After a long winter of very hard training around 30 hours per week for the last 7 months it was great to wake up to such a bright sunny day for Joey. Nerves were really kicking in on the drive over to UL
and were only added to to when I saw the competition. The race standard was really raised with the entry of Brian Campbell and the Irish Development squad. It was great for me to have world class coach Chris Jones there to talk me through the warm up, and watching the novice athletes going so well and seeing the event running so smoothly helped to settle the nerves.
 
Once the race started it was great to have the crowd cheering at the end of the swim and out onto the bike. It often gets lonely out on the bike so it was great to have the marshals cheering us on as we went passed.
 
Back into transition 2 in second place and there was a real buzz around the Arena, the music was blasting and having the local crowd cheering me by name was fantastic, it really drove me on.
A great run of just over 31mins from Brian Campbell took the victory and showed how brilliant an athlete the Irish Champion is.
 
For me coming up the home straight with the crowd cheering and my family and friends waiting at the side is the best part of the race. The atmosphere around the finish area was amazing and even though my race finished by 1:30pm I didn't leave until well after 5pm.
 
I want to thank the best club in Ireland for putting on what could well be the race of the year on the first day of the season and for all the support that the club and its members have given me over the winter and the last couple of years.
 
Also thanks to St. Ailbe's credit Union in Caherconlish for their great support and to Triathlon Ireland for getting the development squad up and running and bring them to Limerick for this great race. Joey Hannan must have been proud on Monday the 4th of May 2008.