Introducing Richard Harpur

Dave has set the standard in blog pictures, I have to follow suit and go with the black & white look.

As a seasoned veteran of the Irish athletics circuit Triathlon was a natural next step, and what better way to break onto the Triathlon scene than as part of the Crumlin 09 Triathlon team in an effort to raise money for the Children’s Medical Research Foundation (CMRF).

Now those of you who don’t know me may believe that last statement in its entirety, however the truth is I have never been involved in athletics at a competitive level, I peaked in the early 90’s in ‘some’ event at the Co. Wexford community games in Bree and since then, well there’s not much to say really I simply haven’t really taken part in any form of sport. A bunch of guys from work got involved in this same competition last year and that got me thinking. So when the opportunity arose I jumped on the band wagon, jumping on bandwagons is a pastime of mine once Obama got elected I needed a new one.

Although I’m not an athlete, I like to think I have made some progress over the last few months. 4 months ago I was smoking up to 20 cigarettes a day and the only regular exercise I took was raising a pint glass. Now, I don’t smoke, drink a lot less and exercise is a regular (and important) part of my weekly routine. There are many benefits to such a change in lifestyle which I’m sure your all aware of (health and fitness etc) but the greatest of all is getting to stay in on a Saturday night to watch ‘Tubridy Tonight’ – this weeks highlight is the story of a bull who broke into a Supervalu in Ballinrobe.

Tomorrow is Sunday April 26th – a very important date in my calendar and the calendar’s of some of my comrades, it’s our first race this year and my first race ever. At 1 pm tomorrow the Ashford Duathlon ‘kicks off’ (I’m not sure what the correct term is, kick off, throw in, whatever) this is a 5 km run followed by a 20 km cycle and then another 5 km run, just for good measure. I don’t know what to expect, will I be able to complete the full race, will I fall off my bike (apparently the correct way to cycle is to use specialist shoes which have clips that attach to the pedals which means you become part of the bike, sounds great but if you forget to unclip them when stopping you end up on the ground – I have never cycled with these clips before, tomorrow is D-Day).

I have stocked up on energy sweets and protein bars, lets hope they do what they say on the Tin………………