Posted: August 3, 2004

Triathlon: Action Packed Weekend for Irish Triathlon

Irish triathlon had a strong field in the London Triathlon, the biggest triathlon in the world with over 8000 entrants. Eoin O'Connell from Cork, who was Irish Triathlon Champion in 1996 and 1997, beat a strong field of over 400 to win the Sub 2hr 30min Category outright. We had 7 athletes in the Elite section, of whom Caroline Kearney,23, from Dublin had her best International finish, coming in in 7th place.

The World Age-Group Long Distance Duathlon Champs were also held on Sunday. Sheila Power (who resides in Wisconsin,USA) got a gold medal in the female 45-49 category. (A picture of Sheila is attached from the World Short Corse Champs in Belgium where she came 6th, she is on the right, Tara Nolan is on the left)

On the National front, Race 6 of our National Series was held in Castlewellan Co. Down. It was won by Brian Crinion of Dublin with his clubmate Liam Dunne a close second. Trudy Brown won the female section, winning the race her own club run. The result does not knock Trevor Woods or Anna Frankland off the top of the leaderboard. The next race in the Series is the Michelob Ultra Lough Neagh Triathlon on August 14th, it also incorporates the last International Cup race before the Olympics which will see the worlds best race on our shores as a warm up.

Results
Sunday Aug 1st - London International Triathlon 
(1500m Swim, 40k Cycle, 10k run)

Female Elite
1. A. Whitcombe 1.59.12
2. L Blatchford 1.59.38
3. J Harrison 2.01.45
Irish
7. Caroline Kearney 2.04.51
13. Julie Murphy 2.10.31
14. Heather Wilson 2.11.51
16. Christine Johnson 2.15.41 

Male Elite
1. B. Docherty 1.46.18
2. F. Belaubre 1.46.29
3. S. Hayes 1.46.43
Irish
29. Gavin Noble 1.55.13
33. Brian Campbell 1.56.00
36. Trevor Woods 1.56.54 

Sub 2.30
1st Eoin O' Connell 2.00.55 

A handfull of Irish competitors took part in the London Triathlon at Londons Docklands, but boy did they make an impression!

Caroline Kearney finished 7th in the Elite female competition. Julie Murphy, Christine Johnson and Heather Wilson also had excellent performances.

Andrea Whitcome won the elite female title.

Gavin Noble, Brian Campbell and Trevor Woods all had good races in the highly competitive elite male division, which was won by the current world champ, Bevan Doherty.

Eoin O'Connell finished 1st in the Olympic sub 2:30 category out of 400 competitors in a time of 2:00:25 sec.

Sunday Aug 1st - Duathlon LD Age-Group World Championship, Frederica, Denmark 
(20k Run, 120k Cycle, 10k Run)

1st Sheila Power IRL 45-49Cat  6.38.51 
10th Gerard Deegan IRL 35-39Cat  5.58.01 
25th Lloyd Berry IRL 40-44Cat  6.23.33 

Sat. July 31st -Mourne Triathlon - Castlewellan, Co. Down
(1000M Swim, 32K Cycle, 8K Run)

Male
1. Brian Crinion (Belpark) 1.35.16
2. Liam Dunne (Belpark) 1.36.29
3. Peter Savage (Hi-Elbow) 1.36.40 
4. Ray Glynn (Galway) 1.37.21
5. Thomas Elliot (Belfast) 1.37.34

Female
1. Trudy Brown (Olympian) 1.44.04
2. Lisa Higgins (Limerick) 1.46.12
3. Anne-Paul (Triangle) 1.46.51
4. Emma Quirke (3Dtri) 1.50.53
5. Claire Connor 1.55.08

Upcoming Races

Weds Aug 4th
Dublin City Duathlon, Phoenix Park, Dublin
2mile Run, 10 mile Cycle, 2 mile Run,
Start 7.45pm
Registration 7pm.
Contact: Brian Crinion
Email: briancrinion@o2.ie
Ph: 087 9257682
Web: www.tsunamitri.com

Sat. Aug 14th
Michelob Ultra Lough Neagh Triathlon, Ballyronan.
1500m Swim, 40k Cycle, 10k run
Start 10am
web www.loughneaghtri.com

From: Wes Murphy, Irish Triathlon