Campbell and Connor win Northwest Sprint Triathlon

Due to the numbers the field was divided into two waves of 30 athletes separated by 25 minutes.
Twin sisters Clara and Rachael Hawthorne taking part in their first triathlon, were first out of the water to lead wave one out on to the bike course. Hi-Elbows Claire Connor led wave two, after posting a fantastic 10 minutes 9 seconds split for the 30 length swim. She was closely followed by Brian Campbell, Eamon Colhoun, Colm Quigley and Aileen Morrison. Paul Mc Connellogue from Northwest Triathlon Club (NWTC) led the male vets out of the swim. Triangles Kay Hack led the female vets.

The athletes had to work hard on their way out past Burt village as they battled into a stiff headwind. After the turnaround however they had an easier ride back home to the complex for the start of the hilly run. NWTC’s Colm Quigley did manage put pull back some time on Campbell on the bike course by posting the fastest bike split of the day in 33minutes exactly, meaning the two racers were only separated by only 6 seconds coming into the second transition. Campbell produced a blistering 15:40 run over the hilly course on the Upper Galliagh road to stop the clock in 59 mins 52 seconds taking the male open title. Quigley held to take second place in a time of 1hour 3 minutes and 10 seconds.
Triangles Adrian Devine and NWTC’s Paul Mc Cafferty worked hard on the bike to move up into third and fourth place at the bike-run change over. But a quick transition and run from Mc Cafferty meant that Devine was caught and past shortly into the run. Graham Barr from Olympia in Belfast produced the second fastest run of the day after Campbell to also pass Devine, but was unable to catch Mc Cafferty who was able to hold on to third position. Despite bike trouble, Triangles Eamon Colhoun still managed to finish in fourth place overall, and comfortable take the male junior crown.

Claire Connor extended her lead over NWTC’s Aileen Morrison on the bike course to take a comfortable lead heading out on to the run, and finished in a time of 1:08:12 taking the female open title. Morrison took second spot in 1:12:24, with Claire Mc Avoy finishing in third spot.

Joanne Doran had a 30 second lead on to the run in the junior female race over Rachael Hawthorne, but a run split some 90 seconds quicker than Doran meant the young Triangle athlete took the junior crown on her first race with a time of 1:15:24. Doran took second in a time of 1:16:32, and Clara Hawthorne was third junior in 1:22:02.

In the veteran race, Paul Mc Connellogue was able to extend his lead on the field throughout the bike and run course to win the male section in 1:09:19. But NWTC’s Frankie Dunlop had moved into second position ahead of Peninsula’s Kieran Mc Manus heading out on the run, and was able to increase the gap between the two of them to take second spot. A late charge on the run course nearly rewarded Peninsula’s Gary Swenarton the last podium position, but Mc Manus was able to stay ahead of his club mate to take third. After posting the fastest female bike split of the day, Kay Hack ran home to take the female vets title in a time of 1:13:21.

The Northwest Triathlon Club would like to thank Derry Precision Tools, Castle Cycles (www.cycling pursuits.com) for their sponsorship, the PSNI, and Gardi, St. John’s Ambulance, Jeff Ash and all the staff at the Templemore Sports Complex and Mickey Bradley, and anyone else who helped in the organisation and running of the event.

As this is our first event, we would be grateful for feed back (positive or negative) to help in organising other races. Please email suggestions to info@northwesttriclub.com.