2017 Triathlon Ireland Vodafone National Series Round Up
Duathlon
2017 was an excellent year for Waterford TC in Duathlon. A very small but very accomplished team of Triathletes put their stamp on the TI Duathlon National Series this year.
First and foremost a massive congratulations to the Club's ITU Elite Triathlete Kieran Jackson. Kieran became 2017 Duathlon Irish National Champion when he won a great race, stacked with a quality field, when Predator TC held the national championship. Although used to wearing the green of Ireland on many occasions, Kieran strode to national victory in the Waterford TC club colours in what was a fine personal achievement for him and a proud day for the Club. Similarly, an excellent result for Emmet Kelly, no stranger to the podium himself, finishing 3rd in his AG and 10th overall. In the women's National Championship race Sandra Rellis put in a very strong performance for the Club coming across the line in 5th place in her AG matching John Hayden’s 7th in his AG.
To qualify for the Duathlon National Series points rankings, the requirement was to complete the Duathlon National Championship race and any two other Duathlon National Series races.
Both Emmet Kelly and John Hayden put in fantastic races in the series. Emmet scored a 1st place and a 3rd place in his two other races to score a 3rd Place Overall and 1st Place in his AG in the country in the Duathlon Series. John Hayden followed up an excellent 2016 series with an equally good 2017 series and his Age Group winning performance in Naas helped him 3rd Place in his AG and 13th Place Overall in the country in the Duathlon Series.
Elsewhere Martin Kirwan put in his usual strong performance and helped himself to an AG 1st Place and 15th Place Overall in the Naas Duathlon Series – Men’s Race 1. In the same duathlon Siobhan Kennedy took home 1st Place in AG and 5th Place Overall in the Women’s race. Bernard Keane put in a fine performance and secured himself an AG 3rd Place in the Battle of Ballinspittle Duathlon Series race.
Well done to Kieran and all of the Club Duathletes this season!
Triathlon
The 2017 Standard Distance Triathlon Irish National Championship was held near Mullingar by Midland TC. The race took place in the excellent Caroline Kearney Memorial Triathlon. The race conditions were near perfect on the day and 5 members of Waterford TC competed in the men’s race on the day. The men’s National Championship was won by Irish ITU Elite Triathlete Con Doherty. Eoin Lyons took a break from his middle distance exploits and put in a tremendous performance narrowly coming home in 4th Place Overall, equalling his placing in 2016 in Kilkee. However, Eoin’s strong performance on the day put him in 1st Place in his AG thus becoming a 2017 AG National Champion. Shane Scadding, as always, put in a classy performance and finished in the top 40 Overall and won 2nd Place in his AG coming home just 44 seconds behind his AG winner. Well done also to Aubrey Storey, Tom Casey and Greg Holden who all put in strong performances for the Club on the day.
The Middle Distance National Championship took place in September in Kenmare with Cork TC’s iconic Lost Sheep race. Shane Scadding, Tom Casey, Michael Foley and Darrell Evans were the Club’s representatives on the day. The men’s Middle Distance National Championship was won by Charles Maltha. As ever Shane Scadding put in a fantastic performance coming home in 13th Place Overall and 1st in his AG and thus was crowned as a 2017 Middle Distance Triathlon AG National Champion. Another stellar performance by Tom Casey, in what has been a great season for Tom, securing a 2nd Place in his AG. Michael Foley and Darrell Evans also put in very strong performances on the day. Darrell secured a superb 4th Place in his AG and missed out on a podium spot by a mere 26 seconds over the 5 hour plus race!
The 2017 National Championship Youth Triathlon was held in Loughrea and hosted by Predator TC over the August Bank Holiday weekend. In what were very tough wet and windy conditions in Loughrea, Waterford TC’s Conor McDonagh stormed home to 9thPlace in his 14-15 Age Group race. Conor can be seen regularly burning up the course in Junior races around the South East and no doubt we will see more of him in action next season. Well done Conor. Watch out Kieran and Eoin!
A big well done to Conor and all the National Championship triathletes this season!
To qualify for the Vodafone Triathlon National Series points rankings, the requirement was to complete at least one standard distance, one sprint distance any two other NS races. We had no Women’s team in the Vodafone Club Series this season unfortunately. There are many members competing in the Women’s races and if any would like to compete in the NS races next season please let the Club know. The Men’s Vodafone Club Series team required six men to compete in 4 NS races each but the Club failed to do this and had only 5 qualified men at the end of the season. Waterford TC thus dropped to 18th in the 2017 Mens’s Club Series following a 10th Place ranking in 2016 and a podium clinching 3rd Place in 2015. Top of the points list for Waterford TC this season was Peter Barry. Bernard Keane, Tom Casey, Aubrey Storey and Greg Holden made up the rest of the Club Series team for 2017. Please let the Club know if you intend doing the National Series next season so that we may get the Club ranking back to the dizzy heights it is generally accustomed to.
