In-form Jack to take on the best in Europe
REIGNING Drogheda Independent Coca-Cola Young Sport Star of the Year Jack McCullough hasn’t been resting on his laurels and has a feast of international competition to look forward to over the coming weeks.
The 17-year-old Clogherhead native, who is a member of Drogheda Triathlon Club, has been picked to represent Ireland in next week’s European Aquathlon Championships in Bratislava, Slovakia.
Jack, who was picked by Triathlon Ireland as the sole representative in the Junior age group, is two years out of his age and will gain invaluable experience amongst Europe’s elite. He has won three National Aquathlon Championships and qualified for the elite event due to times he accumulated over the past season and in recent months.
The race consists of a 1,000m swim, followed by a 5km run. Jack gained the 5km times over a number of Athletics Ireland 5km races and the swim time in the European (GSS) Sea Swimming Championships where he finished second in his age group.
Drogheda Triathlon Club have sponsored Jack over the past year by paying for his membership and providing one-to-one coaching in all of the individual sports of triathlon. The club have also supplied his club gear and have been an invaluable support and mentors to Jack.
The fruits of their support were evident last week when Jack won the Newry Triathlon Club Open Aquathlon Series race. This consisted of a 750m swim and a 5km run at Camlough Lake, outside Newry.
The race was hotly contested, with more than 100 senior athletes in the race from across Ireland, but at the end of the swim Jack was first to emerge from the water. After a quick transition Jack led out onto the run and went on to win the race by 15 seconds. Jack received £100 in prize-money for the race which was great preparation for the upcoming European Championships.
Recently Jack was also in action in the All Ireland Mountain Running Championships, held at Ballyhoura Mountain in County Limerick. This was Jack’s first mountain run of the season and the race was hotly contested by athletes from around the country.
All four provinces had numerous athletes from their mountain running high performance teams in the race, which comprised a 6km race to the top of Seefin, with a 250m ascent, and back down to the bottom.
Jack reached the top of the mountain in a group of four athletes packed together and it was the experienced specialised mountain runners Cian Mc Donald (Wicklow) and Ben Ryan (Galway) who navigated the route back down the mountain quickest to leave Jack in bronze medal position.
Jack also learned this week that he has been selected to run in the World Youth Mountain Running Championships in Italy at the end of June, and there was further good news recently when the final results of the World Global Sea Swimming Championships were totalled and published.
The Global Swim Series is the largest swim series in the world, with more than 37,000 swimmers, 90 races and 26 countries, including America, Canada, Australia, South Africa etc.
Swimmers are able to compete against each other around the world with their unique Global Ranking System that recognises participation, age and speed in calculating the points. The final results crowned Jack the U-19 Men’s Wetsuit division champion and fourth overall in the Senior men’s division with 578.7 points. Jack’s name will go on the World GSS perpetual cup for 2016/17 and he will receive his trophy from the National governing body. •Jack would like to thank the following for sponsoring him on his international trips abroad: Drogheda Triathlon Club, Clogherhead Councillor Tom Cunningham, Sinn Fein TD Imelda Munster, The Fisher-man’s Catch - Fish Shop Clogherhead and Clogherhead Fisherman’s Co-op. Without their support these internationals trips would not be possible.