Sixth year of Women’s Try a Tri
THE 6th year of the Women’s Try a Tri Initiative finished on a high note in an electric atmosphere on October 9th involving 40 women.
This initiative is led by the Sligo Triathlon Club, with support from Sligo Sport and Recreation Partnership’s Women in Sport project. All the participants signed up to the initiative in August, many of whom were on a waiting list from the previous year due to the popularity of this programme.
The initiative was launched at the Radisson Hotel providing an opportunity for all of the women to meet each other and the coaches and get a full debriefing of the programme.
This was followed by a 6 week coaching programme in all 3 disciplines, Swim, Bike and Run building on their skills and confidence levels at the Regional Sports Centre swimming pool and Cleveragh Park running and bike track.
Midway through the programme, the women also availed of an interactive session which was delivered by John Graham from Johngcoaching, aiming to enable the women to use their mind as a toolbox which they can pick up and put down when required to improve their experience and performance.
The training culminated in a Try - a Tri event, where the participants completed 10 lengths of the pool, followed by a 10 km bike and a 4 km run all the while cheered on and encouraged by their families and friends to the finish line, where they were met by the junior try club members who presented the ladies with their medals. This year’s winner is Louise Stoodley, followed by Ciara Mulcahy who took second and Jane Gormely who took third.
Some participants noted after the event, ‘ it’s a great thing to do as you feel so safe and so supported by everybody that is involved from the competitors to the coaches’ , ‘ this is by far the best thing that I have ever done, it’s given me so much confidence and I’ve met some wonderful people’, and this lady sums it all up stating ‘ If you could bottle up all the feelings and emotions from doing this event nobody would ever have any mental health problems’ .