Triathlon Update
The weekend saw a large number of the letterkenny 24/7 triathlon club members compete in races in both Mullaghmore on Saturday and the very well publicised city of culture triathlon that took place on Sunday morning in Derry, to celebrate the cities status as culture capital of Europe for 2013.
Mullaghmore National Series Sprint
In Mullaghmore on Saturday, members were greeted with wet, grey, overcast and cloudy conditions, which would prove difficult on the bike ensuring no one would get things easy. Although the sea was by no means calm with a strong off shore wind adding to the difficulty for swimmers, it was an improvement on last years race when the services of the local RNLI and Coast Guard were called upon to pluck some competitors from the water.
Aidan Callaghan continued his recent run good performances winning the race in a time of 1.04.05. Aidan had the joint fastest swim time and fastest run time beating former National Series Champion Bjorn Ludwick who had the fastest bike spilt of the day.
Nick Fowell again put in a good performance and won his AG and is showing signs of improvement on all aspects of the sport. Paul Doherty, Micheal Duffy and Hugh Gallagher raced well throughout, finishing within 7 positions of each other. Dennis Shields, Paul O Gara, Margret Kelly, Donagh O Sullivan and Martin Donnelly also raced very well all finishing within 90 seconds of each other showing the continued development of training that is happening in the club, with members pushing each other all the way to the line. Kevin Hennessey did well in his hometown while newcomers, Finn Begley,Sinead Trearty and Tommy Hill competed well and will be happy with their performances on a tough day.
City of Culture
In the 2013 city of culture huge crowds gathered along the banks of the river foyle to cheer on the 500 competitors that took part in the inaugural city triathlon. The weather did its best to dampen the spirits but with two Olympians in the shape of Gavin Noble and Aileen Reid in the field the crowd and indeed other competitors had plenty to keep them occupied.
Gavin Crawford was 1st Letterkenny man home in 6th place and 2nd in his AG with only Noble beating his 16.38 5k split time. Ben George raced well and fininshed within the top 50. Only 2 seconds separated husband and wife Pauric and Margret Kelly, Margret who won her AG also competed in Mullaghmore yesterday using the weekend as a good session to kick off her training for the 70.3 Ironman World Championships in Las Vegas at the end of August. Danien Mc Goohan, another man who decided to punish himself this weekend also competed in Mullaghmore yesterday in training for Ironman UK in August raced well and will be happy with both performances.
Other members that performed well and braved the elements include Pauric Mitchell who finished 4th in his AG, Clint Doherty, John Mc Daid, Paul Kelly and Louise Roddy. The club had a few members who popped their triathlon cherry’s in Derry and congratulations must go to Cathal Wilson, David Mc Cann and Natialia Colmenarjo. Well done to all.
Next up for the club will be the National Sprint Championships in Athlone in two weeks time.
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