Race Preview
This year’s North Tipp Sprint is looking like being the most competitive North Tipp Sprint yet. With the race having become part of Triathlon Ireland’s national series, many of Ireland’s top triathletes have added this race to their race calendar for 2010.
In the men’s event we have a host of top triathletes from around the country. If the estimated race times are to be believed (probably not!) then we will have 6 triathletes breaking the 1 hour mark for the course. We would have an amazing 22 triathletes breaking the course record of 1:07:45 set by Tadhg Cronin in 2007. Last year’s event was only a 500m swim and the record for that was set by David Tunney in a time of 1:01:09.
Men's Senior Title
The likely favourite for this year’s Men’s Senior title will be Conor Murphy from Portadown. Conor is one of Ireland’s top triathletes and will be hard to beat on the day. He will face some stiff competition from the Limerick duo of Colm Turner and Michael Yelverton and last year’s race winner David Tunney. Biting hard on their heels will be Shane Scadding, Andrew Kavanagh, Louis Kelleher, and Ciaran O'Sullivan. As usual there will be a strong Limerick triathlon club presence at this year’s event. This race within a race will feature Colm Turner, Michael Yelverton, Michael O’Brien, Alan Buckley, David Richardson, Darragh Dunne, and Michael Casey O’Shea all featuring in the top 15 come the end of the race.
Women's Senior Title
The favourite for the Women’s Senior title will be Elena Maslova. Elena is the current Irish triathlon champion. She also won that title in 2007 and 2008. Elena will surely feature very high up in the overall results. The question is how many top male contenders will she beat??? Back to defend the title she won last year is Limerick’s Lynne Algar. Lynne had a fantastic race last year and will hope to do just as well this year. Another previous champion, Lisa Horgan, will also be taking part. Lisa last won the event in 2007 and is making a welcome return after having 2 kids. Also, hoping to feature highly in this year event will be Paula Murray, Amy O’Donovan, Fionnuala Ni Bhradaigh, and Toni Cowzer.
First Nenagh Triathlete
The North Tipp Sprint awards a perennial cup to the first Nenagh triathlete to cross the finishing line each year. This cup has been won for the last 2 years by Darren Nevin. Darren will surely be one to look out for this year. Out for revenge will be Michael Brown who lost out on the cup by only 11 seconds last year. Other Nenagh triathletes who might have a chance of winning this year’s cup are Darren Scully, Sean Gleeson, and Edward O’Meara.
If the weather is anywhere near as good as it was last year then I am sure we are in for one heck of a race. So let the best man / woman win!