlon, organised by the Trilimits Club. A growing group of triathletes were gathering.
Joanne and Julie, cyclists used to mountain and road biking, decided to take part in the sprint distance triathlon, the influence of an evening’s discussion over a bottle of wine possibly being a factor in their decision. Having made the commitment, they went on the hunt each to borrow a wetsuit. With some rudimentary advice on how to get out of the wetsuits and encouraged with the knowledge of the extra buoyancy the wetsuits would provide, the girls looked forward to the event.
Neither of them label themselves swimmers. Julie’s last swim was two years ago in the Big Splash sprint triathlon and Joanne tried to remember her last swim – perhaps she was around 10 years old in the old Lisburn pool, which closed in 1999. The girls were facing their first open water challenge of the season with mixed feelings of excitement and trepidation.
Before the swim Julie said: “I think the fear of the open water will make me complete the swim, to do 750m in a pool, well I couldn’t, but this way I HAVE to finish. My main objective is to stay clear of the other swimmers and I will probably use every stroke, front crawl, back crawl and my own made-up strokes to get through it!”
Joanne, also looking forward to the event, said “I’m excited about this new challenge, I enjoy doing something different – THIS is something different for me!”
Before the event the nerves began to kick in, where to rack the bikes? Should they lay out a towel to dry their feet? And how to get into those wetsuits! Suffice to say in all the excitement Julie, having rushed to don her wetsuit, had to try again. This time the right way round. All fixed and ready to go, they followed the crowd into the water. With a final few tips and words of encouragement, the whistle blew and the swim began.
Allowing the other swimmers to strike out first gave Julie and Joanne space to settle into their swim and, as they predicted, they used a variety of strokes throughout. Joanne was probably not the most encouraging to her buddy by laughing when Julie’s occasional bouts of back crawl caused her to veer off course. When she looked around, she was a little disorientated, had someone moved those pesky buoys?
Two laps of the course and both girls were still smiling as they exited the water. In their minds the hardest part of the race was done, now for the bike and run.
How did they feel after the event? Joanne said,
I enjoyed the swim – it seems like a long time ago now already. I was really struggling to breathe at the start, due to a cold I’ve had, so I just decided to take it easy, as not completing the swim (or the whole event) was not an option to me!
It was really nice to be out in the water with the sun starting to go down – the same kind of feeling you get when you walk in the mountains. I’m tempted to go somewhere for another wee swim before I return the wetsuit!
Julie is also planning to get some practice swims in before another event.
Lough Eskragh
Near Dungannon with good parking facilities and easy access down a slipway. A second car park is used often by fishermen.
Gently shelving, the lough is spring fed and the near side has a sandy bottom, further out is based on peat so the water is dark and underwater visibility is poor.
Contact the local triathlon club at http://trilimits.wordpress.com/
