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The North West Triathlon Club was in action again on Saturday racing at the Lough Neagh Triathlon held in Ballyronan. In a day that saw torrential rain and strong winds across Ulster they braved the elements and pulled out all the stops to compete in very tough conditions around a challenging course. Mourne Triathlon, Castlewellan (02/08/08) The North West Triathlon Club had another good day out at the Ulster Triathlon Championships held in Castlewellan at the weekend. Colm Quigley was impressive as always making the overall top ten in a time of 2hrs09mins01sec and coming 2nd in his age group. Eimear O’Brien was the next club member home in a time of 2.18.54 coming 3rd in the ladies race and winning her age group putting an Ulster title to her tally of fine results this season so far. Paul McConnellogue had a great race to come home in 2.23.28. Joe Doherty and James Beattie both made it under the 2.30 mark in times of 2.28.13 and 2.29.51. Great results for both athletes considering this was Joe’s second and James’ first ever race over this distance. Sean Doherty and Frankie Dunlop finished close together with Sean on a time of 2.30.22 and Frankie on a 2.30.57. This time was enough to see Frankie take 2nd place in his age group. Letterkenny’s Pauric Kelly stopped the clock on a time of 2.31.46 and Mickey McBride crossed the line on 2.32.22. Aoife Logan finished on a time of 2.44.23 which good enough to give her 3rd place in her age group. Jarlath Fearon and Noel Lynch also raced but due to a problem with their timing chips their race times were not recorded and therefore were excluded from the overall results. O’Brien Continues Good Form at Carna Triathlon (19/07/08) Five members of the North West Triathlon Club made the long trip to Galway at the weekend to race at Carna in Connemara. Eimear O’Brien continued on from her success at Athlone the previous weekend moving up to Olympic distance (1.5km swim/40km cycle/10k run) for the race in Carna to come second in the Ladies race and win the 25-29yrs age group. Competing for her first time in what is considered to be one of the hardest races on the Irish Triathlon circuit Eimear stormed home in a time of 2hrs28.57. Brendan Doherty had a great race to finish in a time of 2.41.05 while Frank Roche stopped the clock on 2.45.51. Aoife Logan and Colm Quigley had a somewhat more disappointing day with Logan suffering badly from dehydration on the run finishing in 3.01.47. Quigley had fantastic race finishing 2nd overall and wining his age group in a time of 2.12.44 only to be disqualified due to a technicality on the bike. The NWTC will now be looking ahead to the Mourne Triathlon taking place on Saturday 2nd August with a large number from the club expected to compete. NEWSFLASH - Evidence of Alcoholism!! Elite Triathlete 'Elite Drinker' Shocker
It is now suspected that there was good reason for his disqualification the following week during the Galway Traithlon - crossing the white line on the bike course...He was still drunk!! Mr. Quigley was given the right of reply, but was 'unavailable' for comment.
National Sprint Titles for Quigley and O’Brien at TriAthlone (12/07/08)
Race Results (Category Results) Aileen Morrison's World Student Games Report - Turkey 2008 Aileen Morrison (University of Ulster) 13th The four of us were delighted to be selected to represent Ireland in the World Student Triathlon Championships in Erdek, Turkey. Thanks all those involved, including our respective Universities, Triathlon Ireland and Chris Jones, TI head coach and team manager. After 5am start and two flights we wait 3 hrs in the airport for the rest of the teams to arrive. This was followed by a 6hr bus journey, and we arrive at our hotel at 3am. With a scheduled cycle for 9am and the late night heat we build our bikes before we slept, allowing the air con to kick in.
In the morning we find out the bike course is one big hill, up and down, dead turn, up and down- back to start and another dead turn, 8 laps, that makes 16 climbs! Very tough, and intense heat on top of that. The sea is nice and cool but not enough for wetsuits, and the run is flat out and back 4 laps on the beach promenade. The main aim will be not to dehydrate, and to survive the heat. The women’s field has some big names and if I can stick with the lead pack on the swim It will be a great start. If I don’t, it could be very tough cycle. Hell of West Triathlon - Kilkee (28/06/08)
Patrick Mc Laughlin posted a time of 2:45:16, while Sean Doherty finished close behind in 2:46:17; a steady preformance from Sean as he heads off to Frankfurt Germany for the European Ironman Championships (and his 5th Ironman) next weekend.
