Middle Distance National Champs: Preview

After the excitement of watching our elites race in the Olympics, Irish triathlon turns its attention to domestic competiton this weekend as TriLimits TC host the 2021 Middle Distance National Championships.

TriTyrone has built a reputation for being one of the most athlete-focused and friendly races on the circuit, something that culminated in the event winning Race of the Year at the 2019 Triathlon Ireland Awards.

It was also there that TriTyrone was announced as the host of the 2020 Middle Distance National Championships. That championship of course never took place but tomorrow after an almost two year wait, athletes will get the chance to go head to head for the Middle Distance National Champs.

The Contenders

Below, we outline some of the contenders for the overall title – this preview carries one major health warning – with such a long layoff from racing, athlete predictions are a precarious endeavour.

Plus, the approach newcomers who storm on to the stage from time to time will be even harder to spot this year.

With that said, and in no particular order here are some of the names to watch as the best middle distance athletes line out for TriTyrone.

Catherine Sands

Sands knows the TriTyrone course as well as anybody in the race, having finished on the podium twice in the past two stagings of the race (2018 and 2019). On top of that, she has a long list of wins and podiums at middle distance.

Hilary Hughes

Hilary Hughes was unstoppable in 2019 – winning countless races and claiming the overall title in the BMW Triathlon National Series. Along the way, she had a stunning victory at the Middle Distance National Champs and so heads in to TriTyrone as the defending champion.

Hughes’s form in 2021 appears to be red hot – earlier this month, the Westport TC athlete won her AG at IRONMAN Lanzarotte and booked her place to race in Kona this autumn.

Deirdre Casey

Deirdre Casey is a former AG winner at the IRONMAN 70.3 World Champs in South Africa and silver medalist at the European Age Group Champs in 2012. Casey hasn’t been able to race in Ireland often due to her working abroad but when she does it has almost always resulted in victory – in 2018, she won Cobh’s Jailbreak Triathlon against some top class competition.

Sarah Hawkshaw

Hawkshaw claimed third place at the recent Hardman Skellig Coast triathlon so has form heading in to TriTyrone. She was also a strong presence over the winter in our Zwift competitions.

Niall Cornyn

TriTyrone will be Niall Cornyn’s first middle distance race – in fact, it will be his first time racing over half marathon distance in the run. But Cornyn has a plan, similar to the plan he deploys in every race – to go hard from the gun and leave nothing out on the course. It could end in a course record or it could end in defeat – but it’s going to be entertaining.

Owen Martin

With more visits (10 and counting) to Kona than any other Irish triathlete, Owen Martin is perhaps the most experienced athlete of the entire field. Experienced can be a synonym for older but recent results don’t betray any sign of Martin slowing down. He was the runner up at TriTyrone by a mere 17 seconds in 2019 – the tiniest of margins at this distance, if he wins tomorrow it will merely be the latest in more than a decade long list of victories.

Eoin Lyons

The 2019 Middle Distance silver medalist is another athlete with deep experience, having competed at the IRONMAN 70.3 World Champs. Lyons has a number of national champs podium results to his name and was particularly strong in 2019.

Michael McCarron

One place behind Lyons at Sheephaven was Michael McCarron. McCarron recorded an impressive 9hrs 37mins at Kona in 2018 and won Hardman Bantry Bay last year.

Stephen Donnelly

In a year when very little racing took place, Stephen Donnelly made the most of his outings, winning the Hardman Skellig Half and completing an entire IRONMAN distance in his backyard – swimming leg 1 in a skip.

Donnelly will no doubt come in to TriTryone fit and in the mix for the win.

Aidan Callaghan

Aidan Callaghan was the race organiser of the last Middle Distance National Championships at Sheephaven Half in 2019. This time around he’ll only have himself to worry about on the course and he will definitely know what it takes to come home first – Callaghan is a former Middle Distance Champ from 2016.

Ger Redmond

With one of the most inspiring back stories of an athlete in Irish sport, Ger Redmond would be a popular winner at TriTyrone. With fewer races to his name than the rest of the men’s field, his form is harder to predict. One thing is certain – he’ll race with enormous positivity.