An Cosantóir

www.military.ie the defence forces magazine | 41 a road cyclist to attack the first few climbs, settling into a fast but sustainable tempo. Cycling in triathlons typically takes place on a flat course, where riders try to cycle as aerodynamically as possible on a straight road. The Eislek Triathlon, however, had perhaps 5km of flat roads, and 85km of steep climbs and hairpin descents, which demanded big efforts uphill and technical handling of the bike downhill. Unfortunate- ly Barry Smyth came down on one turn but showed great resolve to pick himself up and finish the race. Halfway through the cycle legs and minds were begin- ning to tire and the initial excitement of taking part was replaced by the realisation that this course was much tougher than a typical (flat) Irish course. The Belgian team, coming from a country with such great cycling tradition, stormed ahead on this stage. Nonetheless, we ploughed on, taking energy gels and water to keep ourselves fuelled. As the athletes arrived at the Clervaux Castle they dropped their bikes in Transition 2, and launched into the final 21km run. For many, the phenomenon of 'jelly legs' (where legs used to cycling for hours on end sud- denly go weak when forced to run) was made much worse by yet more hills on the punishing route around Clervaux. Now, Gavin, John Joyce, and Jackie Wykes began moving up the field. For all competitors, hunger, thirst, sunburn, and muscle fatigue was beginning to take its toll and rather than ago- nising over the distance remaining, each person focused on the next milestone, the next hill or the next lap, to help them carry on. The end-of-race shower and pasta also served as good motivation. Coming into the final kilometre, Gavin Crawford was closing fast behind me. The final 100m was decided by a sprint between the two of us and I held on to cross the line first by mere seconds. Completely exhausted, we both collapsed on the ground, taking several minutes to recover from the effort. John, Barry and Jackie also finished, having given everything they had. It says a lot for our team that over one third of the CISM competitors did not finish, while all five Irish competitors crossed the finish line with good times. The individual CISM victory went to Pieterjan Penne of Belgium (who finished 2nd overall in the race), and the Belgians also scooped the prize for Best Team. The Irish team finished the military com- petition in 7th, 8th, 16th, 20th, and 22nd places, re- sulting in 3rd place in the military competition. Jackie also finished 2nd in the Ladies Competition. Overall, these results reflect a fantastic performance. Afterwards, the showers and pasta were as good as the athletes hoped they would be, and the stories of the race were relived with the other teams at the post race party. CISM events are a great opportunity to meet and race against top quality competitors from other militaries, and the Irish team would like to thank the Luxembourg military for their kind hospitality and assistance during their time abroad. The 2017 CISM Triathlon World Championships will be held next year in Germany, with the Irish team hoping to put in another strong performance.

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