Triple Medal Haul for Para Triathletes

Ireland’s para triathletes have won three world cup medals following a series of fantastic performances at World Triathlon Para Cup Alhandra.

Mark Millar claimed silver in the men’s PTWC event, Donnacha McCarthy and guide Sean Husband won silver in the men’s PTVI race and Chloe MacCombe and guide Catherine Sands won a bronze medal in the women’s PTVI race.

The haul is the most successful outing ever for Ireland’s para triathletes and comes less than a week ahead of the biggest event of the season with the World Championships in Abu Dhabi.

Also racing over the weekend were Aidan McGlynn, who finished 8th in the men’s PTS4 event, Oliver Gunning with guide Stephen Teeling Lynch who came home 10th in the men’s PTVI race and Judith MacCombe who performed excellently with guide Anne Paul but was unfortunately disqualified for a technical infringement after she removed her helmet before racking her bike in T2.

Watch The Races Again

With thanks to Europe Triathlon, Triathlon Ireland was able to carry all the para triathlon events live on our facebook page – you can head in there and relive the action from the day, including Ireland’s medal winning performances.

You can also catch all the post race athlete interviews with subtitles on our YouTube page

Millar Does it Again

Mark Millar was first to take to the water on Saturday morning as he raced a strong field of athletes ranked ahead and within close reach of him in the men’s PTVI event.

The race was just Millar’s fifth international start but crucially also the site of his best result to date – when in 2020 he finished in second place.

Millar was in contention throughout the race on Saturday but had some work to do heading out on the run course. And that’s where he duly put the power down in his race chair and blitzed the field to complete the quickest split of the day.

Coming from behind, Millar overhauled a series of competitors, only catching third placed Howie Sanborn with a clinical move in the final few hundred metres of the race to claim silver by two seconds and with it, repeat his result from 2020.

McCarthy Does the Three-peat

Ireland’s second medal came from Donnacha McCarthy, who has now stood on an elite podium no fewer than three times this season.

A 9mins 41secs swim left McCarthy and guide Sean Husband in 9th place heading on to the bike but that’s where they began to show their prowess, overtaking six competitors to come in to T2 in third place. The pair ran the second quickest split of the field to comfortably claim second place by almost four minutes.

At the finish line, McCarthy said the work he had done at home paid off:

“Yeah, very tough conditions. You know, similar to what we train to back home. So it’s we had a good swim. Really good work, really hard on the bike and look, we just brought it home on the run, really. So it’s just a good race all round.”

MacCombe Wins First International Medal

Ireland’s third medal came from newcomer Chloe MacCombe, who in only her second international start, won the bronze medal in the women’s PTVI race.

MacCombe and her guide Catherine Sands came out of the water in 4th before put themselves in to medal contention on the bike, posting the quickest split of the day that saw them finish comfortably in third place in a time of 1hr 11mins 30secs.

Tilley – Results a Stepping Stone to Paris

Triathlon Ireland’s Para Triathlon Technical Director, Eamonn Tilley said while results were fantastic in their own right, they also mark an important stepping stone in the development of many of the athletes.

“It’s about consistency of training, they got the timing right and and prepared well and we really want to use these results as a launch pad for the Paralympics in 2024.

Five of the athletes who raced Alhandra now head to Abu Dhabi and the World Championships on Friday and Eamonn Tilley said their performances on Saturday will give them extra confidence as they compete on the biggest stage of para triathlon.

“It’s the World Championships so it’s a good chance to show the world where we are at, but it’s a much higher level of competition. If you can go away from a World Championship with a top ten, it speaks volumes.”