Mullaghmore Triathlon - NWTC Out in Force (21/06/08)
Camlough-Crooked Lake Triathlon (07/06/08)
Garadice Sprint Triathlon (01/06/08) Pauric Kelly and Eamon Harkin travelled down to Co. Leitrim for the second running of the Garadice triathlon. Both athletes posted times of 1:18:44, and 1:18:54 respectively on the tough course. Irish Olympic Distance Championships, Tri-Athy (31/05/08) Athy, Co. Kildare was the setting for the Irish Olympic distance Championships this year. Last years champion, Aileen Morrison was not able to defend her title this year due to a foot injury that didn’t allow her to run. She took part in the swim and bike section of the race though. Eimear O’Brien was the best positioned Northwest athlete, when she took second position in the female 25-29 category with her time of 2:16:53. A promising performance for her a week before competing in the World Triathlon Championships in Canada. Colm Quigley recovered well from a flu which put him out of action the week leading up to the race to post a time of 2:04:03, narrowly missing out on a top 20 position. Gary O Donnell was next Northwest athlete home with his 2:07:53 time. Sean Mc Fadden produces his normal strong bike and run legs to finish in the top 50 in 2:09:12. Paul Mc Gilloway finished strongly with his time of 2:15:37. After a strong swim and bike Paul Mc Connellogue had an unusual bad run but still finished in the respectable time of 2:18:25. Mickey Mc Bride produced his normal strong bike leg during the race, stopping the clock in 2:34:40. Frank Roche raced over the Sprint Distance event and had a strong race, posting a top 50 position with his 1:12:53 finishing time. European Duathlon Championships, Greece (25/05/08) Adam Speer and Paul Mc Intyre represented Ireland at the European Duathlon Championships in Greece over the weekend. Not only did they have to struggle with the 10km run, 40km bike followed by a 5 km run which was bad enough, but the 31 degree heat didn’t make it any easier for them! Even though, both placed well in their age categories. Adam was fifth in his section with his time of 2:05:33, and Paul was sixth in 2:08:52. Well done lads, and congrats from everyone at the club. Limavady Sprint Triathlon (24/05/08) A large number of NWTC members raced in the Roe Valley Sprint Triathlon held in Limavady on Saturday 24th May. Colm Quigley charged home in 3rd place in a time of 1.01.32. This time also saw the Liam Ball winner take first place in the M35-39 age category. Other age category winners from the club were Garry O’Donnell (M30-34 - 1.05.08), Jarlath Fearon (M40-44 - 1.09.06) and Frankie Dunlop (M50-54 - 1.08.24). Paul McConnellogue had a great race to finish on 1.07.41 while Paul McGilloway charged home on 1.09.10 and Joe Doherty wasn’t far behind coming in on 1.09.29. Mickey McBride stopped the clock on 1.12.45 and Philip Hasson raced to a 1.13.09. Frank Roche and Brendan Doherty finished in times of 1.13.47 and 1.13.54 respectively. Eamon Harkin was home in a time of 1.14.03 with James Beattie finishing strongly on 1.14.53. Darren Deehan and Pauric Kelly were close at the finish in times of 1.17.06 and 1.17.12 respectively while Brian McCallion, Ronan Toland and Packey Deehan completed the North West’s male contingent with Brian racing in 1.23.51, Ronan with a 1.24.12 and Packey finishing on 1.24.34. Eimear O’Brien was unfortunate to be disqualified from the ladies race after storming home in a time of 1.08.56 which would have seen her in 3rd spot. However Aoife Logan raced well to finish in a time of 1.16.50 and Liza Jane Jorque stopped the clock in a time of 1.34.45.
The North West Triathlon Club would like to congratulate club member Aileen Morrison on her fantastic result at the weekend. Aileen raced in her 1st ITU in Brno, Czech Republic and came away with an amazing 6th place finish. Aileen has been training hard with a tough new programme and the results are already showing at this early stage in the season. We all wish Aileen continued success in her future races. Watch this space for more to come from Ms. Morrison!!
Liam Ball Triathlon 2008 The Derry City Council joined forces with the Northwest Triathlon Club this year incorporating the Liam Ball triathlon into the Northwest Sprint Triathlon, which was held last Sunday 4th May at the Templemore Sports Complex. Raced over a shorter distance than the traditional Liam Ball triathlon, athletes had to swim 750m, before exiting the Complex for a 20 km bike ride out to Newtoncunningham, and back, before completing the event with a 5km run on the cycle paths around the Complex grounds.
The Buncrana duathlon took place on Sunday 20th April. Competitors gathered at the Buncrana Leisure Centre where the race commenced and the fine morning ensured a big turnout. The race consisted of a 2 mile run, 10 mile bike and 2 mile run and from the gun the race was on for top spot.
