The Year in Review: National Champs Part 2

In our third review article of the 2021 season, we take a look back at the Aquabike, Aquathlon, Duathlon and Mixed Team Relay National Championships.

Huge thanks to the Lough Cutra Triathlon Festival, Triangle Triathlon Club and Naas Triathlon Club for hosting these 2021 championships and making them a fun and safe day of racing for all.

The Aquabike National Champs at Lough Cutra

Ross Hamilton and Olivia McCartin are 2021 Aquabike National Champions after showing the strongest displays of swim-biking among two competitive fields at Lough Cutra Triathlon Festival.

Hamilton covered the 1,500m swim in 25mins 41secs – the quickest of all the men’s field. He followed this up with a T1 of 2mins 16secs before powering to the quickest bike split of the day (59mins 43secs) to finish up with 1hr 25mins 41secs on the clock and a national title in the bag. Second place went to Ruaidhrí Geraghty from Galway TC, and third to Piranha TC’s Killian Nolan.

In the women’s race, Olivia McCartin swam herself to a national title with her 28mins 21secs split making the difference in an otherwise tight battle with second placed athlete Celine McPhilips.

McCartin’s swim was 1min 23secs quicker than McPhilips’s and with both women only 5secs apart in T1 and an incredible 2 secs apart over the 40km bike route the gap didn’t move much once the pair were on dry land. In the end McCartin crossed the line in 1hr 41mins 56secs with McPhilips finishing up 1min 29secs later to claim silver. Deborah Carr won bronze.

Read the full Aquabike National Champs Race Report here.

The Aquathlon National Champs at The Lake Kilrea

The 2021 National Aquathlon Championships were held at The Lake Kilrea for the second year running. Hosted by Triangle Triathlon Club, the 1K swim and 5K run was the perfect setting for fast, contained racing with all the swimming and running action visible from a single vantage point. 

Luke McCarron crossed the finish line 3 seconds over 30 minutes, 0:30:03 to win the men’s event. McCarron did an impressive swim of 0:13:07 to then run his 5K in 0:16:07.

Speaking to Luke after the race he said

I had to chase hard for the first lap of the run, but once I got into the lead it was just a case of holding on. The body felt good and the legs felt good so it was good overall.

Ralf Bodamer and Sabian Kulczynski were second and third respectively.

It was two wins in two days for Erin McConnell. McConnell was crowned Aquathlon National Champion less than 24 hours after she took first place on the Saturday in Round 3 of the BMW Triathlon National Series at Mourne Triathlon. Erin had the fastest swim on the day in both male and female categories in a time of 00:12:59. Erin crossed the line in 00:32:11. Speaking to Erin after the race she said

It was a nice swim, and out on the run I knew my team mate was behind me so I kept running as fast as I could the whole way, counting down each lap.

The run felt really good today so that’s a positive tick in the box, so I am really happy.

Read the full review of the day’s racing here.

The Duathlon National Champs at Galco Naas Duathlon

Galco Naas Duathlon hosted this year’s Duathlon National Champs at their Punchestown-based sprint duathlon. Unseasonably warm weather made for nicer conditions than duathletes are used to, and no doubt the 150 lining up were grateful. Mass starts were reintroduced, which added to the excitement of the sprint distance race.

Hilary Hughes won her second national title of 2021, finishing off her season in style after a number of impressive performances throughout including qualifying for the 2021 IRONMAN World Championships by winning her Age Group at IRONMAN Lanzarote. Hughes also won Age Group bronze at the 2021 70.3 IRONMAN World Champs. We look forward to seeing what 2022 has in store for this talented athlete.

Ciara Wilson is always one to watch, and put in a strong run, bike, run combination throughout to hold second and equal her highest placing in a Duathlon National Championship.

Behind Hughes and Wilson, Jennifer O’Sullivan was on the way to finishing on her first National Championship Podium. O’Sullivan was forty seconds behind Ciara Wilson after the first run and battled on the bike to close that gap by ten seconds. Ciara wasn’t going to be caught on the second run leg however, which saw Jennifer O’Sullivan finishing in 1:02:24 for third place.

With a bike split that bettered the rest of the field by over 90 seconds, Paul Carroll arrived into T2 in the top spot in the men’s race, and there he stayed to become the 2021 National Duathlon Champion. It was behind Carroll the the battle for the rest of the podium spots was on.

Marc Flavin and Alex Van Buttingha Wichers had been battling for places throughout, with Marc overtaking Alex on the bike course to lead onto the final run. Van Buttingha Wichers gave the second run all he had to overtake Flavin and the pair battled it out to finish second and third respectively in the Duathlon National Championship.

Read the Duathlon National Champs race report here.

Lough Cutra Hosts Mixed Team Relay National Champs

Galway Triathlon Club won the 2021 Mixed Team Relay Club National Championships.

The team of Ruaidhri Geraghty, Lisa Fahy, Kate Collins Smyth and Eugene Feely claimed the title at Lough Cutra Triathlon

Teams from Predator Triathlon Club claimed the silver and bronze medals.

Mixed Team Relay is without doubt the most exciting format of the sport of triathlon and sees a team of two women and two men each in turn complete a super sprint triathlon of 250m swim, 5km bike and 1.5km run before tagging their team mate in a special handover zone.

The event is also a testament to the strength and depth within a club – with four strong athletes necessary to bring home the title.

Read the full breakdown of how the action unfolded here.