Kilkenny city was the venue for this event on Saturday 24^th July, with the first swimmers taking to the River Nore at 9 am to start the event which consisted of a swim followed by 1 or 2 laps of the cycle route which took the participants from Kilkenny City, to the very picturesque village of Bennettsbridge then back to Kilkenny city. Here the bikes were abandoned and the athletes took to the race track, which was in the beautifully kept grounds of Kilkenny Castle.

520 participants took part in the day’s events which included an Olympic and sprint distance and a sprint relay event. The morning began early for us, although the event was starting for the Triathletes at 9am sharp, we were not expecting anyone back for treatments before 10:45 or 11am, We even managed to help get other areas of the event set up while we were waiting for the athletes.

The aim of the day was to reduce muscle soreness for the athletes and aid their recovery (obviously) but equally as important was the chance to use this opportunity to raise awareness and the profile of the IMTA, while also promoting our individual businesses. With my thinking hat on, and with no official signage for the IMTA, I came up with the idea to make t-shirt iron on transfers of the IMTA Logo, which myself and Rosie donned on the day. [Note from Editor: IMTA tops are being costed at present – more anon]

Although, I had organised for the therapists to come together for this event, some of us had not met before that morning. This was the first event that each of us had ever worked but watching us work throughout the day, no one would have guessed!

Tom & Pat - hard at work on the day- no time for posing!

As therapists we were fascinated with the amount of onlookers watching us work, taking photographs and even videos! The adrenaline from the athletes was infectious and we worked hard from 11 to 3 pm giving 120+ massages between the four of us, with some losing count so possibly a few more were done. To put this in perspective, this was 25% of the participants.

With the continuous flow of athletes on and off the beds we had a good giggle and questioned if some who stepped forward for the treatments were actually spectators and not athletes, this was met with a lot of laugher from the athletes, who had obviously done the strenuous course, the giveaway being their red faces and sweat-ridden bodies !

The graciousness and appreciation from the athletes was something I don’t thinking anyone of us was expecting, with each thanking us for being there and giving them a much-needed treatment.

The day ended with the event director also thanking us profusely for giving up our time and for our dedication to keep working with only a quick gulp of water every now and then between participants to ensure that each athlete that had queued up had a well-deserved treatment. We even got a round of applause. Although tired and hungry by the end of the day, the general consensus across the group was that each of us enjoyed the event immensely and are hoping to do another one soon!

L to R: Rosie Nolan (Urlingford) Tom Hickey (Kilkenny City) Deirdre Claridge (Waterford) & Pat O’Neill (Thomastown)

Thanks to Tom Hickey for this report.