Race Info - Course: Olympic Plus
2012 Howth Triathlon Olympic Plus Course
Swim:
Howth Triathlon Olympic Plus Swim Course (Provisional)
The Howth Triathlon Olympic Plus begins with a 8.00am beach start off the shores of Ireland’s Eye. All participants will battle across the tides of Howth Sound to reach the Shores of Howth at Claremont Beach after approximately a 1.9 km swim. This swim will finish in front of the slip off the beach. This is where Transition 1 begins.
This is a challenging swim and should only be attempted by those experienced and confident in their ability to complete it without assistance - The fastest swimmer is expected to take 30 minutes and you should be confident of completing this section comfortably in under an hour. It is highly recommended that athletes will have completed a swim of this length in similar openwater conditions and temperatures in the month preceeding this event.
If in any doubt about your swimming ability please do the sprint event - We will facilitate w/o drama anyone that wants to change to the Sprint event from the Olympic Plus event.
If weather conditions dictate there may be a change to the planned swim route. This will be decided on Sunday morning
Transition 1 (Warm Up Run)
Upon existing the water triathletes will run to the main transition area (~ 300m) that lies in front of the Scout Den and Ivans Restaurant. The transition will be arranged to ensure all athletes have to cover the same distance between the transition entry and exit points. Helmets must be fitted and straps secured before bikes are removed from the bike racks.
Bike
Mounting their bikes on the West Pier, triathletes will begin their clockwise circumnavigation of the Hill of Howth. They will climb up through Howth Village up and over Howth summit which leads them to a long and fast descent down into the suburb of Sutton. All triathletes will take a right onto Church Road and right again on to the main road back into Howth. Each Olympic Plus triathlete will tackle this hill for four laps and will risk disqualification for drafting. Due to the presence of cars and spectators/ tourists it is forbidden to ride on tri/ aero bars from Deerpark Hotel Sign entering Howth village (Mile Marker "6" in map below) until after the right turn and the start of the ascent towards the hill summit.
One warning will be given anyone using tri / aero bars in this forbidden area for which a 2 min penalty will be applied
A Second warning will result in immediate disqualification!
Please note that there are no road closures in place for this event.
Transition 2
After the fourth and final bike circuit of the Howth Hill each triathletes will dismount their bike just coming onto the West Pier, all bikes will be racked in their prescribed location and the quick change into running shoes will commence. Everybody will exit transition and begin the scenic run along the foreshore of Howth Harbour.
Run
Olympic Plus triathletes will begin their 10 km run down the harbour foreshore and ascend Balscadden Road passing the King Strict on their right. At the top of the hill all participants will veer left and pass Kilrock road on their right. They will continue along the coast road until the turning point in Balscadden car park. All athletes then follow the same route back down to the King Strict and then continue out along the East Pier circling the white lighthouse at the end - leaving the lighthouse to their left as they circle it. They run will take competitors back along the lower East Pier and back along the promenade to the finish area. All olympic plus athletes will keep to the left of the finishing chute for their first 5km lap to tackle the run route one more time.
At all stages of this run you are requested to stay to your right of the path / road/ pier.
