McNamee ready to strike gold from Iron
TRIATHALON
DAVID McNAMEE believes he can win gold at Ironman World Championships in Hawaii tonight.
The 31-year-old from Irvine has taken bronze in each of the past two editions in Kona with a British record of eight hours, one minute and nine seconds landing him on the podium 12 months ago.
The combination of a 3.8km swim, a 180km bike ride and a marathon run to the finish remains the mother of all challenges, McNamee insists.
He said: “I’m feeling ready for it. I think it will be an interesting year.
“I want to be back on the podium with the aim to win of course.
“It could be the closest race we have had in a very long time so it’s very much up in the air.” IRELAND are monitoring the state of the Hakatanomori Stadium pitch ahead of today’s decisive Pool A World Cup clash with Samoa.
Scrum coach Greg Feek revealed governing body World Rugby has given both Ireland and Samoa “assurances” the pitch remains safe for action.
Large swathes of the Hakatanomori Stadium turf were relaid in the wake of Italy’s 48-7 win over Canada and then again after France dispatched the USA 33-9.
Head coach Joe Schmidt appeared frustrated by the state of the pitch at Ireland’s captain’s run training session yesterday.
Ireland assistant Feek said: “They told us in an email, both teams know about it. We knew they had to relay the pitch.
“So we had an inspection and we’ve been given all the assurances by World Rugby that it’s safe. That’s all we can ask for.”