Ironman competitors show their true mettle as Youghal rises to the occasion
Cycling up Youghal's windmill hill in the second stage of today's 70.3 Ironman in Youghal, Co Cork.
The Co Cork town of Youghal has laid on an exuberant welcome for the return of Ironman as temperatures soared into the high 20s and thousands lined the streets to cheer on the competitors.
Today's 70.3 half-Ironman is a prelude to Sunday's full Ironman, and the more than 3,000 spectators who wanted to see the start of the swim had a 5am start to get to Youghal's front strand.
They amassed three deep for 200 metres in a dawn-lit line from Moll Goggin's Corner to Claycastle. Before them, over 2,000 athletes packed the promenade, to the blaring sounds of AC/DC as they readied for a 1.9km
first-leg swim.
Within the hour the crowd had re-assembled along Lighthouse Hill and Green park as the swimmers morphed into cyclists at the transition base and took to the roads of east Cork.
Rumours of melting tarmac remained unconfirmed, even as the temperatures soared.
The 90km cycle brought cyclists up Windmill Hill, an iconic challenge whose name and reputation has now spread beyond the country.
This year cyclists faced a half-kilometre incline, with a top gradient of 21%, but were encouraged along the way by DJ blasting out an endless medley of high-octave vibes.
In a quiet before the climb, Andrea Gunning from Galway had revealed how her partner Michael Cleary had prepared for his challenge by replicating the hill on a programmed trainer bike in the bedroom.
"Then he walked it yesterday [the hill] and got worried!", she laughed.
Nearby, perhaps epitomising the essence of international competition in a small town, a woman from Louisiana bumped into a man from Indiana and marvelled at the steepness of the cycle and the even steeper cost of car rental in Ireland.
Fifty metres ahead of them, a man from Tullamore was amongst a group of 15 from Ohio who had travelled to Youghal to participate.
The music, in time, served to rouse a collective enthusiasm amongst nearly 4,000 people who greeted every sweat-soaked, teeth-gritting rider with cheers and encouragement.
Narrowing the passageway to the width of a yard brush, they cheered, clapped and cajoled as a wall of shrieks and 'go-wan!' maintained a symphony that could probably be heard in Kilkenny. It lasted for hours and was, as someone remarked, "just out of this world".
Goodwill messages were delivered on placards or had been scrawled on the road.
Some cyclists powered to the top - with a leisurely half marathon ahead of them - while others wobbled tenaciously and more gave up halfway and carried their bikes barefoot, cycle shoes hanging from the pedals.
One woman had streams of coagulated blood the length of her shin - but she was smiling all the way up Windmill Hill.
Eventual winner Tom Rigby from Tri-Preston in UK conquered the hill almost 10 minutes ahead of his nearest rival.
He increased that advantage, finishing at 4hrs, 4 minutes and 25 seconds, with Meath's Grahame Gillan following him through at 4:21:10.
Both men paid homage to an atmosphere they described as 'unique and unbelievable'.
As they breasted the tape, Windmill Hill was still torturing the brave and the railed-off main street was still two-deep with an enthused audience.
At the eastern end of town, as the sun grew hotter, Lisa Blanche of O'Reilly's Terrace was amongst three householders hosing down exhausted runners "They loved it", she smiled.
Metres away children handed out paper cups of water.
A day previous, any notion that the romance between Ireland's only ever full triathlon and Youghal might not stand time's passing, was put in perspective with the town's first run only Ironkids evening.
More than 1,000 children, cheered by family and strangers alike, ran various distances but all culminating in the iconic Ironman run-in. The smiles and high fives, in some cases from those barely five themselves, brought reassurance for the relationship's future.
Loud, atmospheric and joyful, it was a sublime family-driven occasion.
Six year-old Thadi Nielsen-Quirke's mum Bébhinn had brought him from Listowel to compete "because the buzz was so good in 2019". Thadi, thumbs up and grasping a medal, was ready to pledge his sporting future to Ironman.
Likewise Zarash Harney from Ballymacoda, whose mum Mary is a member of Youghal AC, beamed with thumbs-up pride. She had been nervous but excited at first but, race run, would definitely someday join her uncles and grand-uncle cycling up Windmill Hill.
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