Gavin Noble. Irish triathlete. Joker. Poet.
July 27th, 2009 by Conrad Stoltz
pic design by Nikola
I met Gavin Noble early this year in Stellenbosch, South Africa. We were both on training camps. I just started training and Gavin - one of Ireland’s Olympic triathlon hopefuls - was already lean and mean.
It is comical how wildly our training styles varied:
Gav swam 6km group swims at 5.15 am. I floated 30-40 mins on my own when the sun sat high.
Gavin sometimes ran 3 times a day, I sometimes ran 3 days in a row.
Gav wears pink tights in public, (in summer) I wore pink speedos in the 80s.
But despite our wildly different training approaches, we got on like a house on fire. Seems like a special South African / Irish thing. I have grown to love the Irish through our mutual friend Bobby Behan from whom I learnt a vast array of Irish sayings in a more or less Irish accent. “Fierce nice guy like you know.”
Well, Gav is quite a character too. He is also a team mate. Not in the usual sense. Blogging team mates. Check it out here: TriathlonTeam.org
Gavin’s blogging is quite something. He is also really passionate about suffering and quotes. Which he manages to blend together nicely. Here are a few from his site: GavinNoble.com
“When I’m training, I need four things, a room, a bed, and maybe two blankets, for when it gets cold”
I always loved to watch distance running. I am one of those people who think the sight of an athlete in full flow is a beautiful thing. I love ‘the chat’ about the old days - when 5 of your neighbours could run sub 30minutes for a 10k - back when ‘men were made of iron and ships were made of wood !’
This is my favourite Gavin blog:
Motivation for the Week: Chase the Mammoth
If you run without sacrifice, congratulations you just jogged.
Running hurts. It always has. Wolley Mammoths didnt just roll over on a plate and serve themselves up to Prehistoric Man with a portion of gravy chips (loveabitofgravychipsme) and a cola. They had to be caught - and supposidly catching a Wolley Mammoth was a bitch !
Guess what ?
Read the rest of this post on Gavin’s site
One Response to “Gavin Noble. Irish triathlete. Joker. Poet.”
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July 27th, 2009 at 10:14 pm
Conrad,
This post makes me think of something I saw in an advertisement somewhere:
“Triathlon: If it was easy they’d call it football”
Hope that foot continues to heal well.
Marc, who’s Xterra season is over due to a severely strained hamstring tendon.