North West Triathlon Club held its Sprint Duathlon on Sunday 6th April. Strong winds forced a last minute change of bike course for safety reasons, and made racing conditions tough. However over 50 competitors braved the elements and made it a fantastic race. David Graham won the Senior Mens race in a very closely fought affair with North West’s Sean McFadden and QUB’s Mathew Wilson with all three men posting identical splits in the first leg of the run. McFadden and Wilson took second and third places respectively. The Northwest's Eimear O’Brien won the Senior Womens race with Aoife Logan also of Northwest TC coming second and Helen Hughes in third. Derry’s Chris Sandy and Eamonn Colhoun combined to win the relay event. Triangle’s Colm Loughery won the Male Vets category and Kay Hack (Triangle) won the Female Vets prize. Winter Damp Dash League - Race 6 (03/04/08) Race 5 took place on 3rd April with preparations for the club duathlon on the 6th well under way. Garry O’Donnell led the Senior Men on the swim followed by Darren Deehan and Colm Quigley. Sean McFadden produced a blistering run to post the fastest run split and take second place behind O’Donnell. James Beattie took third place with another fast run. Paul McConnellogue led the Male Vets ahead of Frankie Dunlop and Paul McGilloway. Eimear O’Brien had another great swim followed by consistently good run to take first place in the Senior Women’s race with Liza-Jane Jorque in second place. Aaron Heaney was placed first this time in the Male Junior race ahead of Darren Armstrong. Winter Damp Dash League - Race 5 (06/03/08) Race 5 took place on 6th March with a good turnout from the club. The Senior Men’s race was again very close with Colm Quigley and Gary O’Donnell fighting it out for first place. Colm led the swimmers out while Gary made up the time on the run to come out on top with a mere seven seconds separating the pair in their overall times. James Beattie produced a good swim and a strong run to take third place. In the Senior Women’s race Eimear O’Brien led from the swim but a strong run from Miriam McFadden saw her overtake O’Brien and take first place. Aoife Logan was third. Peter McLaughlin took the Male Vets category with Packy Deehan in second. In the Junior Men’s race Darren Armstrong and Aaron Heaney battled it out with Armstrong eventual winner of that category. Winter Damp Dash League - Race 4 (14/02/08) Race 4 was held on 14th February with some great times being posted. Once again top spot in the Senior Men’s race was very close with only five seconds separating first and second positions. Colm Quigley was first out of the water just ahead of Garry O’Donnell. O’Donnell managed to pull slightly ahead on the run to give him overall top spot with Quigley in second. Darren Deehan made up third place and Paul McConnellogue took first in the Male Vets category ahead of Paul McGilloway and Packy Deehan. The Senior Women’s was again won by Eimear O’Brien putting in her fastest swim time so far and coming fourth place overall. Liza-Jane Jorque took second place and Roisin Lynch won the Female Vets category. Race 5 of the Damp Dash League will take place on Thursday 6th March. Registration at Templemore Sports Complex from 6.45pm. 2008 Race Calender Take a look at the 2008 Race Calender and Fixtures page. The fixtures page and the calender will be updated at times during the season, so please check regularly. The 2008 membership form is now available for download. Please visit the Membership page for more information. Naas Wheelworx Dirty Weekend Duathlon Series Congratulations to Eimear “Don’t mess with me” O’Brien and Sean “Fingers” McFadden who competed at the Naas Wheelworx Duathlon at the weekend. Sean had a great race to come away with top spot while Eimear also put in a fine performance to come second in the women’s race. Eimear also competed in the first race of this series back in January and again raced well for second place behind Elena Maslova. The next race in this series takes place on Sunday 9th March. Check out www.naaswheelworxtc.com for a full race report and results. Results to follow... Winter Damp Dash League - Race 3 (17/01/08) Shaking off the Christmas excess we had another great turnout for Race 3 of the Damp Dash League. In his fastest swim time of the league so far Colm Quigley was yet again first out of the water in the senior men’s race with David Doherty and Garry O’Donnell following close behind. Joanne Doran led the senior women out of the water ahead of Eimear O’Brien and Aoife Logan. Gerry McDermott took the lead in the male vets race with Peter McLaughlin chasing him. O’Donnell led the field home on the run and took top spot overall with only a second separating himself and Quigley with Paul McConnellogue coming through for third place. O’Brien again ran well to take first place overall in the women’s race with Doran and Logan taking second and third respectively. In the