Eleanor excels in Slovakia
A contingent of athletes and supporters made the trek from Mullaghmore and South Donegal to cheer on their club mate taking on a gruelling Triathlon in sweltering hot conditions recently.
THE state of the art, X- bionic Sphere in Samorin, Slovakia was the venue for MSC Triathlon Club lady, Eleanor Rooney’s toughest race to date.
The Ballyshannon woman who trains with MSC Triathlon Club ( Mullaghmore) qualified to compete by taking second place in her age category at Challenge Galway in 2016.
This was an extremely competitive event for Eleanor, 52, with current and former World Champions also in the mix.
Her supporters were there in force cheering on the Northwest woman who was named the MSC Club’s Triathlete of the Year last year.
She finished an impressive 18th in her category and was greeted at the finish line by her club mates from the Mullaghmore Triathlon Club.
Liz Morrow, PRO of the MSC Club, was among those who went to Slovakia to cheer Eleanor on.
Liz said that Eleanor was competing in a challenging age group of between 50 and 55 with top athletes from around the world hoping to do well.
“Eleanor has been taking part in triathlons for around ten years or that. She is very good and regularly wins her age group.
“At the moment, she is the top performing lady in the club and was voted triathlete of the year as well.”
Eleanor, who works in the Donegal Local Development Company, has really excelled as a triathlete and the Slovakia event was proof of this as she was able to compete with some world- class names in the sport.
Liz explained: “There were approximately 1500 taking part, that included World Champions too. Alistair Brownlee ( Gold medallist in the Triathlon at the Rio Olympics) was competing and he didn’t finish the event.
“It was very, very hot in those conditions and challenging for the athletes.”
She added: “Eleanor’s bike was faster than normal, her run was slower but that was down to the heat.
“Even with the heat, she was still pretty close to her PB,” Liz said.
Eleanor toed the line at The Championship, a half iron distance race which saw both professionals triathletes and the fastest age group athletes from challenge races around the world compete to be the best on the planet in their category.
The race consisted of a 1.9km swim in the calm waters of the Danube river followed by a 90km Cycle before a gruelling 21km half marathon in tough conditions where temperatures hit a stifling 32C.
Eleanor emerged from the swim leg with some time to make up on her fellow age group competitors but the strong cyclist put in a super bike leg in a time of 2hrs 48 minutes and passing the first of her Irish competitors in the process.
The first of the three lap run course found Eleanor struggling but as the kilometres passed by, and with great encouragement from the MSC Tri Club crew, Eleanor’s determined spirit and grit drove her on.
She passed the remaining Irish AG competitors to the fantastic carnival atmosphere at the finish line where she proudly hoisted the Irish flag to cross the line in a super time of 6 hours and 2 minutes.
A fabulous achievement and result for this seasoned triathlete.
Liz said: “We are all so proud of Eleanor, it was a great event and those of us who travelled over had so much fun.
“We were waving Irish flags and no one else had flags with them.
“There were two other Irish competitors in Eleanor’s category and she came in ahead of those.
“The Slovakia Triathlon was really good experience for her and she will be doing more triathlons over the summer.”
The interest in sport doesn’t just lie with Eleanor, husband John is also busy preparing for the Donegal Ultra Cycle the weekend after next.
“John has recently come to sport and he is doing the Ultra Cycle at the end of the month, that is a continuous 555KM.”
The Mullaghmore Triathlon Club was first started in 2003 and currently has 60 members.
Liz added: “A lot of our athletes travel for races outside of Ireland.
“We have many up- and- coming athletes within the club, such as Canice Nicholas, who is busy training for the Barcelona Ironman.
“It’s good to have athletes from the club competing at major events like these.
“Within the club we have people competing at all different levels.
“We are a very inclusive club in that way, there are people who are learning to swim and might do a tri- a- tri or something like that.
“It is great to see so much interest in it. Our main event, the Mullaghmore Triathlon, is on this Saturday and we’re expecting more than 330 competitors from all over Ireland and abroad. We have a short 300m swim with the same bike and run distance as the main event. Three years ago, 24 people signed up for it, this year we have 77.
“There is always new people coming to the sport and it’s a good race and the option is there for people who want to do a triathlon.
“We have people coming from all over the country, Sligo and Dublin are the biggest entries, we have people from the UK and some from the US and well as every county in Ireland.
“The figure is well up on last year, we’re expecting in the region of 335 or thereabouts,” Liz said.
After some much- deserved rest, Eleanor will be competing in the Mullaghmore Triathlon before cheering on husband John in his solo 555KM Donegal Ultra Cycle.
To find out more about the MSC Club, visit their website on www.msctri.com