from Triathlon Ireland website The Derry City Council joined forces with the Northwest Triathlon Club this year incorporating the Liam Ball triathlon into the Northwest Sprint Triathlon, which was held last Sunday 4th May at the Templemore Sports Complex. Raced over a shorter distance than the traditional Liam Ball triathlon, athletes had to swim 750m, before exiting the Complex for a 20 km bike ride out to Newtoncunningham, and back, before completing the event with a 5km run on the cycle paths around the Complex grounds.
City of Derry swimmer Adam Mc Nulty was the fastest swimmer to cover the 30 lengths of the pool in his first triathlon, but it was Northwests Colm Quigley who was first through transition and out on to the bike course. Determined to put as much ground between him and some the other race favorites, and run specialists coming behind such as Newry’s Peter Savage, Olympians Graham Barr, and Northwests Sean Mc Fadden and Gary O Donnell, Colm extended his lead by posting the fastest bike split of the day in 31:50 .
Peter Savage, came from behind in the swim leg to pass Gary O Donnell on the bike course, and then followed this by posting the fastest run time of the day in 17:01, passing Sean Mc Fadden and Graham Barr, but was unable to catch Quigley, who won his second Liam Ball in a row in a time of 1:01:40. Peter Savage came home in second spot in a time of 1:04:00, Olympians Graham Barr taking the last podium position 16 seconds behind. Sean Mc Fadden came home 4th in 1:05:09. Northwest Jarlath Fearon out sprinted club mate Paul Mc Connellogue in the finishing straight to win the mens veterans race in 1:07:47 and 8th position overall. Queens University tri clubs Shannon Connolly in his first triathlon won the under 25 section in a time of 1:08:07.
In the womens race, Northwest Eimear O’ Brien lead out of the pool, but closely followed by Tri-UK’s Joanne Doran. Triangle Tri’s Kay Hack put in a strong bike leg to pass Doran and narrow O’ Brien’s lead. The fast moving physio is know for her run speed though and was able to pull away again, to finish comfortably with nearly a ninety second lead over Kay in a time of 1:09:45. Kay Hack took second position with a time of 1:11:08, and Joanne Doran taking third position. Triangles Alison Rankin took the female vets race title with her 1:19:27 time.
