O’Reilly & Fahy Win Round 3 at Up The Creek
The Triathlon National Series returned to Kilrush, Co. Clare for the first time since 2017 for Up the Creek sprint distance triathlon, organised by West Clare Triathlon Club.
The third round of the 2022 Triathlon National Series was won by Aichlinn O’Reilly and Kathryn Fahy, for full results see the Pop Up Races website here.
Some Strong Running
In the men’s event, Liquid Motion Tri’s Shane Dunne led out of the swim with the fastest swim of the field in an impressive 8:58 for 750m. Just over thirty seconds back, Predator TC’s Mathys Bocquet and Westport’s Aichlinn O’Reilly had 20 kilometres on the bike to close some of that gap, but that’s not how it played out.
Dunne added a further 1:20 lead on the bike course to hold the top spot into the second transition. Behind him, and just inside the top five at this point, Aichlinn O’Reilly came off the bike and onto the run chasing down those ahead of him.
With a blistering 15:44 over the five kilometres, last year’s National Series winner O’Reilly made his mark in his season opener to win in Kilrush.
Mathys Bocquet also put in one of the quicker run splits of the day to move up into second, Shane Dunne in third.
Fahy Leads from the Start
In the women’s event, Limerick Triathlon Club’s Kathryn Fahy lead from the start line to the finish line to take her first win of the 2022 season! The quickest swim and bike splits of the field meant that Fahy just had to hold on through the 5k run to top the podium.
Coming out of the water in second, Piranha’s Brianne Mulvihill held that spot throughout. Despite losing some time to Fahy on the bike course, a solid 20:08 run saw Brianne Mulvihill take the second step on the podium in a strong season opener.
Down the field after the first two sections, West Clare Triathlon Club’s Becky Coughlan displayed her run strength in her home race to weave her way through the field and into third place.
Shoutout to Murna Griffin O’Malley, moving through the field with a 19:00 run split to finish eventual fourth!
Images
Enjoy Michael Buckley’s full gallery of images from the afternoon’s racing on our website here.
