1-2 June 2024, Kielce, Poland
Sunday 9:00 PM: I’m in Azzurro restaurant, ready for pasta and vino rosso. Up at 5:40 AM after a thundery Saturday evening. A day in the life of officiating at international level sport. All was calm this morning. I learned so much today.
My parting challenge to Belpark earlier this year was, “when will we host an international event?” The answer became clearer for me today. Being inside the ropes, hearing the decision-making and conversation from the experienced technical delegate (TD) Holgar (DE), referee Petr (CZ) and assistant RD Joanna (PL) made me realise that I’ve a lot to learn.
Attention to detail
Protocol, planning, preparation, rehearsal, role definition, time schedule, communications. This was professional, a step up from even our best effort amateur races at home. I was surprised by the close focus on every position, action and object by people who knew the rules in the triathlon bible (the EOM or event organisers manual) way better than I did.
Not accepting average: colleagues correcting me for not wearing a bike helmet, or helping me to hide my lanyard with badges, cards and whistles inside my zipped singlet, so I looked clean for the cameras.
Yesterday I arrived, taking the 100-minute train from Krakow. The Grand Hotel was right across the street, busy with bikes, athletes and wedding guests. I ended up getting lost on the way to the race venue, a reservoir lake of Kielce, finding a lake in the opposite direction (searching for reservoir without knowing the Polish word got tricky in Google Maps). Not a good start. I missed the swim familiarisation and event recce.
The athlete registration and briefing were interesting. ID required for athlete sign on. Athletes must attend a 40-minute PowerPoint show and get their numbers, timing chip and swim hat. Lots of waste with single use plastic/materials.
On your marks
Sunday 6:00 AM: we arrive on site. Races start from 8:30 AM with swim, bike and run practise beforehand. The starting pontoon involved a lineup of TOs, walking on to the pontoon. Then my job was to video for any false starts.
Harder than it looked to get a tablet to cooperate. Two of eight starts missed. Hyperlapse mode selected inadvertently or pressing record a fraction too late. Anyway, four false starts identified out of the 180 athletes across 6 semi-finals.
Eyeballing the top men and women. German girls and the British boys. Sam and Jonny. I felt old amongst all the young fit people. Tanned, lean, focused. Israel, Germany, Hungary, Canada and lots of Poles.
Penalties on a board
Chief penalty box was my other role. I dashed on a bike the 200 metres between the swim pontoon and the penalty box (and tent) located near the end of the run course. A quiet enough job, but at least you get to see the bike and run races develop on each lap.
Only two penalties issued on the run course over the entire day of 8 races. I had 81E and 98M reported to me by the referee over the radio. A Dutch and German athlete. One penalty was served (athlete 98 had a mount line violation), the other guy #81, didn’t even realise he’d got a penalty, so was automatically DQed.
He came up to me after to understand why, so the referee was able to show him photographic evidence of his transition box area where equipment (the E above) wasn’t neatly in his box.
Photos are taken of everything, to ensure we can stand over the decisions we make. I photographed when I put up the penalty on the board and again took a photo after I’d removed it – both had time stamps and were shared via WhatsApp so there was no doubting it, should an athlete (or coach) say “I never saw it”.
I was living a Countdown dream – doing my best Carol Vorderman, posting numbers and letters onto a big board. Pressure to do it correctly, on time and report back to the referee over the radio. One error could result in a protest, the stakes can be high.
Behind the scenes
The split of responsibilities between a LOC (local organising committee) and TO team was a dynamic that’s different to how local races in Ireland are organised. The LOC staff and volunteers do all the site prep, security, music, timing – much like a host club does at home. The TO team just focus on safety and implementing the competition rules.
Interesting when you have 20 TOs to focus on competition rules, compared to 2-4 in Ireland. You can focus on every athlete at every point along the course – impossible at home with limited officials eyes and ears.
Sunday 6:00 PM: In the TO debrief, I learnt that there were some problems with timing accuracy and finish line tape positioning. All very important if it comes down to who qualified in the morning’s semis and will be around for the afternoon final. All resolved quickly.
The second debrief took place over a deserved beer, learning about TOs experiences at big events in Hamburg (2,500+ athletes) and across Poland and Czechia. So interesting how people forge a path as an official in this sport (or any sport).
