‘You’ve heard of the Jamaican bobsleigh team, now you’re hearing about the Irish winter triathlete’
Eoin O’Connell is set to become Ireland’s first-ever winter triathlete at the World Championships in Italy on February 10. The Mallow native is a former Irish triathlon champion over three distances and held the national Ironman record for 10 years. He spoke to before the event
A: I was raised in Mallow but I’m over in London 14 years, living and working there. We’ll all be kicked home soon anyway with Brexit! I’ve been doing triathlons with about 30 years and I’ve always found a different challenge every year. This one is no exception where I’ve decided to embark on the World Winter Triathlon Championships.
You’ve heard of the Jamaican bobsleigh team, now you’re hearing about the Irish winter triathlete!
A: Yeah, I was told when I applied through Triathlon Ireland there’d never heard of it before. It’s a bit of a novelty to be the first person to ever try it. The local organisers have publicised it — that they’re going to have the first Irish guy ever to compete at a winter triathlon — which is nice but no pressure then!
A: It’s a triathlon with a difference. There’s no swimming so you swap your Speedos for skis. For my distance, I’ll be running 5km, cycling 7km, then skiing 7km. It’s a short distance but running and cycling on snow is a lot harder. I’ve tried cross-country skiing twice, in February last year and two days last weekend, so I’ve decided to put my money where my mouth is!
A: I’m practising on roller blades and roller skis in Hyde Park. It’s like a ski with a wheel at both ends of it which simulates the same effort and gliding motion.
A: It’s funny, in Ireland people would look at you sideways if you were doing something strange. Years ago, I used run with a Baby Jogger or have kids up on my bike, but in London anything goes.
You see guys going around parks pulling tyres so you’re used to seeing strange things happening… Cross-country skiing with wheels is just a normal strange activity.
A: I’ve fallen once or twice on the hard concrete and the ground is less forgiving alright. It’s not as good as snow. It affects you because you’re always on edge. You’re worried about falling whereas in skiing you’d be less worried. You tend to tense up and you don’t flow as well. I’ll have three days before the World Championships with two hours each day on the snow as final practice.
A: It’s skiing uphill on the course. There’s about 200m of climbing. If you imagine, I wouldn’t say Patrick’s Hill in Cork, but something as steep as that but not as long. By the time you get to the top of that, you’re well out of breath. The other thing to consider is you’re at 1,500m above sea level so the air is thinner and you don’t have as much oxygen to feed the blood and the lungs up there as you would training at sea level.
A: My expectations aren’t very high. My main aim is to try to finish. The second aim is not to finish last. Then, the third is to do my best. It’s quite a competitive field because in the elite field there’s about 18 elites, whereas in the age groups there’s about 25 age-groupers. So I’d probably come higher in the elite. I suppose the Irish are always the underdog so it’s a handy excuse to have and if I do well, I’ll have exceeded my ambitions.
A: I enjoy the sport, the lifestyle with it, the friends you meet, the health benefits it gives you, the balance in life, the release from work, and I enjoy competing at a relatively high level. My marathon times aren’t as fast as they used to be — I used to do 2:30, but now I’m doing 2:47 or 2:50 — so I don’t have the same expectations.
But when I do something new and different, like doing the Ironman next year or the winter triathlon, it gets you fired up and excited. Life is all about seizing the day, carpe diem.
A: I’m an IT Director for a company called Smythson. I did a few years with the Olympics and the Dorchester Hotel before that. I miss the craic in Ireland but I’m well established here in London now with my wife and we’ve three kids who are little adrenaline junkies as well. They’re doing the triathlons and parkruns and cross-country races, so passing on a little bit to the next generation as well.
A: Yeah, two of the kids came with me cross-country skiing in Italy last weekend, so I could pass on a bit of my craziness to them! It’s great to see their enthusiasm for doing something rather than a standard beach holiday or sitting by the pool.
A: When I was out there, it was about four degrees Celsius. I’ll have to wear enough clothes to keep warm but not excessive that I’d overheat. From a nutrition point of view, it’s just an hour and a half or an hour and 40 minutes, so it’s about having a few energy gels during the bike. With running and cycling, just like the rowers say, you could go down and pull like a dog and get to the end of it. But with skiing, you can go as hard as you want but unless you’re executing the right technique, it’s pointless. So if your energy levels fade and you can’t execute a good technique you’re fighting yourself. You’ve to sustain the energy levels to hold the form for skiing which will mean holding back a little bit on the run and the bike.
A: That’s so short! The Ironman is nine and a half hours so an hour and a half is quite short.
A: Sure you’d hardly break a sweat.
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