Pushing for the top

Once the preserve of endurance junkies, the gruelling sport of triathlon is enjoying a surge of popularity across the world. Ireland’s very own ironwoman tells all to Mark Gallagher.

THERE'S a tale told in triathlon circles, growing taller with time perhaps, about Jack Johnstone. The American had just completed the cycle leg of the inaugural triathlon in 1974. Dismounting his bike, he tried to run. His legs felt like jelly, like they weren't supporting his body. He lay on the ground, moaning in anguish when somebody in the crowd yelled out, "well, it was your idea!"

The triathlon was indeed the brain child of Jack Johnstone, a former university swimmer, and his friend Don Shanahan.

And, as the story goes, the sport has gone from strength to strength ever since. Since we witnessed exhausted athletes battling the heat of the Sydney Olympics, triathlon has got a much better press. It is no longer the preserve of endurance junkies. The sport was born out of a biathlon that took place in California to coincide with the jogging craze of the early seventies, an event that combined a swim of 300 metres and a casual 3 kilometre run. The appropriately-named Dave Pain organised this event, Johnstone took the event a step further.

And now triathlon is a mainstream sport. Not mainstream enough to muscle into the sportsfan's popular imagination, but mainstream enough for a nod of recognition from all. The World Championships, coming up in Madeira on May 8, will be televised by BBC. Look closely and you might see an Irish vest, a girl who will spend the summer in France, competing in the French first division against the cream of Europe for the Cesson Se' Vigne team.

Caroline Kearney has been Ireland's top female triathlete for the past five years. Endurance is in her blood. Her mother Ann was one of the pioneers of the sport in this country, running the famous Ironman Triathlon in Hawaii, and holding the record for under-35s at the event. Caroline has certainly followed in the legendary foot-steps. Last month, she became the first Irish athlete to sign for a French first division team to race Grand Prix.

The scheme of things associates triathlons with places like Hawaii, San Diego and Sydney, places with a certain amount of exoticism and plenty of sun. They are associated with palm trees and an azure blue ocean, not the rain and wind and rough seas you accept growing up in Ireland.

That's the first difficulty for any Irish competitor to surmount. Training conditions.

"I suppose it might be a bit harder to be a triathlete in Ireland, but then again, I don't know any other way. There are difficult weather conditions for people to train in, but you have to deal with them all your life, so you get used to it. Triathlon is on the margins too, but that is just the plight of any minority sport, isn't it?"

While it might never replace cross-country as a popular student pursuit, triathlon is on the rise in Ireland, with numbers increasing in both the audience and competitors. Kearney recalls that at the event in Skerries last year which she won in her discipline there were roughly 250 lined up at the start.

"There are a few reasons for the rise in popularity. Obviously, the Olympics were great for the profile as everyone saw the race in Sydney. And it is always a good event for people to participate in for charity purposes as there is great scope there for fund-raising, like in a marathon or a charity walk, because it involves the three disciplines. It was easy to see the impact Sydney had on numbers, there was a great increase and because it involves a swim, a cycle and a run, it makes for great spectator sport. And of course, it's a great way to keep fit."

Caroline's mother Ann, who sadly passed away last December after a battle with cancer, was a mainstay for almost two decades. She was top of her sport in the 1980s, when triathlon was actually quite popular in Ireland. That decade was a different place of course, the jogging craze that created the sport a decade before had been imported into the country and Superstars had people pinned to the edge of their seats every week. The interest waned in the nineties, but Ann remained top of her field. Among her accomplishments, she was nine times European Masters Triathlon Champion, 11 times All-Ireland Triathlon Champion and a B Bronze medallist in the Elite European Ironman.

And it was always Caroline's design to follow the innovative path her mother set. However, it happened by accident. About six years ago, she accompanied Ann to the Joey Hannon Triathlon in Limerick. The event takes place in May and is one of the bigger competitions in the country.

Caroline took her bike with her, just for the craic to cycle the route as her mother ran it. By the time they arrived in Limerick, the idea of cycling the route had transformed into the idea of competing in the race.

"I didn't have any real preparation. I had done swimming obviously, done a bit of cycling, but I hadn't trained for it. I had only done a little bit of running, but I decided to do it anyway."

