IRELAND’S LEADING TRIATHLETES came to town to battle on the Donegal roads and set a blistering pace boasting Letterkenny’s course as the fastest course in the country.
In the National Series standard distance duathlon race winner and previous lrish champion Paul Carroll from Olympian triathlon club finishing in one hour 50 minutes for the 10km run – 40km bike – 5km run stated: “That’s one honest course. You really have to work it from the gun, there’s nowhere to hide. It’s a brilliant super fast course.”
Killian Heery finished second in 1:50:22 and Gavin Corey was third in 1:52:45.
Best of the Letterkenny 24/7 Triathlon Club participants was the current National Series champion Aidan Callaghan, who is just back to the sport recovering from a sustained illness over the winter months.
There was also a stand out performance came from local athlete Danny Mooney, who posted the fastest 10km and fastest 5km runs.
In the ladies category in the same National Series standard distance race, local athlete Siobhan Gallagher (pictured above by Geraldine Diver) was the overall winner in 2:17:28 after fighting a hotly contested battle with seasoned athlete Hannah Shields who finished with 2:17:48.
The second race of the day was the shorter sprint distance of 3.2k run – 20km bike – 3.2km run and what a battle it was with an open field of 83 athletes.
The winner was Sean Cosgrove in a time of 53 minutes and six seconds followed closely by Odhran McKane in 53:46.
Best local 247 triathlete in an impressive time of 58:35 and finishing in seventh place in his first outing as a duathlete was Jason King.
The first lady in the sprint duathlon was Sonia Nox in a time of one hour and 10 seconds followed into second was Catherine woods 1:02:42. And a highly impressive third place from 24/7’s Evelyn Boyle in 1:07:16.
An outstanding result came in from 16-year-old junior triathlete and winner from last year’s ‘Tri a Tri’ in the form of Laura Black, winning First Junior lady and coming sixth overall in 1:10:05.
It was an incredible event today showing the fantastic sporting spirit as newbies to the sport gave an incredible account of them selves with ground breaking steps in competing in there first ever duathlon and later triathlons as the season continues.
The 247 triathlon club would like to thank their sponsors – The Kitchen and the Aura Leisure Centre for financially supporting today’s event. Thank you to the travelling competitors and supporters and finally to the general public for been patient and caring as we collectively shared our roads today.
Please click on the first photograph to see Geraldine Diver’s photo gallery …
