O’Reilly & O’Hagan Reign at Westport

Aichlinn O’Reilly stormed to his second National Series race victory of the year, while Julie O’Hagan claimed her first win ever in the series over the standard distance race at Westport Triathlon.

A strong and gusty wind made for a challenging day out at Round 7 of the 2022 National Series, held amid the stunning scenery of Co. Mayo.

Both O’Reilly and O’Hagan were made to fight for their wins with victory only becoming assured for each while on the 10km run leg.

in the men’s race Stephen Donnelly finished second with Shane Dunne claiming third. Kate Smyth finished second in the women’s race ahead of Elaine Lally in third.

Provisional Results are available on coretiming.com and we will have a full gallery of pics on our facebook page and right here on our website.

O’Reilly Bags 2nd Victory of 2022 Series

Following his victory at Riund 3 Up The Creek Triathlon, reigning National Series champ Aichlinn O’Reilly started as the favourite in the men’s race. He had a battle on his hands however with young gun Shane Dunne putting in the swim performance of the race to come out of the water in 00:18:37 – more than 70secs ahead of O’Reilly.

The extent of the challenge was underlined on the bike for O’Reilly – just as he began to catch Dunne he was passed by a very strong Stephen Donnelly.

Dunne, Donnelly and O’Reilly all came in to T2 within striking distance of each other to set up a close finish. O’Reilly made the decisive move early on the run, covering the 10km in an impressive 00:34:23 to win by 1min 49secs from Donnelly. Dunne suffered considerable time loss on the run but held on to claim third seven minutes behind the winner.

O’Hagan Wins Early Birthday Present

Two days before her 50th birthday, Julie O’Hagan surprised even herself with an assured victory in the women’s race.

O’Hagan went in to Westport aiming for Age Group victory but such was the strength of her performance that she left with a well earned early birthday present to herself.

A strong 00:21:41 swim over 1,500m provided the foundation for O’Hagan and left her a minute clear of eventual third placed athlete Elaine Lally. O’Hagan cemented her position on the bike and came in to T2 with a considerable advantage over Lally and Faye Mansfield. After yielding time on the swim, Galway TC’s Kate Smyth was making up ground on the bike. The run however was where Smyth really made inroads on her competitors, passing Lally and Mansfield and pulling back almost three minutes on O’Hagan.

That said, O’Hagan’s lead was never really under threat and she crossed the line with just under four minutes to spare to win her first ever national series race.

Smyth was next, 90secs ahead of Lally who edged out Mansfield in a close battle for third.

Foley & Doherty Fastest Over Short Distance

Earlier in the morning, Heather Foley and Joe Doherty came out on top of the 100 or so competitors in the sprint distance race.

Foley – a national champ across multiple disciplines and distances was making her return from injury but showed little signs of rustiness as she finished ahead of every single competitor – including the men – to race home in 1:10:12.

Kirsty Downey from Northwest finished second and teenager Chloe Bennett came home 30secs later for a superb third place.

Joe Doherty from NorthWest Triathlon Club won the men’s sprint distance race ahead of Luke Dignam in 2nd and Ciaran Kilcullen in 3rd.