Hall of Fame

DISCOVER OUR HALL OF FAME HEROES

Gerard (Ger) Hartmann – 2017 

Ger Hartmann won seven Irish national triathlon titles between 1984 and 1991. He also finished 24th at the IRONMAN World Championships, Hawaii in 1985. Gerard has represented Ireland on the world stage at World and European Triathlon Championships and is also a founding member of Limerick Triathlon Club and of Kilkee Triathlon, Hell of the West.

In 1997, Hartmann founded Hartmann International Sports Injury Clinic and proceeded to become one of the country’s best Physical Therapists having worked with numerous Olympians and international sports stars.

Gerard Hartmann was inducted in to the Triathlon Ireland Hall of Fame in 2017

Ann Kearney – 2017

In can be argued that Ann Kearney paved the way for women in Irish sport, racing at elite level while being a mother. Ann began in triathlon at the sport’s inception in Ireland in the early 1980’s. Amazingly, she was nine times national champion between 1986 and 1996.

Her run of national titles began when Ann was in her late thirties and she continued to dominate the sport well into her fifth decade. Ann passed away from cancer in 2004, two years before her daughter and High Performance athlete, Caroline was tragically killed by a motorist while training on her bike.

Ann is survived by her husband Frank and daughter Edith, who collected the award on Ann’s behalf at the 2017 Triathlon Ireland Annual Awards Night.

Desmond (desi) McHenry – 2018

Desi McHenry has been involved in triathlon since the sports beginnings here in Ireland, and was Triathlon Ireland’s (then the Irish Triathlon Association) first president in 1984. 

Desi competed in his first triathlon at Craigavon in 1982 and quickly gained a reputation as one of Ireland’s strongest athletes on the bike and run.

Desi completed five IRONMAN Triathlons, including Kona in 1985 where he finished in an impressive 10hrs 35mins.

Desi is still as competitive as ever and races internationally in the 75- 79 age group, and still winning medals! A member of Olympian Triathlon Club, he is a true legend of the sport.

Desi McHenry was inducted in to the Triathlon Ireland Hall of Fame in 2018.

Aileen Reid is Ireland’s most successful triathlete with long and impressive list of race results to her name.

Reid represented Ireland 75 times at international level, including two Olympic Games and one Commonwealth Games.

She was ranked inside the top ten triathletes in the world for three consecutive years and remains the only Irish athlete to podium at a World Series ITU event.

In total Reid appeared on the podium of 14 ITU races and won a silver medal at the ITU World Triathlon Grand Final 2013 in London.

Reid retired from international competition in 2017 and was inducted in to the Triathlon Ireland Hall of Fame in 2019. At the ceremony her peers and fellow Olympian’s Bryan Keane and Gavin Noble paid tribute to Reid’s enormous talent and her mental strength which she deployed to constantly improve her abilities until she reached world class level.

Reid’s former coach and former Triathlon Ireland high performance director Chris Jones said it had been a delight to work with Aileen, who he praised for maximising what she had. “I can only thank you for my opportunity to work with you… it was a privilege and an honour to be part of that.”

Aileen, who now lives in Australia, was unable to attend the awards but was represented by Dermott Connolly from NorthWest TC. 

Con O’Callaghan is one of the pioneers of triathlon in Ireland and instrumental in the establishment of both Triathlon Ireland and the European Triathlon Union.

After organising the first multi-sport event (a bike-swim-bike-swim-run race!) on the Island of Ireland in 1982, Con called a meeting in Belfast with the aim of formulating the Northern Irish Triathlon Association. Because all but one of the 38 participants were from the north, the original intention of this meeting was to form a Northern Irish sporting body.

However, when the lone participant from south of the border – Gerry Kelly – asked if the South could be incorporated into the body, Con O’Callaghan agreed to drop the word ‘Northern’ from the title and the all-island, Irish Triathlon Association was born.

But Con was not just known for his powers or organisation – he was also a very active triathlete at a time when the sport was in its infancy. He competed in the very first European Triathlon Championships in 1985 and was a fixture at racing across Ireland throughout the 1980s and 90s.

Con, who is now in his 80s, was presented with his Hall of Fame award at the 2019 Triathlon Ireland Awards Night by ETU President Renato Bertrandi.

Our thanks to Tony Bagnall and his book The Irish Triathlete for providing source material on Con O’Callaghan.