Valencia European Champs Wrap
A busy weekend of racing in Valencia saw Ireland’s Age Groupers race across sprint and standard distance, our elite para triathletes race in three categories and Erin McConnell line out in the women’s elite event.
TriTeam Ireland
Up before the dawn on both Saturday and Sunday were Ireland’s contingent of Age Group athletes spanning the generations from 25-29 right up to 70-74. Unfortunately there were no medals as TriTeam Ireland faced stiff competition from massive contingents of GB and Spanish athletes. There were lots of smiles however as everybody loved the chance to get back racing internationally.
We’ve got two great galleries of images on our facebook page and you can catch all the results on triathlon.org
Para Triathlon European Champs
On Saturday Ireland’s para triathletes lined out with Donnacha McCarthy and guide Sean Husband; and Oliver Gunning with guide Tom Flaherty lining out in the PTVI race and Mark Millar racing the PTWC event.
Unfortunately a puncture towards the end of the race put paid to Millar’s race. Donnacha McCarthy finished 9th overall in the PTVI race, just ahead of Oliver Gunning who in his first elite race and as the youngest of the field came home in 12th place.
McConnell Battles
Later in the day, European Aqathlon silver medalist, Erin McConnell had what will have been a disappointing outing by her standards when she finished in 43rd place in the European Elite Championships. In a tough race that saw 12 athletes lapped or DNF’d, McConnell came out of the water in the second pack and was in contention for a solid result right through the 40km bike. A difficult run saw her loose places however as she came home with a time of 2hrs 2mins and 20secs.
