The Crane and the Cong Biathlon

The Crane

I'd been told by a Canadian couple in Killarney that a good place to go in Galway for traditional music was The Crane on Sea Road. Ended up going there Friday night (and Saturday).

The Crane - Saturday night (upstairs) - 14 people playing traditional music 

Friday night at The Crane - blues music.

The Crane - Saturday night (downstairs)

The Cong Biathlon

Was up fairly early on Saturday as I had a lot of kms to do. Drove to Clifden, then Leenane and on to Westport. It was another changeable weather day. Jacket on off on off. A few photos below. Had a decent coffee in Leenane (hard to come by in Ireland) followed by an ordinary lunch at a pub that professed to specialise in seafood. Well with only three seafood dishes on the menu were battered fish and chips which the Irish struggle to do well, baked salmon and seafood chowder. This was hardly a specialisation….every menu in Ireland has those! And to boot, the pub had a retirement village atmosphere to it. This did beat the first pub I walked into which was half full of locals with barely a word being said amongst them. An eerie silence except for the two guys in the corner who clearly both had some kind of permanent throat issue that were mumbling to each other. Left there after a very very quick drink, eye-balled by them all the whole time.

As I was driving out of town after lunch, I discovered another pub, probably the best looking one in town. Annoying. I'v learnt to do a lap of town before deciding where to eat.

Leenane

Beach on Sky Road out of Clifden

Clifden

Clifden

Clifden pub

Town.....village rather, along Sky Road

Sky Road again...

Westport

The woman at the information centre in Galway had suggested doing a shorter route today, cutting out Westport and instead going through Cong as it was just too far to go without staying overnight somewhere. I went to Westport anyway and came back through Cong, a small village set on a river. Arrived in Cong just before 6pm and noticed a few people running and cycling with bibs on and then a registration sign (in the pub). They were about to hold a biathlon. 4km run, 10km ride and another 4km run. Not sure what the course was but it involved plenty of small hills. 

There were a few serious entrants (maybe five) and half the local town-folk who were not a threat to any records. There looked like about 80 entrants, one wearing his Green Edge outfit! 

Tour de France warm-up for The Green Edge in Cong???

The gun went at 6pm and it was a leisurely start to the run. They disappeared into the hills, up around the castle. It seemed like forever before the first runner made it back to the transition area, almost 20 minutes. He was a runner and definitely not a cyclist. This guy had to longest transition of anyone and he was in first place! Firstly he put his helmet on backwards, couldn’t get his shoes off then couldn’t clip into his peddles. Lost at least 90-120 seconds but second place still hadn’t arrived. Second place finally arrived, clearly the favourite and a strong cyclist. Much better transition. 

As the stragglers came through, it was clear there were many first time entrants and that the local event officials had no idea what they were doing. It was carnage. Crashes whilst mounting the bike, crashes in the change-over zone, failed attempts at the run and jump on the bike. Amusing stuff. Officials thought that one runner hadn’t made it back after the first leg as there were a few bikes left (a couple pulled out)….did they go and look for them? No. And there was no sweeper either.

Biathlon start...out the front of the pub.

Change-over area, after leader had put his helmet on the right way around!

Second place after the run was now ahead by a mile after the cycle. At least 2-3 minutes up. The runner had fallen back to fourth. Shocking cycle, but not unexpected after his earlier efforts. The bike dismount point provided even more entertainment as cyclist after cyclist tried to dismount at high speed landing on jelly legs in their road shoes. One guy rode the cycle leg without a helmet and couldn’t understand why he was disqualified.

The winning time was 56mins, second place 60mins and third 63mins. If HuRTs had of turned up I think they would have filled the top 10 places.

Winner - 4km run, 10km bike, 4km run.

June 29-30th, 2012