This was my first Ironman 70.3. My biggest fear was the swim cut off time. I knew from my training at Blackrock in Galway I had at least a 10-minute cushion ahead of
the cut off time. I had my family with me, so hell or high water I had to pull this off. The best advice I got was survive the first one and enjoy it, and that I did.
Packing and repacking the blue and red transition bags the day before the race was a little nerve wracking, I hadn’t used these before. Once I got my bags and bike into the transition area, I felt more settled. I just had to execute the plan now.
An organised practice swim in the port the day before helped to build the confidence for race day. There was plenty of thunder and lightning the night before the swim as forecasted. But on race day the port was flat and calm, and in the background, there were still some thick dark clouds, a drizzle of rain and some lightning in the distance to wake up the senses. I lined up for the rolling start, and now it was real. You could feel the excitement in the air, music blasting, and Joanne Murphy telling everyone how great they were to be here, and off we went. The swim went better than expected, nice and smooth, and I focused on keeping a straight line between the marker buoys to save time.
O
ut of the water with a fist pump in the air, I made my way to T1 and headed off on the bike. When I hit the road, the main obstacle was the wet roads with puddles everywhere, mainly on the outward journey. There seemed to be lots of riders trying to fix punctures and other mechanical issues along the way. I took it steady on the bike, avoided the puddles in case of hidden hazards and paced well. The return journey was great; the sun came out and dried up the roads nicely.
The run was two laps of the beach and port area, and it passed close to the finish line on the first lap. 6kms in I felt the cramps in the left hamstring, so I slowed down for a stretch and a walk to shake it off and got back into a run again. The crowds and volunteers along the route were fantastic, shouting “Come on Galway”, “Your nearly there”, another Spanish guy shouted, “Thanks for bringing the rain Ireland”. This was great to hear now in the heat of the day and made me smile and push on. Seeing the finish line was a great feeling. A great thanks to Joanne for the welcome back at the finish line, and the great photo. It wasn’t easy but it was definitely worth it.
Looking back, I have to give huge thanks to the great members of the Galway Triathlon Club for all their great advice and support since joining the club in 2025. When I joined, I could barely swim a length of the pool, I wasn’t on a ‘racer’ bike since my teens when Sean Kelly and Stephen Roche made cycling cool back in the 80’s. I’d like to thank my patient wife Tanya, and my three daughters Cíara, Shauna and Leah for travelling over and being my number one fans.
I would highly recommend Ironman Malaga 70.3 to anyone thinking of doing one. For a first timer the location was easy to get to, great location for athletes and families, well organised and the atmosphere over the days was electric.
