The 3rd Vodafone National Series race of the season, run by the North West Triathlon club took place yesterday.
The pool based tri attracted a field of almost 200 with a number of familiar names battling it out for National Series points and podium places.
Letterkenny 24/7 was well represented, as is normally the case in Derry, 14 members completed the 750m swim, 20km bike and 5k run in and around the Templemore area of Derry.
Three of these were first time triathletes which is great news for the club and following on from the try-a-tri in previous weeks shows the continued development and progression of the club and its members.
At the business end of the race it was Paul Carroll from Belfast club Olympian that took the honours, setting a blistering pace and completing in just over the hour mark, in a time of 1.00.26.
Nick Fowell was the first of the Letterkenny club home in 20th place in a time of 1.08.42, a good result for Nick who has been doing steady work on the bike over the past number of weeks, and this seems to be finally paying off, with a couple good time trails under his belt also.
Paul Doherty made up some good time on his run, reeling in some positions lost during a mechanical failure on the bike when his chain came off. Paul finished in 32nd position and maybe could have got closer to Nick if his luck was in on the day.
Noelle Mollohan raced well finishing 7th in her age group, a great display on her return after having her first baby in the winter months.
Paul Dillion, Martin Donnelly, Tommy Hill all raced well in the firts full triathlon, while others such as Paul O Gara, Clint Doherty, Brain Ward, Finn Begley, Dennis Shields, Cathal Roarty, John Mc Daid and Paul Kelly battled hard and raced well in their respective age categories.
Next up the club members is the Roe Valley Triathlon this coming weekend in Limavady, were another group of the club’s first timers will be competing.