The Year in Review – Sprint Distance National Champs
.jpg "Dismount Line DCT 2019")
Sprint Battles, Fierce Racing
A perfect mid August morning saw more than 900 of the country’s best athletes head to Dublin for a single race to decide 2019 sprint distance age group champions.
Despite the Elite National Champs – from which the two Sprint Distance Champions would emerge – taking place on the same day and course, the field for what has long been one of the highlights of the entire season was stacked with formidable competition, including practically the entire leader’s field of the women’s BMW Triathlon National Series.
At stake was overall race victory, BMW Triathlon National Series points and 75 separate gold, silver and bronze Age Group medals.
Turner BACK on the top step
Colm Turner made a welcome return to the top step of a major race podium in the men’s field thanks to an exceptionally quick run which saw him complete the course in 58mins 16secs. Second place went to Ruaidhri Geraghty with Lochlainn Connolly in third. The top three positions only tell a tiny part of the story however as Age Group podiums were decided right across the race.
Each athlete will be entitled to collect their National Sprint Distance Championships medal at the 2019 Triathlon Ireland Awards Night in the Conrad Hotel on November 23rd!
With the awards just a few weeks away, tickets are selling fast – get yours now here.
O’Keefe Wins the tightest of races
While Turner had a reasonably comfortable win in the men’s race, a closer battle was taking place for the women. Toeing the line at the start of the swim were the eventual top three in the BMW Triathlon National Series – Hillary Hughes, Amy O’Keeffe and Becky Woods. Right throughout the season there had been little separating this trio and DCT was perhaps the clearest illustration of this fact.
An incredible 19 seconds was the margin from 1st to 3rd by the time the race was over with O’Keeffe taking the win thanks to her strong swimming. The strongest biker of the field, Hughes came home in second place with the strongest runner Woods finishing third.
As with the men’s race, Age Group national championship medals were up for grabs right throughout the field and the results only tell skim the surface of the battles that took place right throughout the women’s field from the youngest gold medalist Emma Boyle in the 16-17 year AG, up to Bernice Maher who won gold in her 65-69 year category.
Men’s Sprint Distance National Championships Age Group Medalists
| Men | First Name | Surname | Club | |
| 16-17 | 1 | Luke | Burke | Predator TC |
| 2 | Eoin | McDermott | Predator TC | |
| 3 | Jack | Bingham | – | |
| 18-19 | 1 | Jack | Moran | – |
| 2 | Jack | Kennedy | – | |
| 3 | Jake | Rushby | Peninsula TC | |
| 20-24 | 1 | Eoin | Nagle | – |
| 2 | Patrick | Fahy | Belpark TC | |
| 3 | Conor | Farrell | Naas TC | |
| 25-29 | 1 | Matthew | Carroll | Hyperspeed TC |
| 2 | Gavin | Stapleton | Belpark TC | |
| 3 | Andrew | Grehan | Belpark TC | |
| 30-34 | 1 | Colm | Turner | Limerick TC |
| 2 | Lochlainn | Connolly | Invictus TC | |
| 3 | Killian | Nolan | Piranha TC | |
| 35-39 | 1 | Michael | Scullly | Clonmel TC |
| 2 | Bjorn | Ludick | Cork TC | |
| 3 | Alan | Connolly | Edenderry TC | |
| 40-44 | 1 | Ruaidhri | Geraghty | Galway TC |
| 2 | Edna | Bagnall | Edenderry TC | |
| 3 | John | Howlett | Naas TC | |
| 45-49 | 1 | James | Cribbin | Midland TC |
| 2 | Ernest | Asensio Blasco | Tri an Mhi TC | |
| 3 | Martin | Divillly | Galway TC | |
| 50-54 | 1 | Clifford | Rodgers | – |
| 2 | Paddy | Cullen | – | |
| 3 | Ralph | Barron | – | |
| 55-59 | 1 | Michael | Maken | Athlone TC |
| 2 | Niall | Kavanagh | Trilogy TC | |
| 3 | John | Kenny | Active multisport TC | |
| 60-64 | 1 | John | Bruton | Athlone TC |
| 2 | Peter | McLaughlin | Northwest TC | |
| 3 | Dermot | Connolly | Northwest TC | |
| 65-69 | 1 | Gerard | Turbitt | Omagh TC |
| 2 | Vinny | Clohisey | – | |
| 3 | – | |||
| 70-74 | 1 | Michael | Mallon | – |
| 2 | Francis Xavier | O’Connor | Lanesboro TC | |
| 3 | – |
Women’s sprint distance national championships age group medalists
|
Women
|
First Name | Surname | Club | |
| 16-17 | 1 | Emma | Boyle |
Predator TC
|
| 2 | Amelia | Tyler | – | |
| 3 | Eve | Furlong |
Racing 795
|
|
| 18-19 | 1 | Aileen | Nagle | – |
| 2 | – | |||
| 3 | – | |||
| 20-24 | 1 | Niamh | Corry |
Piranha TC
|
| 2 | Aisling | Wyer | Naas TC | |
| 3 | Ellie | McArdle | Island TC | |
| 25-29 | 1 | Amy | O’ Keeffe | Cork TC |
| 2 | Jennifer | O’Sullivan |
Belpark TC
|
|
| 3 | Natasha | Kelly | 247 TC | |
| 30-34 | 1 | Hilary | Hughes |
Westport TC
|
| 2 | Becky | Woods |
Piranha TC
|
|
| 3 | Joanne | Cummins |
Wicklow TC
|
|
| 35-39 | 1 | Sarah | Stapleton | Pulse TC |
| 2 | Sorcha | Mccan | – | |
| 3 | Siobhan | Quain | Pulse TC | |
| 40-44 | 1 | Olivia | McCartin |
Athlone TC
|
| 2 | Esther | Bayon | Pulse TC | |
| 3 | Jacqui | Dunphy |
Piranha TC
|
|
| 45-49 | 1 | Donna | Mahon |
Belpark TC
|
| 2 | Tara | Johnston | Naas TC | |
| 3 | Deirdre | O Toole | – | |
| 50-54 | 1 | Niamh | Richardson |
Kilkenny TC
|
| 2 | Eileen | O’Sullivan |
Activemultisport TC
|
|
| 3 | Karen | Watson | – | |
| 55-59 | 1 | Anne | Morrissey | – |
| 2 | Eimear | Mathews | Trilogy TC | |
| 3 | Joanne | Bingham |
Olympian TC
|
|
| 60-64 | 1 | Helen | O’Shaughnessy |
Drogheda TC
|
| 2 | – | |||
| 3 | ||||
| 65-69 | 1 | Berenice | Maher |
Northwest TC
|
| 2 | Marie | Casey-breen |
Wexford TC
|
|
| 3 | – |
