A report by Ciaran Maguire on the Return to Tri.
Anyone that knows me, knows that triathlon and me don’t go into the same conversation 😅.
It started out with me trying to swim in the pool because a work colleague recommended it for back and shoulder pain. I have an old shoulder injury so progress was slow (my excuse). I loved the social side of swimming and the Sauna and was lucky to visit lots of swimming pools through my work. Before covid, I struggled to do 10 lengths of the pool.
Then I discovered sea swimming 🏊♂️🤗🤗, kinda. I called into ‘Call of the Wild’ and got my wetsuit but that evening they announced lockdown 😃😅(more excuses). Eventually, I got the courage with a little help from my son and granddaughter to jump in and I can’t recommend it enough.
I started out going from the swimming pool in Rosses Point to the buoy with a lot of breaks (lots). After a while, my outlook on life and humour improved which is the most important thing I’ve got from swimming/triathlon. I thought I was doing good until I’d have swimmers whizzzzzz by me with little or no effort, from what I could see😅😅😅😅.
Then I joined the ‘Swim with Sheila’ group in Mullaghmore and fell in love with the group training. Shortly after I joined the Sligo Running Club and after a few weeks, the word ‘Triathlon’ was mentioned. I laughed, thinking that I would love to do that someday. I signed up to Sligo Triathlon during the lockdown and it was one of my better decisions.
I signed up for the Olympic triathlon around June and then realised I had no idea what I was doing or letting myself in for. To my delight, a ‘Back to Triathlon’ was announced. I never did a ‘Tri a tri’ but signed myself up within minutes🙂. The first day we met was for the swim on a Sunday evening in beautiful weather and with very enthusiastic people. I cannot stress enough how good it felt to be around people again. We went for the swim and there was what I’d call healthy but fun competition. We met the following Wednesday for the BRICK session which I had to google 😂.
The rest is like history… I fell in love with triathlon.
There are lots of people I’d like to thank but the two, in particular, are Kate and Ross. Thank you for your encouragement and patience 🙂
