TriAthy 2009
My God that was a hot one! This year TriAthy managed to attract the sun and triathletes in equal measure - too much. Almost 2000 triathletes descended on Athy for this national series triathlon. Two triathlons, an Olympic distance and sprint triathlon were held on the same day. The organisers really must be congratulated for the smooth running of this event.
The swim course was afast downstream swim which produced a lot of very fast times. The bike was on closed roads and with so many people racing on the two lap course it wasn't long before huge bunches begun to form. The run was a tricky one with some tough and sometimes dangerous grass trails to run on. With the sun beating down hard it really made the run a struggle for most.
Eleven triathletes from the club took part.
First up on the day was the Olympic distance triathlon. Getting out of bed early to drive up for this race were Kevin Sherlock, Anthony Sherlock and Shane Scully. With the sun tan lotion on and a large crowd watching proceedings the lads managed to put in some fine performances. Shane Scully had a very solid race and placed well up the field in 16th position in a very fast time of 2 hr 1 min. Kevin Sherlock continues to improve and crossed the finish line in 2.22. Anthony Sherlock, who was looking to break the 3 hour mark in his first Olympic distance triathlon, just missed out on this time as he came home in a time of 3:02.
The sprint distance triathlon was contested by 8 Nenagh triathletes. Having waited all day to get into the water it was Graham O'Keeffe who was first home for the club in a great time of 1:08. Graham was closely followed by Ailbhe Carroll who won the female u/23 category. Brian O'Rourke performed very well in his first ever triathlon and was 3rd Nenagh person hone. He was followed by Paul Nevin, Patrick Kenneally, Brian O'Neill, Justin Cottrell and Shane Kelly who was unlucky to pick up a time penalty during the race.
Final positions of the Nenagh triathletes were-
Olympic Distance
- Shane Scully - 16th
- Kevin Sherlock - 207th
- Anthony Sherlock - 748th
-
Sprint Distance
- Graham O'Keeffe - 62nd
- Ailbhe Carroll - 83rd
- Brian O'Rourke - 118th
- Paul Nevin - 120th
- Patrick Kenneally - 151st
- Brian O'Neill - 228th
- Justin Cottrell - 336th
- Shane Kelly - 418th