Crooked Lake Triathlon was the venue for the 2014 Sprint Distance National Championships with some 600 competitors taking to the start line. None
Many of the leading competitors were off in wave one and it was clear to see the standard was high as competitors blazed through the opening 750m swim. World Triathlon Series regular Ben Shaw was first out of the water in 8:37 however there were a host of other top swimmers in close contention. James Edgar emerged from the water in 8:45 with Rory Sexton in 8:55.
In the women’s race Aoife Fay exited the 750m swim after 9:56, Carolyn Hayes in 9:56 with Katie Cooke a further 30 seconds back.
Onto the testing 20km bike and Ben Shaw in the men’s race extended his lead with a savage 26:52 bike split. Katie Cooke in the women’s race began to haul back the leaders passing them within the opening kilometres and went on to pull out a nice advantage. She would go on to win making it 3 national sprint championship titles in a row. Carolyn Hayes came home 2nd in a time of 1:04:08, 30 seconds behind Cooke. TI Junior Squad member Aoife Fay was delighted with her 3rd place finish in a time of 1:06:18.
Ben Shaw would further extend his lead in the men’s race to win in a new course record of 54:08. Rory Sexton put in a great all-round performance finishing in 56:32 and 2nd place with Aidan Callaghan rounding out the top 3 in a time of 56:56.
Congratulations to all the finishers and age group medallists.
Article taken from Triathlon Ireland.
