Hazelwood Super Series Preview

The Super Series heads to Sligo this weekend for round four of the country’s premier triathlon competition.

Met Eireann are promising warm and humid conditions which will make what looks to be a superb course even more enjoyable for competitors as the Super Series athletes tackle a technical and varied Sprint Distance draft legal triathlon and the Age Group triathletes take on a tough but very scenic Olympic distance race.

The Course

Sligo Triathlon Club are justifiably excited about their new course, which is based around Lough Gill close to the town centre.

According to race director David Gormley, the swim should be fast: “It’s a very sheltered bay unless and you get the wind coming from the south it will be pan-flat. The Super Series athletes will do one lap of the swim course and the the Olympic distance racers will be doing two loops.”

“The bike course for the Olympic distance race heads out to Dromahair on open roads and it’s one big loop, there’s a 6km gradual hill and then it’s a down hill slope home. It’s a good fast course except for the hill, if people underestimate that they will suffer!”

“The Super Series bike course is very technical, it’s on closed roads and it’s a 4km loop so spectators will be able to see them come round five times which will be very exciting especially at the old Saehan factory where there’s a turnaround point, ” said Mr Gormley

The run leg will take place in the stunning surroundings of Hazelwood forest – the setting for much of WB Yeat’s poetry, not that competitors will have such lofty matters on their minds.

“The run for the Olympic distance is three laps of a 3.3km loop in the forest, the Super Series athletes will be doing three laps of a shorter loop also in the forest. It’s a brilliant course and we’re very excited about it,” Mr Gormley concluded.

The Men’s Field

The men’s field for race four of the Super Series will see the now familiar gang of young guns battle it out for supremacy with a number of established athletes hoping the technical bike course could see them reeled in before the run.

Series leader Darren Dunne and 2nd placed athlete Cillian Tierney are on the start list but both men will have a race on their hands with the recent winner of the Sprint Distance National Championships James Edgar also pencilled in to compete.

Edgar was hugely impressive taking the national title but hasn’t always gotten the better of Dunne in their head to heads, which sets up the prospect of an exciting battle.

The presence of Aichlinn O’Reilly, Eoin Lyons and Kieran Jackson in the field makes the race even more unpredictable. Jackson has the ability to win at Hazelwood while Eoin Lyons could well end up moving in to third place overall in the series by the end of tomorrow’s race. He has placed 5th and 4th at the last two Super Series events, a step on the podium is not beyond his reach.

First Name	Last Name	Club
David	Shelley	Trilogy Triathlon Club
Finbar	Mcgrady	Newry Triathlon Club
Maciej	Brumm
Ross	Higgins	Limerick TC
Michael	Sinton	Lisburn TC
Brendan	Crawford	Belpark TC
Brian	Harris	Wicklow TC
Michael	Macken	Athlone TC
Niall	Cornyn
Anthony	Mulholland	Piranha TC
James	Edgar
Brendan g	Murphy	Belpark TC
Liam	Murray	Virgina Triathlon & Cyling Club
Aichlinn	O’reilly
Emmett	Mullan	Northwest TC
Marcus	Mcgowan	MSC Tri
Eoin	Lyons	Waterford TC
Kieran	Jackson
Raymond	Byrne
Cillian	Tierney	GoTri TC
Patrick	Peters
Cian	Bonnichon
Darren	Dunne

Women’s Field

Heather Foley will head in to Hazelwood as the clear favourite in the women’s field. Foley currently leads the overall series rankings and with her all round abilities is a tough prospect to beat.

The women’s race will be interesting tactically and could end up with many of the women completing the bike course in a pack. Strong swimmers Siobhan Gallagher of 247 Triathlon Club and Niamh Corry from Fingal TC will have to decide how hard to push things on if – as expected – they create a gap over the rest of the field coming out of the water.

Ellen Murphy, who currently lies third overall in the series, will be chief amongst the athletes looking to make hay of the compact field and certainly has the skills and power on the technical bike course to gain advantage over her competitors.

Finally Lynne Algar can’t be ruled out of the reckoning. Algar is mentor and coach to many of the top men in the race and will keep the women’s field honest with her swimming abilities.

First Name	Last Name	Club
Eimear	Mathews
Niamh	Corry	Fingal TC
Ellen	Murphy	Belpark TC
Siobhan	Devlin	Cork TC
Siobhan	Gallagher	247 Triathlon Club
Heather	Foley
Denise	Compton	Tipperary TC
Olivia	Ni Shuilleabhain	Athlone TC
Jennifer	Algar	Sligo Triathlon Club
Lynne	Algar	Limerick TC

As always, Triathlon Ireland will be carrying live video coverage of the race via Facebook. Follow our twitter feed throughout the day for live updates and news during the race.