Two Provinces Returns
More than 500 kids and adults took on a distances from kidathon up to sprint over two days of superb racing at Two Provinces Triathlon.
The race on the banks of Lough Ree, returned after a two year absence to popular acclaim, with zero wind, warm temperatures and a great atmosphere.
The weekend’s racing began with the Kidathon and younger age categories of the Youth Series on Friday night.
Provisional results from the 12-13 year old and the 14-15 year old categories of the Youth Series are available now on SportsSplits.com.
We’ve also got some brilliant images from the evening taken by James Wright on our event gallery.
Youth Series 16-17 Year Olds
First up in a big programme of races on Saturday morning was the 16-17 year old Youth Series athletes, who absolutely blitzed the sprint distance course tackled by the senior athletes later in the morning.
Archie Bremner was the clear winner with an all round performance that put him two and a half mins clear in first place at the finish line. Finn Buck, Callum O’Neill and Ryan Lundy battled throughout the race for the next spots with Buck and Lundy pulling clear on the bike. O’Neill had his say during the run with a quickest of the day split of 00:17:36. It was enough to secure 3rd place but not to catch Buck who stayed 45secs ahead to claim second place.
Aimee Carr-Hannon had a day to remember at Two Provinces as she swam, biked and ran faster than any other athlete in the Youth Series women’s field. She claimed victory in a superb time of 01:12:37.
Chloe Bennett showed strength across swim, bike and run – she exited the water in 2nd place and never looked back, crossing the line for silver in 01:16:26.
Third place was claimed by Catherine Mitchell, who was assured across swim, bike and run and was a comfortable bronze medalist in 01:19:57.
Para Triathlon National Champs
The Para Triathlon National Champs was up next with Oliver Gunning and guide Kyle Duncan taking an early lead in the PTVI category as Donnacha McCarthy and Sean Husband suffered an early setback due to a snapped swim tether.
Gunning stayed clear on the bike but McCarthy was catching up and both athletes arriving in to T2 within touching distance of one another. Mindful of their big race at the Commonwealth Games on the horizon later this month, Gunning and Duncan saved their legs on the run while McCarthy and Husband blasted ahead to cross the line in 01:03:09. Also racing was newcomer Tom Williamson who showed strength right across the board, finishing in 01:01:11.
Two of Northern Ireland’s other Commonwealth contenders were also fine tuning their preparations for the Games. Judith MacCombe and her guide Anne Paul pulled clear from sister Chloe with guide Harriet Clare on the swim but the gap was narrowed by the time they reached the 20km bike leg. It was here that Judith started making gains which she extended on the run to win in a time of 01:15:18, Chloe finished next on 01:18:07.
Triathlon National Series
A strong women’s field promised some close racing in the National Series wave and so it turned out with Olivia and Charlotte Moore coming out of the water 30secs ahead of last week’s third placed athlete at Harbourman, Aisling Wyer.
Pre-race favourite Heather Foley was a minute back but a 00:33:05 bike split brought her in to contention at the front of the race alongside Olivia Moore, who had taken the overall lead on the bike. Foley ran the quickest split of the day – 00:18:21 to win with Olivia Moore claiming second 50secs later and Charlotte in third another 44 secs back.
The men’s race saw the entire top five athletes finish within 90secs of one another with David Sheridan coming out on top thanks to the second fastest swim and fastest bike split of the race. Stephen Donnelly ran an impressive 00:15:50 for second, just 12 secs ahead of Daniel McManus.
Two Provinces also hosted an aquabike, won by Bendan Dowd and Deborah Carr; and a Try-a-Tri where John McKenna and Diana Kissane proved themselves the quickest athletes.
Provisional results from are available on Sportssplits.com and check back to triathlonireland.com where we will have image galleries of all the action shortly.
