Lisburn Sprint Plus

It’s been a busy week for the members of the triangle triathlon club. On the 26th of July 7 members traveled to Lisburn to compete in Lisburn sprint distance triathlon and aquathlon. The triathlon was over a distance of 30 length pool swim, a 12 mile cycle and then a 3 mile run. With 4 athletes taking part in the triathlon, the first home was Bernie Gribben in a time of 1 hr 13 mins. Bernie is training hard with her sights set on qualifying for the European triathlon championships being held in Athlone next year in July and then the world championships a few months later. Next home for the triangle club was Dougy Finlay with a fantastic time of 1hr 16mins. This is Dougys’ first year in triathlon, and considering he only learnt to do the front crawl a few months ago he started of with a brilliant time for his first event in Lisburn. Setting a new personal best time was Teresa Hastings with 1 hr 27mins taking over 6 mins off her time from last year. Also taking part was John O’ Neil with a blistering time if 1 hr 28mins. John has also taking part in quite a few other events this year, shorter distance triathlons and even competed in the Irish aquathlon championships earlier this year. John has really taken to triathlon like a duck to water and will certainly be one to watch in the future.
Along side the triathlon there was also an aquathlon which consisted in swimming 8 lengths of the pool and then running 1500 meters. We had three athletes taking part in this. The youngest was Patrick O Neil taking part in the male under 10s with a time of 12min 23 sec. Like his brother john, Patrick has also taken part in loads of other events this year and is really enjoying every minute of it. Tori Hastings competing in the female under 12s finished in a time of 12 min 58 sec. While older sister Robyn Hastings taking part in the female under 14s finished with a time of 13 min 54 sec. While being reluctantly entered into the aquathlon by their mum Teresa Tori and Robyn told me that they really enjoyed the event and can’t wait to compete next year again.

Meanwhile on the 29th of July in the ski resort of l'Alpe d’Huez in france Anne Paul and Kay hack were preparing to take part in the Alpe d’Huez long distance triathlon. The event started of with a 2.2km swim in Lac du Vernay, followed with 115km cycle and then a 21km run to finish. As it turned out the swim was the easy part. The cycle had 2 monstrous climbs on it long before they even went near the slopes up to Alpe d’Huez. The climb up to Alpe d'Huez is approximately 12 mile long and regularly features in the Tour de France and its steep slopes can strike fear into the hearts of even professional cyclists like Lance Armstrong. After the cycle there was still a 21km half marathon to do at 1800 meters above sea level. All this to be done in 30 plus degree heat but both women finished strong with Anne finishing first in a time of 9 hrs 9 mins and Kay finishing in a time of 9 hrs 18 mins.

With the world’s largest triathlon being held in London last Sunday we only had 2 triangle triathletes taking part. Darren Cheevers competing in his second only triathlon decided to take on the 1 mile swim, 25mile cycle and the 6 mile run around London. He had hoped to finish the race in less than 3 hours but with having a disastrous swim and getting kicked several times during the swim he finished in a time of 3 hr 15 min. Also competing was Gabriel Muldoon. This was Gabriel’s first time racing at this distance and he finished in a blistering time of 2 hr 32mins.

Last but not least our very own club chairman Peter Jack was in Kalmar in Sweden to race in what he says is his 10th and final Ironman. In all the weeks and months leading up the event Peter has been plagued with injury after injury. But he still managed to complete the 2.5 mile swim, 112 mile cycle and the 26.2 mile run in an amazing time of 13 hrs 24 mins. Peter you continue to inspire us all and the day you retire from competing in the ironman is the day the Irish cricket team win the ashes.