Gallagher & Doherty Win Two Championships in a Row
On a day when Mayo athletes made up the majority of both podiums, Maeve Gallagher & Con Doherty have won the Standard Distance National Champs in their home race.
The day dawned cloudy but calm in the shadow of Croagh Patrick in Westport Harbour. With water temperatures of around 16 degrees, the 1500m swim course was about as inviting as they come this morning.
Over 500 athletes were racing in Westport across sprint and standard distance races. The sprint athletes were out on course first, which created a super atmosphere at swim start for the National Championship and BMW Triathlon National Series standard distance race.
Both fields were stacked with some of the best standard distance triathletes in the country. Read more about the course and the contenders in our preview.
One Week & Two National Titles for Maeve Gallagher
For the second time in a week, Mayo’s Maeve Gallagher has won a national title. Following up her win at last week’s Sprint Distance National Champs in Waterford, Maeve looked in control and comfortable throughout today’s Standard Distance National Championship race.
Emerging from the water second overall just 10 seconds behind Con Doherty, Maeve had the best swim split of the women’s field by almost two and a half minutes. Due to starting at the beginning of the rolling start, this meant that Gallagher was out front from the off and held that position throughout.
Often racing away from home, Maeve Gallagher really enjoyed the support on today’s local course;
“It was great. It was kind of my home race because all the marshals knew me and my Granny and Grandad are here, my family so I really wanted to go out there and put in a good performance so I was delighted with it really.”
Swim exit after a rolling start can be confusing if you don’t know exactly where other athletes started ahead of you. Westport’s Hilary Hughes started down the field from some of the other title contenders but by the end of the bike course there was no real doubt as to where she was sitting. A blistering 58:25 bike split saw Hughes pedal into second on the road and solidify that position with a 36:41 run.
It has been a stellar few months for Hilary Hughes. The 2019 BMW Triathlon National Series winner won her Age Group at IRONMAN Lanzarote to qualify for the IRONMAN World Champs taking place in May next year! In addition to that result, Hilary has also just returned from the IRONMAN 70.3 Worlds in St. George Utah where she finished in bronze position in her 35 – 39 Age Group.
Shannon Kelly is continuing her run of form and today took her second National Champs Podium of the week, and fifth podium of the last two weeks! Second behind Maeve Gallagher out of the water, Kelly was overtaken by Hilary Hughes in the closing stages of the bike course. She then battled to maintain that position with athletes like eventual fourth placed Ellen Murphy from Belpark, Waterford’s Aine Kinsella and Athy’s Michelle Brennan in the mix behind her.
Women’s Podium
| 1. | Maeve Gallagher | 1:59:09 |
| 2. | Hilary Hughes | 2:03:09 |
| 3. | Shannon Kelly | 2:05:36 |
Doherty Does the Double
Westport Triathlon Club occupied the top two spaces in the men’s event today, with previous race winners Con Doherty (2017) and Aichlinn O’Reilly (2018) enjoying racing on familiar territory.
Choosing to start a little further back in the rolling start, Con Doherty entered the water thirty to forty seconds behind the first athlete Ciarán Madden. The only athlete to swim sub 20 minutes, Doherty overtook all those in front to lead out of the water, and there he stayed. Keeping the pressure on, Doherty was quickest on the bike and went on to run 30:45 for 9.8k to post the fastest splits on all three disciplines. Adding to last week’s medal, Con Doherty is now both Sprint and Standard Distance National Champion for 2021.
Doherty enjoyed racing in his home town today and is looking forward to a block of international racing in the coming months. Speaking after the race he said;
“It was good, it was really perfect like, the conditions it wasn’t too cold. There was no wind at all and obviously Mayo’s beautiful so it was ideal really.”
“I think these are very important. I love National Champs so I’m very happy with these. Then I go abroad to Barcelona for a European Cup then two World Cups hopefully over in Asia.”
2018 Westport Triathlon winner Aichlinn O’Reilly claimed a National Champs silver for the second week in a row. In third on the road after the swim, O’Reilly closed down the small deficit to Ciaran Madden in the early stages of the quick bike course. From there on his splits were bettered only by Con Doherty. Doherty and O’Reilly entered T2 in first and second with a couple of minutes between them. That gap held fairly steady and they completed the run with a significant eight minute gap to the rest of the field.
Aquabike National Champ Ross Hamilton was third on the road at the end of the 40k bike with Longford’s Ciarán Madden 20 seconds back. Out of T2 and in the first kilometre of the run Madden made his move to overtake Hamilton and for the third week in a row reach the podium. Madden won Sligo Triathlon two weeks ago, was second in Rosslare Pikeman last week and completed his 2021 season today at Westport.
The quick run course decided the rest of the top ten with many of those athletes moving through the placings during the looped course.
Men’s Podium
| 1. | Con Doherty | 1:46:08 |
| 2. | Aichlinn O’Reilly | 1:49:58 |
| 3. | Ciarán Madden | 1:58:00 |
Results and Live Coverage
Full results from all the Age Groups can be viewed on Core Timing here.
If you’d like to rewatch all the action, head to the Triathlon Ireland Facebook page to view our Live Stream.
A full gallery of James Wright’s images from the event is also available on our Facebook page.
