Letterkenny 24/7 Triathlon club has seen a considerable amount of growth in its membership over the past year or so and this was never so evident than in the past week, with numerous athletes heading off on their travels to compete in races the length and breath of the country.
Performances of the weekend have to go to two of our Junior members, Christine Russell and Orlaith Fogarty. The girls finished 1st and 3rd respectively in the Under 16 National Triathlon Championships in what was a very tight race and competitive field in Loughrea on Saturday afternoon. These two young ladies have been training very hard over the past year and deserve all the success they get.
Colin Dean headed to Sligo to compete in their sprint Triathlon finishing in a very credable 18th position. In Belfast, on Sunday Tommy Hill and Alan O Mahony took part in the Titanic Olympic Triathlon with both athletes performing well on the day. Alan picked up an age medal finishing third and Tommy will be delighted with his home town performance crossing the line in just over 1 hour 7 minutes, a new personal best at the sprint distance.
Pauric Mitchell took part in the Shadowman Half Ironman event in the Midlands town of Athlone at the weekend, finishing in a time of 5 hours and 20 minutes, while Gavin Crawford was a member of a relay team that competed in and smashed the relay team record for the full Ironman, also in Athlone. The team came home in 8 hours 52 minutes, while Gavin put in a great display on the bike, completing the 180km course in 5 hours 10 minutes.
On Sunday in the surroundings of the Lancashire town on Bolton, Damien Mc Goohan joined that small band of club members that have completed the full Ironman distance as a solo effort. Damien completed the 3.8km swim, 180km bike and 42km run in 13 hours 25 minutes.
The Castlefinn trio, of Clint Doherty, John Mc Daid and Paul Kelly travelled to Cavan to compete in their sprint distance race, with Clint doing very well and finishing just outside the top 30.
Pauric and Margret Kelly travelled to Loughrea along with Kevin Flangan at the weekend. In what was a very fast and competive field Margret put in a good performance to claim top spot in her age group.
On Monday evening Aidan Callaghan, Gavin Crawford and Paul Doherty travelled to the Creggan in Derry to compete in Northwest Triathlon Clubs Aquathon. All performed well in the 750m swim and 5k run, with Aidan winning the event, Gavin finished 4th and Paul came home in 7th.
Next up for the club and some of its members will be the Tri the Lough triathlon in Omagh this coming Saturday.