vets race McLaughlin posted the faster run time but McDermott still held the overall led for first place. Race 4 of the Damp Dash League takes place on Thursday 14th February ’08 at Templemore Sports Complex. Registration from 5.45pm. Winter Damp Dash League - Race 2 (06/12/07) Race 2 of the Damp Dash League took place on the 6th December. In the swim Colm Quigley again saw himself in 1st position with Paul McConnellogue and Darren Deehan hot on his heals. Rita McGlinchey was first female out of the water with only four seconds separating her and Eimear O’Brien. Despite the driving rain outside the hardy competitors took to the road for the 2 mile run. In the Senior Mens race Quigley finished this leg by a more comfortable margin to take first position making it two wins out of two in the League. McConnellogue and Deehan held their positions to make up 2nd and 3rd places respectively. In the Senior Ladies race O’Brien turned things around posting the 2nd fastest run time overall and followed Quigley in making it her second win in two League races with McGlinchey taking second place. Gerry McDermott took first place in the Male Vets category and in the Junior Mens race Darren Armstrong and Aaron Heaney battled it out with Armstrong eventually winning this category also making it two wins in a row for him. Race 3 of the Damp Dash League takes place on Thursday, 17th January 2008 at Templemore Sports Complex. Registration from 5.45pm. Winter
Damp Dash League - Race 1 (01/11/07) Stena
Line Sprint Triathlon - Newtownabbey (02/09/07) Lost
Sheep Half Ironman - Kenmare, Kerry (01/09/07) Dublin
City Triathlon (25/08/07) Aileen
Morrison wins Irish Triathlon Championships [--read
more--] Carlingford
Triathlon Ulster Triathlon
Championships, Castlewellan
[--read
more--] Salmon Leap Race
Results Tri-Athlone Ironman France Connemara Triathlon
Carrick-On-Suir
Triathlon Irish
Sprint Title for Morrison
[--read
more--] Crooked Lake
Triathlon Garadice Triathlon Inishowen 100
Cycle World
Duathlon Championships Well Done Brian!
Liam Ball Triathlon [--read
more--] Ulster Sprint
Triathlon Championship
Ironman
Lanzarote Campbell and
Connor win Northwest Sprint Triathlon [--read
more--] Club Aquathon
Championship
Titanic Duathlon
Series - Race 1 Strong showing by
Northwest Triathlon Club at Buncrana Duathlon
[--read more--] Thursby-Pelham
wins Northwest Duathlon
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A strong squad of 15 from the North West Triathlon Club made the trip to Athlone at the weekend to compete at the National Triathlon Sprint Championships. Club captain Colm Quigley set the standard coming 7th overall and winning the 35-39yrs national sprint title in a time of 1.11.22. Garry O’Donnell was the next club member home in a time of 1.14.30. Next, in a time of 1.19.06, was Eimear O’Brien who had a great race to be 2nd woman across the line and win the 25-29yrs national sprint title. Hot on her heals was Joe Doherty clocking a time of 1.19.26. James Beattie and Paul McIntyre both showed impressive form to finish 1.21.28 and 1.21.36 respectively. Mickey McBride raced well to a 1.22.29 finish while Eamon Harkin stopped the clock on 1.22.54. Philip Hasson came home in a time of 1.24.08 while Frank Roche and Aoife Logan finished on 1.26.33 and 1.29.33 respectively.
The North West Triathlon Club were out in full force at Mullaghmore Triathlon held in Sligo on Saturday 21st June. The choppy water and cool weather conditions didn’t deter the hardy competitors with the ladies taking to the water first. 
Ten Northwest athletes made the trip down to Camlough, Co. Down for the Crooked Lake sprint distance triathlon last weekend. The tough hilly and technical course was made harder by the high temperatures. Colm Quigley was the first club member home, taking the 35-39 title in the process with a time of 1:02:16. Gary O Donnell had a solid race to finish in 1:04:17. A time of 1:07:34 was enough to give Jarlath Fearon second spot in the 45-49 category. Frankie Dunlop won the 50-54 title with his time of 1:09:01. Joe Doherty followed close behind in 1:09:49. Patrick Mc Laughlin crossed the line in 1:12:48 Pauric Kelly and Mickey Mc Bride had finishing times of 1:13:04, and 1:13:10 respectively, and Paul Mc Gilloway was close behind in 1:13:26. Frank Roche stopped the clock with his effort of 1:13:55.
NWTC’s Colm Quigley and Garry O’Donnell continued their closely fought Damp Dash races with only seconds separating them in the first run. Quigley put some time between them on the bike and finished with a strong run to take top spot with O’Donnell taking second place. North West’s Aileen Morrison gave the boys a run for their money coming in with them off the first run and posting the fastest second run time to win the women’s race. Anne Neary came second and also was first local female home. Owen McKinney was first local male home and the relay team race was won by a McDevitt/Crawford combination.
