Irish Triathlon Championships – The Dooley TriAthy 2008 Top international triathletes and Ireland’s leading Olympic contenders will join a field of 1,500 competitors for the Irish Triathlon Championships this Saturday, in Athy, Co. Kildare. For top Irish triathletes Gavin Noble and Emma Davis, the road to Beijing leads through the Irish champs this weekend, onto the World Champs next weekend in Canada.
However our Olympic hopefuls won’t have it easy. The field for the Dooley TriAthy is stacked full of international talent. This includes
Spencer Smith (USA/UK): three times World Triathlon champion
Catriona Morrison (Scot): Current World Duathlon champion
Fraiser Cartmel (Scot): Current UK Ironman 70.3 triathlon champion
Richard Stannard (UK): Former World Aquathon champion and first out of the water at this year’s Europeans Triathlon champs.
The domestic competition will also be out in force as the Olympic Championships is the blue ribbon event on the Irish Triathlon circuit, not to mention for the €7,000 prize purse.
The rising stars this year are Aileen Morisson (NWTC) and Art MacManusa (Belpark Tri). Morrison started the season with a 3rd place in the NI cross-country championships and recently finished 6th in her first ever entry into a European Triathlon Cup race. MacManusa did his first race for the season only two weeks ago, but has pulled out three straight wins since then; Dublin Duathlon, Valentia Triathlon & Limavady Triathlon.
Defending Men’s Irish Champion; Brian Campbell is back to defend his title and started his season by winning his second straight NI cross-country championships, however his less than convincing win in the Limerick triathlon this month has raised some questions. Hot on Campbell’s heals will be the young guns of David Graham (3rd in TriAthy last year) and Junior Heffernan. They will using this as a stepping stone up to international competition. Trevor Woods, who broke the Irish Ironman Triathlon record last year, will never be far from the action. In short it’s too close to call.
Claire Connor, the defending TriAthy champion has already picked up two race wins this year. With her strong swim and bike, she is expected to be in the lead going into the run. Connor’s closest rival last year; Elena Maslova is in fantastic form on the bike this year. Maslova took 6minutes out of Morrison in Limerick earlier this month, so the tables may turn this year. Keira-Eva Mooney (Belpark Tri) is the local favourite. Mooney took home a bronze medal in the 25-29 age-group at last weekend’s European Duathlon Champs, so seems to have hit form at just the right time.
The Dooley TriAthy 2008 is divided into two triathlon events. The Dooley TriAthy Sprint is aimed at newcomers to the sport and comprises a 750m swim, 20km cycle and a 5km run. The Dooley TriAthy Olympic is aimed at Intermediate and Elite Triathletes and comprises a 1500m swim, a 40k cycle and a 10k run. Competitors can participate either as individuals, or on a relay team basis.
With almost 1500 competitors, the Dooley TriAthy will smash all previous records for an Irish triathlon, making it one of the biggest sporting events in the country. “It won’t take much more growth for TriAthy to have more Irish competitors than the Dublin Marathon”, says event director, Brian Crinion.
Over 500 years old and the focus of many battles and sieges in times past, historic White Castle in the centre of Athy will provide the backdrop for competition of a friendlier kind as competitors switch from one discipline to another as they emerge from the waters of the River Barrow underneath the castle walls and race through transition and onward to the cycle leg.
TriAthy 2008 takes place on Saturday 31st May 2008 next. For full details of the event, visit: www.triathy.com