A year ago I ended my season in Dublin ” woke at 6am, wrapped on a scarf for the Irish Weather and poured myself a bowl of Lucky Charms . . . by 6.05am the sugar had my blood stream and I was ready !”

This year I am ’starting’ my season in Dublin - having been out with injury nearly all season. Lucky Charms are not on the breakfast menu this time but if luck is being served put mine in the big bowl.

From TriathlonTeam

We called the project “who is number one”

Cian McGrath and Andy Kavanagh

From Andy Kavanagh, Wicklow Tri :

‘ Being a fan of Cycling, Triathlon and French cuisine, this trip seemed to make sense in more than one way. However, when suggested by Cian McGrath - we are blaming him - earlier this year, it appeared to be relatively straight forward. Swim 2.1k (no problem there), Cycle 115k (a bit longer than usual but again quite a straight forward hilly spin we’d do at most weekends), run 21.1k (once paced well that’ll hurt but again should be fine).

So we committed and upon further inspection realised that it was a tad more difficult than we first realised. The bike was 115k with 2500m of vertical climbing which included 2 Col’s and the infamous Alpe D’Huez 21 bend ascent which completed the distance over the last 13.2k at around 9% average gradient. The run was a 3 lap affair with a healthy mix of hilly trail and road running, once again the organisers wouldn’t make this any easier with T2 being located at just under 2000m, altitude would be a factor. Read on …