Belpark’s Day at Hook or by Crook
The sunny South East lived up to its name yet again for Round 5 of the Triathlon National Series at Hook or by Crook, with an added dose of high winds!
Race organisers Waterford Triathlon Club, in conjunction with Triathlon Ireland Technical Officials, made the decision that the race would be run as a duathlon due to the weather warnings in effect, and athletes had an extra 3k loop on the new run course to look forward to instead.
For the first time, the run looped twice on a different part of the golf course, finishing in the opposite direction to previous years and adding in some extra hills to climb.
As the 350 strong field gathered for the mass start, the atmosphere was electric!
Murphy Triumphs for the Third Time
In the women’s race, newcomer Meadhbh Moynihan from Crosshaven Tri Club made her mark early, leading after the first 3k run and down the hill into T1. Isabelle Cairns was second at this point with Ellen Murphy, Chloe Bennett, Donna Mahon and Tara Johnston all in the mix.
Looking for her third win at her home event, Belpark’s Ellen Murphy worked hard for her customarily strong bike split to move up the field and head into T2 with almost a three minute lead on second placed Meadhbh Moynihan.
Onto the second run and Moynihan wasn’t ready to relinquish her chance of a win, closing the gap to 90 seconds but running out of course at the finish line, finishing second behind Ellen Murphy.
Murphy’s Belpark clubmate Donna Mahon put in a strong stint on the windy bike course and showed her strength on the tough and undulating second run to finish third.
McMullan’s First Win
The men’s event was between Enda Bagnall and Luke McMullan from the start. Seconds separated the pair heading into the first transition after three kilometres, with Ciaran Madden, Eoin Nagle, James O’Shea and Conor Mullany all there or thereabouts.
Back and forth in the early parts of the bike course, McMullan decided to TT his was from the turnaround point and gained a one minute lead. This minute proved the decider with Belpark’s McMullan and Eden’s Bagnall posting matching splits of 17:52 for the 5k.
Into T1 as part of a small group of runners, Eoin Nagle pulled away from the group but never quite bridged to Luke McMullan and Enda Bagnall ahead of him. Maintaining his position on the second run, Nagle finished in 1:04 even.
In his fifteenth multisport season, Belpark’s Luke McMullan takes his first ever win, congratulations Luke! Enda Bagnall second and Eoin Nagle third.
Results & Images
Full results from today’s racing are on SportSplits here.
You can view hundreds of Aaron Mulhall’s images in our web gallery here. Here’s a sneak peek…
