NORTH WEST TRIATHLON CLUB TO HOST IRISH CHAMPIONSHIPS
The North West Triathlon Club has been awarded with hosting the Irish Duathlon Championships for the second year running. This race is also the Ulster Championships and it is the qualifier race from any athlete looking to represent Ireland at the World Duathlon Championships this year in Edinburgh. It takes place on Sunday 25th April at 9.30am.
The club was asked by Triathlon Ireland to host the Championships again after a successful race last year. The race took place in Burnfoot which saw athletes run and cycle laps of a course which took in the Slab Road, back towards Bridgend along the main Letterkenny Road and back to Burnfoot along the Buncrana Road. The course will remain unchanged this year with the Slab Road being closed for the duration.
The race will be a Standard Distance Duathlon which consists of a 10km run/40km cycle/5km run. Last years winners – David Graham from Belfast, who is a member of Triathlon Ireland’s successful Development Squad, and Eimear Mullan from Limavady who currently resides and competes at top level in England, are both expected to return to defend their titles. The local challenge will come from the host club North West with Colm Quigley, Paul McConnellogue and Gary O’Donnell all expected to race. Letterkenny triathlon club 24/7 is also expected to field a team with Sean McFadden and Ciaran O’Sullivan leading the way. Limavady club Triangle will also field a number of athletes of which Anne Paul from Derry was runner up in the women’s race last year. While in the relay event last year’s winners were local men Darragh Furey and Rory Devlin. As this is both a championship race and a qualifier for the World Championships the race will attract athletes from all over Ireland to take part making it a highly competitive event.
Entry is now open and the organisers will accept entries from individuals and also from any two person relay teams. An important new requirement of Triathlon Ireland is that a one day licence fee must be purchased in advance from Triathlon Ireland’s website and that it will not be available to purchase on the day. This licence can be purchased through a link on the entry page. Athletes will not be allowed to race unless they have this licence or alternatively that they are a Triathlon Ireland member.
Entry is only available online and can be made through the events page on www.runireland.com at http://www.runireland.com/events/2010-04-25/northwest-duathlon. This link is also available on the clubs website – www.northwesttriclub.com.
Sunday, 31 January 2010
Thursday, 28 January 2010
First Win of 2010 for O'Brien
Hi everyone,
Well we've had our first win of the year and January is barely out!
Eimear O'Brien, who has just returned from New Zealand on holidays for a few months, showed her excellent form when she won the first race of the Naas Duathlon Race Series last weekend.
Here's the race report from Naas:
Naas Duathlon Race Series
(sponsored by Wheelworx Bike and Tri Shop)
3.5k/20k/3.5k
Despite the foggy conditions 149 competitors turned up to take part in the now traditional ‘season opener’ run by Naas Triathlon Club at Punchestown racecourse in Kildare. This was a very competitive field as it was a qualifier for the World Duathlon Championships in Edinburgh later in the year. At the end of the first run a time of 10.01 gave Michael Black of the ‘24/7 club’ a ten second advantage over Adam Speer also from 24/7, with pre-race favourite Mark Doyle of Belpark only 2 seconds behind him. The bike section is quite challenging with two decent drags each side of Eadestown but this didn’t phase Mark Doyle who put in a 32.30 min bike leg to lead out of T2 with a 32 sec advantage over the hard chasing pair of Speer and Black. In the end it was Adam Speer who was the strongest and managed to hold off Michael Black’s determined challenge to take the win in a time of 56:01, with Mark Doyle finishing close behind in third.
The ladies section was just as competitive with Eilis Connery of Belpark leading the group into T1 in a time of 10:43, followed closely by Donna Mahon Wheelworx, Eimear O’Brien and Bronagh Ni Bhrian from Pirhanna. Unfortunately Eilis and Donna weren’t able to maintain their advantage on the bike and it was Eimear who led into the final run by less than 5 secs from Bronagh. In the end Eimear had judged her race to perfection and was able to stretch her lead to almost a minute from Bronagh with Eilish putting another good run to stay in contact and take third place. Home competitor, Marie Keane of Naas Tri Club, in her first full season in Triathlon came in a very creditable fifth in the Ladies section and could be a real contender in the future.
This race is not all about the elite performers however and the rest of the field were able to enjoy the beautiful surroundings and facilities of Punchestown racecourse. A great days racing for all with plenty more to look forward to as the series continues on 21st Feb and 14th Mar next. Well done to all who took part.
Ed Byrne
Race Director
Well we've had our first win of the year and January is barely out!
Eimear O'Brien, who has just returned from New Zealand on holidays for a few months, showed her excellent form when she won the first race of the Naas Duathlon Race Series last weekend.
Here's the race report from Naas:
Naas Duathlon Race Series
(sponsored by Wheelworx Bike and Tri Shop)
3.5k/20k/3.5k
Despite the foggy conditions 149 competitors turned up to take part in the now traditional ‘season opener’ run by Naas Triathlon Club at Punchestown racecourse in Kildare. This was a very competitive field as it was a qualifier for the World Duathlon Championships in Edinburgh later in the year. At the end of the first run a time of 10.01 gave Michael Black of the ‘24/7 club’ a ten second advantage over Adam Speer also from 24/7, with pre-race favourite Mark Doyle of Belpark only 2 seconds behind him. The bike section is quite challenging with two decent drags each side of Eadestown but this didn’t phase Mark Doyle who put in a 32.30 min bike leg to lead out of T2 with a 32 sec advantage over the hard chasing pair of Speer and Black. In the end it was Adam Speer who was the strongest and managed to hold off Michael Black’s determined challenge to take the win in a time of 56:01, with Mark Doyle finishing close behind in third.
The ladies section was just as competitive with Eilis Connery of Belpark leading the group into T1 in a time of 10:43, followed closely by Donna Mahon Wheelworx, Eimear O’Brien and Bronagh Ni Bhrian from Pirhanna. Unfortunately Eilis and Donna weren’t able to maintain their advantage on the bike and it was Eimear who led into the final run by less than 5 secs from Bronagh. In the end Eimear had judged her race to perfection and was able to stretch her lead to almost a minute from Bronagh with Eilish putting another good run to stay in contact and take third place. Home competitor, Marie Keane of Naas Tri Club, in her first full season in Triathlon came in a very creditable fifth in the Ladies section and could be a real contender in the future.
This race is not all about the elite performers however and the rest of the field were able to enjoy the beautiful surroundings and facilities of Punchestown racecourse. A great days racing for all with plenty more to look forward to as the series continues on 21st Feb and 14th Mar next. Well done to all who took part.
Ed Byrne
Race Director
Sunday, 24 January 2010
North West Tri Club
Hi everyone...Aoife Logan here.
From now on the race reports, pictures, results & news will appear here. It makes it easier for members, friends and the media to view what's happening for the up and coming season.
Enjoy and good luck.
Aoife
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