Already a champion distance swimmer, (she was Irish champion in the 800m freestyle in 1996), Caroline competed far better than most, taking the junior crown and coming third in the overall female event. Her triathlon career had taken off. And like any good triathlete, she hasn't looked behind her.

Given her high finish, it was obvious she had inherited Ann's talent. Within a couple of years, she had become Irish champion, a title she has now won for three consecutive years. And she isn't slowing down. While the summer will be spent adjusting to competing in team events (here, all triathlons are individual competitions), she is also focusing on the World Student Games in Majorca, and the World Championships, coming up in Valencia this Sunday. Of course, this is an Olympic year, but the pleasant chaos that Athens might be has come a few years too soon for her.

Which is alright. At 22, Caroline has plenty of time. There is always Beijing and even beyond. Most female triathletes, like distance runners, don't peak until their late 20s or early 30s. Two of the top female triathletes in the world are knocking on the door of forty. She has plenty of time. And a summer in France will expedite her development, work on her running, currently her weakest of the three disciplines.

Not that her development needs much assistance. While last year was a very emotional one for Caroline, her career remained on its upward trajectory. She took a year out of her primary teaching course in St Pats to spend time with her mother and also prepare for the World Championships that took place in Queenstown, New Zealand, last December.

Although Ann was very ill at the time, she wanted her daughter to travel to New Zealand. In her first World Championships, she finished 51st in the elite category, not bad considering where her head was during the race. "I was very pleased with that, considering the circumstances I competed under. There was an awful lot of emotional stuff in my head with my mum being sick. But she wanted me to go."

When she competes in Madeira and in Valencia next week, she will run in the under-23 category where she can make a bigger splash. The elite category is a step too far at this stage. In under-23s, she is aiming for a top 10 or 20 finish. "That's my short-term goal this year, to compete well in the Worlds and the Europeans, to race to my standard. And in the Student Games. Of course, France is also a focus."

Triathlon Ireland believe her French sojourn will benefit Kearney in numerous ways. She will have all training and competition expenses paid for, race against the best and be part of a great team.

We have all heard about the loneliness of the long-distance runner, and the triathlete can suffer from the same condition, as Kearney's training programme demonstrates.

"Well, I train twice a day, sometimes three times a day. In the winter, the focus is on endurance. In the summer, it turns to speed. Basically, I swim five times a week, am in the pool about 10 hours a week, spend about 10 or 12 hours a week on the track and 10 to 12 hours a week on the bike. Apart from that, there is gym sessions and other work-outs. It is very time-consuming."

But, it might all be worth it in the end. With the profile of Triathlon rising again 250 people competed in Skerries last year with organisers 600 this year Caroline Kearney can become the figurehead for the sport in Ireland. The International Triathlon Union (ITU) are bringing a World Cup competition to Ireland this August, in the Tyrone village of Ballyroan on the shores of Lough Neagh. That will give the sport a further boost.

And of course if Kearney does well in Valencia and Madeira, before joining up with her Cesson Se 'Vigne team-mates, well it will all help. From the water, you carry yourself to the bike, you get off the bike and run. It sounds a grueling sport. "It depends on the athlete, and what their favourite discipline is, but the most difficult part is going from bike to running, because when you get off the bike, your legs feel like jelly, they are really wobbly from cycling so hard," Kearney says in words that echo that little vignette about Jack Johnstone.

You need to be a different breed to be a triathlete. It has ever been so, since Johnstone and his friend had that brain-wave, an idea that has progressed with time. John Collins, a naval officer, took Johnstone's idea and combined Polynesian endurance battles in Hawaii.

NATIVES had been battling each other for years in the Waikiki Roughwater swim, a wearying 4km swim across Pacific waters, Around-Oahu Bike Race, 179km across that island on a bike, and the Honolulu Marathon, 42km as opposed to the normal 40km. Collins joined these three events together in 1978, the result being the Ironman competition. When dramatic footage of Julie Moss crawling over the finish line on her hands and knees to come second were broadcast in 1982, triathlon suddenly became famous.

Caroline Kearney hopes to compete in Ironman one day, but she mightn't have to crawl over the line. Right now, she is just moving in the right direction, whether it be by swimming, running, or on her bike.