TrYthan IRC Training Day Success

Making the most of the Easter school holidays, TrYthan held an IRC (Inter Regional Championships) training day last Tuesday for TriStar 2 & 3s (age 11-14) looking to race at that level.

A fantastic turnout of 16 young athletes attended the day, including some who had travelled up to Ellon from East Fife.

The coaching team was made up of Dennis Chalmers, Ken Bryson and Sean and Claire Murphy, alongside some of the clubs newly qualified Triathlon Leaders.

The day began with an introduction and warm up session of strength and conditioning.

With outside conditions testing to say the least, so a transition skills session was completed in the big games hall, finishing it off with transition runs, and bike handling skills for running with the bike.

It was then time for a food stop, but the learning continues as Claire delivered a talk on the IRC competition and what it involves.

Triathlon Scotland Performance Pathway athletes, Ella Chalmers and Euan Murphy, then held an open floor Q&A session, passing on their experiences and advice to the next generation of young triathletes.

With the weather improving, the group was then able to get outside to do some scooting, mounting and dismount drills with the bikes.

They then moved onto a run session, based on pacing and training zones. The session involved pacing over shorter and longer laps, allowing the kids to gain an understanding of how harder efforts affect them.

The day ended with a swim session, which consisted of a warm up followed by a 200m time trial. This was followed by an open water skills session, with the lane ropes removed to allow practice in sighting, drafting, turning round buoys, deep water starts and group swimming.

All attendees were awarded with a new TrYthan water bottle and transition towel for their efforts.

TrYthan Coach, Dennis Chalmers, said:

“We had such a worthwhile day with all the young athletes as they look to the season ahead,

“It is fantastic that we have so many young athletes looking to race at this level and we were pleased to be able to offer the session as a local Easter activity.”

The club are looking at holding a second session at Knockburn Loch, hopefully around early June. This day will focus on putting their skills into practice in an open water environment.

If you are interested in attending this session, please contact trythantriathlon@gmail.com to register your interest.