#BMWTriSeries at Rosslare Pikeman
Wexford Triathlon Club’s Rosslare Pikeman has completed another stellar weekend for the BMW Triathlon National Series, hosting Round 12. No less than three rounds took place this weekend at Moby Dick in Youghal, Bolands BMW Hook or by Crook and at Rosslare.
Another beautiful day dawned in the South East and the sunrise revealed the flat calm swim that awaited the 180 triathletes on the startlist. A fast course was ahead with the two lap flat bike and run courses.
Lyons Shows End of Season Form
In his last race of the season, Eoin Lyons followed up his podium at the Middle Distance National Champs and a win at Lough Cutra with another convincing win today. Having not been off the podium throughout the series, Eoin is certainly a contender for the overall podium at the end of the series – watch this space! BMW Triathlon National Series Rankings will be updated here during the week.
Entering the water first in the rolling start alongside Longford TC’s Ciaran Madden, the pair were together in the swim until approximately the 450m mark when Madden started to pull away.
Madden exited T1 with a 20 second lead but Lyons reigned that in early on the fast bike course. On his return to T2 Eoin Lyons had built a lead of approximately two and a half minutes ahead of Ciaran Madden.
Behind the two leaders on the road, the competition was fierce for the remaining podium spots. Eoin Nagle, David Cahill, Ryan Mann and Thomas Collins were within a minute of each other on the road. Watching the race unfold, it looked like Eoin Nagle and David Cahill were the closest to the third podium spot. However, Ryan Mann had started behind them in the rolling start and although five minutes down after the swim and a little more after the bike, he ran 34:46 for 10k. This moved Mann up a number of spots in the process and most importantly, onto the third step of the podium!
Men’s Podium
| 1. | Eoin Lyons | 1:52:21 |
| 2. | Ciarán Madden | 1:56:32 |
| 3. | Ryan Mann | 2:03:22 |
Fourth Race & Fourth Podium for Kelly
We said it yesterday and we’ll say it again today, Shannon Kelly is a very busy triathlete! Today was Kelly’s fourth race in nine days, her third win and her fourth podium – an impressive tally by anyone’s standards.
Heading into the water at the head of the women’s field Shannon led from start to finish and even with the rolling start, her lead never really looked in doubt. Shannon Kelly crossed the line in 2:06:36 to win the women’s event and finish seventh overall.
It was behind Shannon Kelly the epic run course battle rumbled on. With some very strong bikers in the women’s field, it came down to the run to decide the podium.
Out of the rolling swim start, Waterford TC’s Nicola Kehoe was second behind Shannon Kelly with Limerick’s Sinead Walsh and TriLimits’ Helen Perry close behind.
By the time the group reached T2 the order had shuffled and Waterford’s Aoife Tihy had moved into third, Helen Perry just a few seconds behind her.
We saw the strength of Helen Perry’s run last week in Sheephaven where she ran from third to second in a 1:25:13 half marathon. Today was no exception. Getting into an early rhythm, Perry passed both Aoife Tihy and Nicola Kehoe to finish second. Tihy overtook Kehoe on the second lap of the run, finishing 37 seconds ahead to complete the podium.
Women’s Podium
| 1. | Shannon Kelly | 2:06:36 |
| 2. | Helen Perry | 2:13:28 |
| 3. | Aoife Tihy | 2:18:43 |
Images & Results
Full Results are available at Sports Splits.
A full gallery of Damien Jackson’s images are available on our Facebook page.
