Two Provinces Preview & Super Series Points Update

Two Provinces Triathlon

Two Provinces Triathlon hosts the third round of the 2017 Super Series this weekend in what promises to be an extremely fast and exciting race.

Last year's race was the scene of the sprint distance national championships, won by James Edgar and Carolyn Hayes in impressive fashion.

Those two titles have since passed to Chris Mintern and Heather Foley and Two Provinces itself will have two new winners to add to its history by tomorrow afternoon as neither Edgar nor Hayes are racing.

The Course

Two Provinces is renowned for having one of the warmest swims of any race in the country, with water temperatures regularly three or four degrees higher than more southerly reaches of Lough Ree.

An almost entirely straight-line bike course will also put the frighteners on any small breakaway groups on the 20km out and back route, as the lack of bends deprives the leaders of any place to hide.   

The run is relatively flat and on tarmaced road for the most part, before a fast downhill dash to the finish line. 

Women's Field

Despite being small, the women's field is wide open. Five of the top eight Cat 1 women will race Two Provinces, which could mean considerable shuffling of positions in the league table by Saturday evening.

Sixteen year old Erin McConnell was first out of the water at City of Derry and is one to watch in the early stages, along with Aoife Fay and top ranked female in the race, Kirsten Huysamen.

The rapidly improving pair of Niamh Corry and Elizabeth Carr will also look to continue their progress up the ladder in women's racing. On the bike and run there are few athletes in the field to match Ellen Murphy, who crossed the line in 4th place here last year and has the legs to go higher if she can bridge across once out of the water.

Men's Field

Thirty five men will contest the men's race and of all of those due to race, Darren Dunne stands out as the overwhelming favourite.

A previous winner of Two Provinces and the reigning Super Series champion, Dunne has improved even more since last season, when he was among the best athletes in the country. Much will depend on whether he has enough company on the bike to stay clear of what could be a massive men's bike pack before he gets to the run.

Cillian Tierney has had a quiet summer so far this year, but with his exams now behind him, it will be interesting to see if the Kerry teenager can show some of the fantastic form of 2016 and upset Dunne's favourite tag.  

Rory Sexton made a splash by winning Hell of the West just a few weeks ago and should be close to the front following the swim, along with clubmate Ross Higgins and uber swimmers Sebastian Helga, last year's National Series champion Tom McEnery and teenager Ben Ryan from Predator TC.

Coverage

The men's Super Series race begins at 11:00am with the women's getting underway 10mins later. Keep an eye on Triathlon Ireland's facebook, instagram and twitter feeds for live updates and interviews from 10am on Saturday morning.

Super Series Rankings

The full Super Series Rankings, including the club competition (which is currently being led Belpark TC) are available in our rankings booklet.