Many of the Club’s members competed in one or more of the National Series races this season and there were some fantasic results achieved individually.
Early in the season in Tri795’s Carlow Triathlon David Devine had a brilliant race and took 3rd in his AG and 16th overall while Tom Casey came 4th in his AG. Following from 2016, Peter Barry and Bernard Keane continued their battles with each other in 2017 and met in Kilrush in early June with 4th and 5th Places in their AG respectively and Top 20 finishes overall. Peter and Bernard went head to head again in The Two Provinces race in July in Lanesboro with Bernard putting in a savage run split and overtaking Peter to earn 4th and 7th Places in the AG and 22nd and 30th respectively Overall. Bernard followed up with an AG 6th Place and 32nd Overall in Loughrea and an AG 4thPlace and 27th Overall in the massive Dublin City Triathlon. Clearly Bernard’s “I’m too busy with work, I can only train 2 hours per week and I’ve never run over 10k” regime is working wonders for him resulting in an 11th Place in AG (7th in 2016!) and 54th Place Overall (22nd in 2016!) in the country in the National Series. Aubrey Storey joined Bernard in DCT and put in a terrific performance to come home in 45th Place Overall in what is probably the largest field in any race this season.
Earlier in the Summer Maggie Murphy, Noel Hayes and Greg Holden attemped a Jailbreak from Spike Island to Cobh. With its wicked currents conquered, Maggie Murphy sailed into 7th Place in her AG, a great result for Maggie on the day. A week earlier in Kilkee, Peter Barry ripped up the course in the Hell of the West with a Top 20 finish Overall and 4th in his AG. Peter wrapped up his National Series season in September with a 2nd Place in AG and 18th Overall in Pulse TC’s Port Beach Triathlon in Clogherhead. Peter was Waterford TC’s highest scoring NS Triathlete of 2017 and finished 9th in his AG and 45th Overall in the country in the Triathlon Ireland Vodafone National Series. Well done Peter. It now looks like Bernard will have to up his training programme to 3 hours per week to catch Peter next season. There have been reports that Peter’s season highlight was in Kilkee when a young Clare GAA supporter, upon seeing Peter running in his Waterford TC gear, cheered him on saying “C’mon Waterford, C’mon Austin Gleeson”.
At the back end of the season the Club had a great turn out for South Coast TC’s Moby Dick triathlon in Youghal. It was a ‘blustery’ day but there was plenty of fun to be had. While Waterford TC Juniors John Foley and Conor McDonagh did their stuff earlier in the day the Adults NS race kicked off at 2pm. A good spread of competitors from the club were there. Jack Flynn, Martin Flynn, Fiona Holland, Elaine Mullan, Noeleen McCarthy, Maeve Kennealy, Michael Power, Jamie Cleary, David Keating, Tom Casey, Greg Holden, Aubrey Storey, Michael Bowes and Paul Ogle all rocked up for the start with varying ambitions for the race which boasted about 400 triathletes. Jack Flynn came in in 6th Place in his AG16-17 and more importantly beat his Dad, Martin by 1 second. Well done Jack. Elaine Mullan and Fiona Holland, serial finishers on the AG Podium, had tougher days than usual with Fiona cruising home in 10th Place in her AG and Elaine unfortunately had to withdraw from the race earlier. No doubt order will be restored next season and we will see Elaine and Fiona back on the podium for Waterford TC. Maeve Kennealy sailed home with a 12th in her AG Place, well done Maeve, and Aubrey Storey put in another solid performance finishing in 46th Place Overall. Tom Casey capped of a great season for him with a 2nd Place in AG. Well done Tom. Tom is hopefully going to share his secret of success with fellow Club members for 2018 having competed in Sprint, Standard, Middle and Long Distance triathlons in 2017. Two men who could develop repetitive strain injuries from stepping on and off the podium are Paul Ogle and Michael Bowes. Michael took 3rd Place in AG and his class prevailed to bring him home in 28th Place Overall. Paul put in another signature performance of his and was right up there at the finish line coming across in 5th Place Overall and 1st Place in AG. Rumour has it that Paul and Michael will be extending their Living Rooms over the Winter months to accommodate their ever expanding prize collections.
A very big thank you to Helen Whyte and Damien Jackson for the many memorable photos over the season.
Well done to all of the Club’s National Series triathletes this season!
Happy Training.