Carr Wins Pulse Port Beach Super Series

Carr Wins Pulse Port Beach

Elizabeth Carr continued her superb season by claiming her second Super Series victory of 2017 at a blustery and challenging Pulse Port Beach triathlon in Clogherhead, Co Louth.

In just her second full season of triathlon, Carr stamped her authority on the race, swimming and running quicker than any other athlete to cross the line with a minute to spare. 

How the Race Unfolded

Eleven athletes entered the water for the women’s Super Series race, which was notable for the absence of pre-race favourite Heather Foley.

Two Provinces winner Elizabeth Carr stamped her authority on the race from the start, pulling clear and coming in to T1 five seconds clear of the strong swimming trio of Jemma Speers, Laura Wylie, and Emma Jane Sharkey.

As she was to reveal afterwards however, the wet and windy course presented challenges to Carr and she was unable to stick with Wylie, Speers and Sharkey on the bike. The result was that she came in to T2 more than 40secs behind this leading trio.

Ryan and Gallagher Come From Behind

At this stage it appeared that the only racing question was which of the podium spots each of the leading trio would take, but things were to change dramatically on the 5km run with Carr running the quickest split of 16mins 58secs – more than a minute quicker than any other athlete – to close the gap on Wylie and Speers and move in to the lead. There was more exceptional running from the Caron Ryan and Maeve Gallagher which put both women in to contention for the top spots.

Carr Wins, Wylie 2nd

In the end Carr won impressively in 1hr 5mins 15secs – more than a minute clear of the rest of the field.

Wylie claimed a comfortable second place in 1hr 6mins 17secs but behind her a fierce battle for the final podium spot was underway with Emma Jane Sharkey retiring and Maeve Gallagher, Jemma Speers and Caron Ryan all finishing within 20secs of one another.

In the end it was Gallagher who made it over the line first of the trio for a superb third place finish in a breakthrough performance that came one day before her 16th birthday.

Women’s Results