Looking back
So how do I feel? Proud to be wearing my Waterford Tri, IMRA and Microsoft gear today. Happy to be representing Belpark and Triathlon Ireland abroad. Glad I came. I can learn from TOs from all over Europe and apply my experience on the Technical Committee at home, and at other events in Ireland during the season.
I’m disappointed I didn’t get the video recordings perfect. And I was lazy with my bike helmet. Staying attentive and keeping your phone away requires focus – you are live on YouTube all day and always in the eye of the camera or spectator.
Howya Jonny?
Monday 10:00 AM: The next morning, more surprises awaited. Not what I expected but delighted to join half of Team GB and casually chat with Jonny Brownlee, Beth Cook, some of their coaches and Jonny’s girlfriend.
I couldn’t get away from bumping into him over the last 24 hours. At the race venue, in the athlete’s lounge, fixing his tyre blowout, validating transition check-in schedules, and then seeing him twice on the starting pontoon ahead of the swim as athlete #1.
Johnny had a tyre blowout before the race. His tyre exploded right beside me as he had it parked up against a barrier. He’s very small in stature, lighter that than you think. Someone that I’ve admired on TV at the Olympics, WTS races and BBC TV over the years. Mad to casually chat with him, just as any newbie triathlete could ask: “when does transition close?” or “when I can get my bike back?”
Jonny controlled the bike yesterday. At the front throughout, he was strong on the run, on the shoulder of the German Graf when he flew by me with 150 metres to go. Yet, he was caught by Dickinson, who jumped both of them to take an important win. He’s the oldest at 34 years old.
Anyway. Johnny is a top tier triathlete going back over 15 years. As long as I’ve been in the sport, the Brownlees have been top. Alistair and Jonathan. London 2012. Rio 2016. Tokyo 2021. That finish line collapse in Mexico 2016 due to heat exhaustion (I’ve had my own finish line collapses). Mixed relay bronze in Tokyo.
Still chasing Olympic qualification here for Team GB. Team selection did evade him, as Sam Dickinson and Alex Yee secured the treasured slots.
Holy moly
Then this morning I go off for a run along the river up to the reservoir and who do I pass? Jonny with his coach and teammate Beth. I should have turned around and ran back with them but didn’t have the confidence to interrupt their flow.
The only other notable character I passed out there, on my morning run, was a brown habit wearing young man, a Franciscan Friar in his 20s or 30s. You don’t see that sort of thing at home (anymore).
Religious faith, sorry Catholic faith is strong here in Poland. Nuns in habits and veils pass you, on trains, shops and streets. Reminds me of Star of the Sea in primary school.
Breakfast with an Olympian
So what did we talk about at the breakfast table? The coaches jumped around from name dropping places and people: Stellenbosch training camps, or Tokyo 2021, Loughborough or Leeds. People like Georgina, Beth, Cassandre, Kelly, Paula. I nodded along; I think I’ve heard of most of them.
Irish topics got sprinkled in once I spoke. I mentioned mountain running and the Phoenix Park – they went off chatting about hurling, Guinness, the Liffey, Croke Park, Ger Hartmann, GAA, and Cork.
I had to pinch myself. Johnny informed me that “Armagh had beaten Derry in the football yesterday.” “Geez, how did you know that?” I asked, with amazement. “The BBC”, he calmly replied. Insomnia. A sleep interrupted night drove him to checking Ulster GAA results! I dare not ask him how the race went yesterday. Third place was a disappointment in his mind.
We moved onto “do you know Ger Hartmann?” asked one of the coaches. He said he’d raced against him in the 1980s. “Yeah, I’ve read his book” was my reply. Quite the book and life story to! A pioneer of Irish triathlon in the 1980s, Ger won some of the earliest races in Ireland.
He then moving on to being a magical physio for the world’s best athletes, including Paula Radcliffe, Kelly Holmes and Usain Bolt. Later I discovered the man asking is Glenn Cook, a top UK coach and pioneering triathlete just like Ger.
Onto mountain running, Johnny immediately responds that the European Athletics Off-Road Championships were on in France. He’s switched on! He would have made a great mountain runner. We part ways in the lift. Onwards and upwards.
Thank you, Poland.
P.S. Zalew is the Polish word for lagoon, I should know that for next time – not reservoir!
Photos: Peter Horsten, Michał Buczyński
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