Home News Predator Becomes Prey in Portrunny

Predator Becomes Prey in Portrunny

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from Sean Bailey (Irish Tri Club) Maedbh Hurst took the overall victory at the fourth and final triathlon in the Run Ireland mini tri series which took place in Portrunny on Saturday the 4th of October.

It is true to say that Maebh is a rising star and I am sure that the future holds great promise for her. She lead the race from the start and left second place girl Sarah Kelly from Irish tri with no response to her sublime performance. However Sarah who is only 11 years old can not be disappointed with her performance, as a first timer she has proved to be a future contender. In the boys race however there was a turnaround in fortune for Darragh Bailey from Irish tri as he took victory over Martin Mathews from Predator tri club. Darragh knew that he had to open up a decent lead on Martin before they got to the running section if he was to stand any chance of winning. Martin again emerged from the transition area ahead of Darragh but Darraghs experience on the bike showed through as he hunted down his prey within the first 100 meters opening up a gap of 30 seconds on the cycle. Darragh didn’t hang about in transition either knowing he still had the 1000m run ahead of him. At the finish line both of the boy’s mothers stood side by side as Darragh finished 4 seconds ahead of Martin, still the boys will have to wait until next year to even the score with the girls and take the overall victory. The sprint triathlon was one of the most difficult and technical from a cycling perspective and although the turnout was below what was expected 86 competitors took to the water at the start. The first to emerge from the water was Manuel Munoz from Spain who trains with Cork Tri Club with a lead of 46 seconds over John Loughlin from Galway, however over the 20km cycle john bridged the gap and returned to transition 1 minute and 11 seconds ahead of Manuel. Although the gap closed up over the run John managed to take the win by 12 seconds with a time of 1:13:22, second Manuel (1:13:34) and third Gerard Kenny from Setanta Tri (1:14:11) The first female through was Reilly Dibner with (1:19:55) second was Jean O’Connell (1:23:46) and third was Ailbhe Carroll (1:25:39) There were mixed emotions over the route of the cycle by some of the competitors as it definitely favoured the less aggressive cyclist. The first 10km was so technical the sprinters became frustrated as they could not get into any sort of rhythm and quite a few of them fell foul of the slippery conditions. Overall though the event received a great response and the weather held out just long enough to see it through to the finish. More info on the Official race website : www.sebfitness.com

8 COMMENTS

  1. Hi,

    Please be fair with your comments without exageration (20? I would love to contact all of them personally), to be exact with you 6 riders fell, and was 2 bad scars. None of the cyclist who fell were beginners.

    I wish you could acknowledge that the briefing was extremely clear and had been repeated to be very conscious about this sharp turn. I also personally spray the road with SLOW 25meter and 50meter before the 4 turns and crossing. There was also 30 Caution signs on the road, and marshalls.

    I do acknowledge that the course will need to be reviewed, and the course was decided with the local authorities which we have to follow. I do fully agree that more precautions will have to be taken from our side, and of course nobody wants athletes to fell off their bikes, especially from an organisational point of view.

    Finally these races are a fun events has repeated for the last few weeks, without any prizes to win or reach with a performance, they were not designed for racing, it was clearly stipulated that they were for promoting the sport and getting more people to try a triathlon.

    • A big thanks to all the organisers and volunteers who offered encouragment and support throughout the series especially last weekend when the rain decided to make the event more challenging. Looking forward to next year.

    • I don’t believe it matters whether the number was 6 or 20, there were 4 people attended to by the ambulence all with similar scars on arms and legs which I would describe as bad scars (I was one of them and 3 others who came by when I was there, all of us agreed the course was dangerous, there was also at least 4 others who came off as I met them along the way, they were not injured, one had some minor cuts) – I don’t know how many more but I’d have to guess it was double figures. I don’t beleive I was exaggerating but sure I don’t have the exact number but neither do the organisors clearly

      Anyway all that matters is that it continues to be a fun event and please do take this on board for next year. It was my fourth and last event of the year and it for me was a shame that I did not finish the course

      • I do appreciate your concern and one person is enough for me to make a serious review of the course and will work on this as discussed previously.

        I do believe numbers matters they all have to be considered in the review of each event (how many swimmers started, finished, who fell and when, how many people are happy and not etc….) When you organise an event comments always affect the people who read them and have an impact on the decision making of particpating the following year. I just want to make sure that facts are facts and relevant. Falling is not part of anybody objectives from the athletes or Race organiser perpective.

        Please be sure I will work on this, and will improve the route with the local authorities. I also appreciate your are taking the risks to discuss this which I am sure is not that easy. I would like you to come back next year make your experience more enjoyable.

  2. Hi,
    Just wanted to say that I participated in all 4 triathlons of the 25.5 series and really enjoyed them. They were really well organised and thankl you to all the marshalls and volunteers who always had a word of encouragement even for slow coaches like myself! I have to say that it was a really great idea to run the series a it was a great opportunity for a beginner like myself, and many others who took part, to have a go in a non-competitive environment a\nd hopefully we got better as each race went on, after my first race I stoped drying between my toes and got on with it!!!
    Well done Seb and all your helpers 🙂

    • I’d like to also say thanks to Seb and crew for this league. I only did two of them and the current in the Suck (Ballinasloe) nearly nailed me. Portrunny’s cycle was very technical but this was made very clear in the briefing at the start. I know the Gardai would not allow the event onto the main roscommon road. The bike is my strong point and I revelled in the tricky conditions as they were to my advantage. The bad bends were both marked and marshalled – you made your own choices after that. Seb and co spent hours marking the road the day before. a few riders fell, and were cut – we’ve all been there – oouch. I also saw a runner fall when the rain started. I hope all are recovered. The ambulance crew were great. Thanks Seb for your help afterwards also.