Aileen
Morrison from the Northwest Triathlon Club realised her major goal
last weekend by winning the Irish Triathlon Championships held in
Ballyronan, Co. Derry. Despite the poor weather conditions, Aileen
had a near prefect race. Exiting the 1500m lake swim alongside her
one of her main rivals Claire Connor from Hi-elbow in 20 minutes
exactly. During the 40km bike leg, which is normally her weakest
discipline, Morrison was able to put some ground between herself
and Connor starting the 10km run with a slight lead. After a strong
bike leg, Elena Maslova from Dublin’s Piranha club had narrowed
the gap and was close on their heels in 3rd spot at the start of
the run. Maslova charged her way through the run, passing Connor,
but a strong run from Aileen was enough to hold her off to break
the tape and take the Irish title in a personal best time of 2 hrs
11 minutes 23seconds. Less than 50 seconds separated the top 3 positions
in the closely fought women’s race.
The
Ulster Olympic distance triathlon championships were held in Castlewellan,
Co Down on Sat 4th Aug. As one of the more picturesque locations
on the triathlon circuit, it is also one of the more challenging
races. Meaning the 280 athletes racing didn’t much of a chance
to admire their surroundings. Consisting of a single loop of the
lake for the 1500m swim, and two laps of tough undulating cycling
totalling 40km, and finishing off will a challenging 10km forest
trail run.
4am
and the 3 alarm clocks I’d set go off together, closely followed
by a text message from Sean Doherty down the hall making sure that
I was awake. Not that I needed them, as I’d hardly slept all
night worrying about the rough seas we’d swum in yesterday,
and would have to swim in again in a few hours. Me and “Big
Doc” had planned to swim a lap of the swim course the previous
day after we had checked the bikes into transition. It took us about
3 attempts to actually get into the water, as each time we tried
to wade in a big breaker would dump us back on to the beach along
with the other swimmers who had the same idea as us! Once we got
past these breakers the swells were that big that sighting buoys
was impossible, so we gave up and just swam parallel to the beach
for awhile. There was a lot of hoping and praying that things would
settle down before tomorrow morning!
Carna,
in Co. Galway was the venue this weekend for the Connemara Triathlon,
which many believe is one of the toughest races on the Irish circuit.
The tier 1 Olympic distance triathlon consisted of a 1.5km swim,
40km bike, and 10km run to finish off with.
On
the 16th of June, the normally tranquil headland of Mullaghmore
was turned into a buzzing triathlon hub as it staged the Irish Sprint
Distance Triathlon Championships. The 750m swim was held in the
choppy waters of Mullaghmore harbour, with the 20km bike section
held on the flat fast main road out to Grange, and back. The final
5km run leg was a single hilly lap of the headland to zap the last
of the energy out of those legs!
The
Northwest Triathlon Club would like to congratulate Letterkenny
AC athlete Brian Thursby-Pelham on winning a Silver medal at the
World Duathlon Championships Gyor recently. Brian finished 7th overall
and 2nd in the 35-40 section.
The field at the recent Liam Ball Triathlon, on in its 22nd consecutive
year, was made up of 16 Northwest Tri Club members. Although the
result sheet may not have been as full this year, there were enough
big names taking part to ensure a quality race. As usual the 1.2
km swim took place in the Templemore Sports Complex, with the 32
km bike section of the race this year going out the Letterkenny
road due to road works on the usual Buncrana road. Four laps round
the playing pitches (thankfully dry this year!) made up the 8 km
run section of the race.
On a morning when most sane people looked out their window and decided
to go back to their beds and pull the duvet over their heads, 17
athletes from the Northwest Triathlon Club (NWTC) made the trip
up to Limavady for the Ulster Sprint Triathlon Championships. The
19th May trip was worthwhile though as 5 members took home medals,
and 3 Ulster titles. Facing a 750m pool swim, 20km bike and 5km
run, athletes also had to battle with heavy downpours, and a “sporting”
crosswind during the race.
The
Northwest Triathlon Club recently held their club Aquathon Championship,
which consisted of a continuous 500m swim, and 2 mile run.
The
near prefect weather conditions attracted a large crowd of athletes
to Buncrana for the 4th annual running of the Buncrana Duathlon
on Sunday the 1st of April. The race consisted of a continuous 2
mile run, 10 mile cycle, and another 2 mile run, and was also held
as a relay event. 
The
Northwest Triathlon Club got its racing session off to a very successful
start on Sunday the 4th March, when it hosted the Northwest Duathlon
at the Templemore Sports Complex. The event consisted of a continuous
2 mile run, 10 mile cycle, 1.5 mile run. Heavy rain and storm force
winds were not enough to put off the brave athletes who toed the
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