era of discovery, mostly by trial and error. As a champion of the sport, people looked to me for direction. I had spent four years on an athletic scholarship in the US, and I had come home and gone straight out and won the National Triathlon by some considerable distance. Everyone looked to me for the answers, but the fact was I didnât have any particular knowledge, just a bigger engine. But thatâs not to say I didnât learn fast.
I asked Peter Snow if I could use one of the offices at St Endaâs Sports Complex to hold a meeting. I wanted to form Limerick Triathlon Club and help establish an identity for the new sport I was already mastering. I hand drew a couple of posters announcing a meeting and inviting anyone interested in triathlon to attend, and put them on the noticeboards of St Endaâs Sports Complex and Roxboro swimming pool. With that, Limerick Triathlon Club was formed on 25 October 1984 and the five people who attended are credited with being founding members of the club. We were, in no particular order: Gerard Hartmann, Peter Snow, Yvonne Snow, Tom OâDonnell and Albert le Gear. All we really got on the night was a show of hands, but at least it was a start and Limerick Triathlon Club was born.
That November of 1984 Justin Nelsonâs RTÃ coverage of the All-Ireland Triathlon received a top viewership, partly due to it being well advertised in the RTÃ Guide but also due to the fact that there were only two channels in Ireland at the time: RTÃ 1 and RTÃ 2. So 8.00 p.m. on a dark winterâs night, with the GAA All-Irelands won and lost, was an ideal time to show a sports programme, especially when there wasnât much of an exciting alternative on RTÃ 1.
By June 1985, Limerick Triathlon Club membership had grown to about 50 people. Throughout Ireland, other clubs formed â in Cork, Galway, Sligo and Westport, and several in Dublin. For the true fitness fanatic, the next challenge and logical step up from the marathon was the All-Ireland Triathlon in Sligo.
It was no coincidence that the All-Ireland Triathlon in Sligo was a success. Pat Curley, the race organiser, was a dynamic individual with great vision and enthusiasm. At his core, he too was a true sporting fanatic, and a person who got things organised and done in his stride. In his own sporting days he was a formidable sprinter, and, along with being a physical education teacher in Sligoâs Summerhill College, he coached and was a positive influence on many of Irelandâs best athletes, including Irish 1,500-metre and mile record holder Ray Flynn, as well as international 800-metre runner Roddy Gaynor.
Pat was a dynamo who put his heart and soul into organising the All-Ireland Triathlon in Sligo. With the help of his right-hand men, Tom Staunton and Aidan Anderson, and a hard-working organising committee, it was assured success from the start.
Pat had also been a local councillor and was highly respected in Sligo. Through his vision and connections he had the backing of the community, local governing bodies, the Town Council, the County Councils of Sligo and Leitrim, the Sligo Yacht Club, Sligo Golf Club, the local police, ambulance and medical back-up, plus the Civil Defence. Then, with RTÃ covering the event, it would get maximum exposure.
Pat Curleyâs vision was to put Sligo on the global sporting map. Where better in the world to host a televised triathlon than in Yeats Country, with Ben Bulben and Knocknarea as spectacular backdrops?
Rosses Point Beach was a perfect location for the 1.2-mile swim, and the scenic country roads around Sligo town and county were safe and ideal for a Half Ironman event. The 13.1-mile run had athletes run the length of Rosses Point Beach onto the Sligo Golf Club, across two fairways and onto third-class roads, before meeting the main SligoâBundoran Road running into Sligo, and then running the five miles out to the finish line on the wide promenade
I asked Peter Snow if I could use one of the offices at St Endaâs Sports Complex to hold a meeting. I wanted to form Limerick Triathlon Club and help establish an identity for the new sport I was already mastering. I hand drew a couple of posters announcing a meeting and inviting anyone interested in triathlon to attend, and put them on the noticeboards of St Endaâs Sports Complex and Roxboro swimming pool. With that, Limerick Triathlon Club was formed on 25 October 1984 and the five people who attended are credited with being founding members of the club. We were, in no particular order: Gerard Hartmann, Peter Snow, Yvonne Snow, Tom OâDonnell and Albert le Gear. All we really got on the night was a show of hands, but at least it was a start and Limerick Triathlon Club was born.
That November of 1984 Justin Nelsonâs RTÃ coverage of the All-Ireland Triathlon received a top viewership, partly due to it being well advertised in the RTÃ Guide but also due to the fact that there were only two channels in Ireland at the time: RTÃ 1 and RTÃ 2. So 8.00 p.m. on a dark winterâs night, with the GAA All-Irelands won and lost, was an ideal time to show a sports programme, especially when there wasnât much of an exciting alternative on RTÃ 1.
By June 1985, Limerick Triathlon Club membership had grown to about 50 people. Throughout Ireland, other clubs formed â in Cork, Galway, Sligo and Westport, and several in Dublin. For the true fitness fanatic, the next challenge and logical step up from the marathon was the All-Ireland Triathlon in Sligo.
It was no coincidence that the All-Ireland Triathlon in Sligo was a success. Pat Curley, the race organiser, was a dynamic individual with great vision and enthusiasm. At his core, he too was a true sporting fanatic, and a person who got things organised and done in his stride. In his own sporting days he was a formidable sprinter, and, along with being a physical education teacher in Sligoâs Summerhill College, he coached and was a positive influence on many of Irelandâs best athletes, including Irish 1,500-metre and mile record holder Ray Flynn, as well as international 800-metre runner Roddy Gaynor.
Pat was a dynamo who put his heart and soul into organising the All-Ireland Triathlon in Sligo. With the help of his right-hand men, Tom Staunton and Aidan Anderson, and a hard-working organising committee, it was assured success from the start.
Pat had also been a local councillor and was highly respected in Sligo. Through his vision and connections he had the backing of the community, local governing bodies, the Town Council, the County Councils of Sligo and Leitrim, the Sligo Yacht Club, Sligo Golf Club, the local police, ambulance and medical back-up, plus the Civil Defence. Then, with RTÃ covering the event, it would get maximum exposure.
Pat Curleyâs vision was to put Sligo on the global sporting map. Where better in the world to host a televised triathlon than in Yeats Country, with Ben Bulben and Knocknarea as spectacular backdrops?
Rosses Point Beach was a perfect location for the 1.2-mile swim, and the scenic country roads around Sligo town and county were safe and ideal for a Half Ironman event. The 13.1-mile run had athletes run the length of Rosses Point Beach onto the Sligo Golf Club, across two fairways and onto third-class roads, before meeting the main SligoâBundoran Road running into Sligo, and then running the five miles out to the finish line on the wide promenade
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