Race Report – Emmet O’Brien With December’s snow still on our mind, wondering if cross country skiing is the way forward in Ireland, it was great to get the 2011 race series started. The traditional season opener was a great success with over two hundred and thirty people competing in the excellent Punchestown venue. The Early morning fog began to lift as the large group of athletes registered and setup transition.
The crowd included many old friends who’ve made the Naas Tri club race series a part of their racing calendar, and a good few enjoying it for the first time, It was also a mix of level’s and ambitions from those out to race and win , to those trying to qualify for the Euro Championships right through to those who just want to try duathlon for the first time.
Paul Carroll led the way on the first run , entering T1 in a time of 10:12 , followed by a group of eight about 5 seconds back , Michael Black, Noel Kavanagh, Gavin Crawford, Bjorn Ludick, Adam Speer,Cian Delaney, Alex Donald, Mick Kavanagh. Before a minute had passed from Paul hitting T1 no less than 27 athletes had joined him .Michael Black was fasted through T1 in 42 seconds , Bjorn Ludick’s time of 49 seconds also saw him pass race leader Paul Carroll who was out in 58 seconds , The large crowd of Spectators, availing of the Punchestown stands which overlook Transition really get involved , and cheer everyone on and starting the bike the order was Michael Black ,Gavin Crawford, Bjorn Ludick, Paul Carroll, Noel Kavanagh ,Cian Delaney, Alex Donald, Adam Speer, Kevin Keane, Mick Kavanagh (Junior: 16-19) Bjorn Ludick posted the fasted Bike split to lead into T2 , followed by Alex Donald ,Kevin Keane ,Paul Carroll, Dave Duke of Naas Tri club & winner of the inaugural Motivate adventure race in 2010 put in a good bike section to head out onto the run in fifth , but had another 13 athletes less than 30 seconds behind him , that was the level of competition . On the second run Paul Carroll , posted the fastest run , followed by , ,Adam Speer ( a former winners of the event ), Michael Black, Noel Kavanagh,& Mark Serviss , but Bjorn Ludick time of 11.33, 6th fastest was enough to see him home for the win with Paul Carroll moving from 4th up to take 2nd from Alex Donald. In the women’s race Eilis Connery led into T1 with Bronagh Ni bhriain (former winner) in second followed by ,Tara Whyte, Marie Keane(Naas Triathlon Club ) & Adrienne Mc Carthy With the top two having the same t1 split it was onto the bike, with Bronagh posting the fastest bike split followed by Adrienne Mc Carthy ,Tamara Maxantova ,Julie anne Bowden & Eilis Connery rounding out the top five bike splits. Bronagh led onto the run & Eilis, thanks to her quick transition, went from having a second up on Adrienne entering t2 to having a 21 second lead at the start of the run over third place. The second run didn’t see the top three places change, the top five 2nd run splits where by Bronagh Ni bhriain ,Eilis Connery,Tara Whyte Marie Keane,& Adrienne Mc Carthy While Tara Whyte moved into 4th thanks to that good 2nd run. Marie Keane of Naas despite a nother good run and gaining ground didn’t catch Julie anne Bowden in 5th or Tamara Maxantova 6th but took a fine 7th place & an age group win. A BIG Thanks to everybody who helped out on the day – making this our best race yet. ?
Enter Race 2 (Feb 13) :
https://www.runireland.com/events/2011-04-02/naas-triathlon-club-duathlon-race-series-2-april
Enter Race 3 (March 13):
https://www.runireland.com/events/2011-03-14/naas-triathlon-club-duathlon-race-series-3
