A new sport - Bike Polo

Bike polo
Originally uploaded by Brian O'Donovan

While I was travelling through the Phoenix Park last weekend I saw a sign announcing the international bike polo competition. I went along to have a look and it looks like an interesting sport - basically horse polo played on a bike.

The crowd was not exactly huge for an international tournament. The supporters were outnumbered by the players. But I suppose every sport must start out small.

Dixie Chick goes on her first trip of 2009

Dixie Chick at rest in her "Winter Residence" at Shannon Harbour
Originally uploaded by Brian O'Donovan

The weather in Ireland was lovely this weekend so I decided to bring Dixie Chick on her first trip of the year.

I did not take her out of the water this winter and so I was pleasantly surprised to see that she was not too badly shaken by the experience. The engine started after about 3 attempts and then we took her for a short trip down to Banagher and back.

I tried out the Sports Tracker application on my Nokia phone. It seemed to work a treat and I was able to produce the little map below showing where exactly we went.


View Dixie Chick's Maiden Voyage of 2009 in a larger map

There is a slight mis-match between the Google Map and the coordinated from my GPS which make it seem that we travelled across dry land for a while, but overall I think you can get the idea. I must use this feature more often.

Phoenix Park Race last week

Coming over the finish line
Originally uploaded by Brian O'Donovan

I just got confirmation of my finishing time in the Phoenix Park 10km race. This year I finished in 54 minutes and 21 seconds which is an improvement on my time from last year of 57 minutes and 3 seconds.

Overall my race position was #3,144 which is not bad considering that there were over 11,000 competitors in total. What makes it sound even better was that I was in position #142 for my age group (although I don't know exactly how wide they make the age group or how many people in my age group competed).