TOP TRIATHLETES TO TAKE PART IN THIS WEEKEND’S MULLAGHMORE TRIATHLON
TAKING place this Saturday, the Mullaghmore Triathlon is well known for providing a fantastic day of racing, with not just podium places to be fought for but age groups, club pride, bragging rights and sibling rivalry all contributing to the fun and drama of the day.
This year’s ladies race is shaping up to be a highly competitive event with three former winners towing the line for a thrilling race.
Sasha Gannon enjoyed a breakthrough year in 2017, taking the win two minutes clear of the second placed athlete.
In 2018, she has formidable competition with some daunting rivals signed up to race in the form of Trudy Brown, no stranger to Mullaghmore Triathlon and winner on several occasions including in 2016. Heather Foley, a talented and highly motivated competitor having won both the Sprint Distance National Championship and Standard Distance National Championship in 2017.
The men’s race is wide open, with last year’s winner and second runner-up currently overseas, we will see new faces on the podium in 2018.
There are plenty of familiar faces though who’ve been in the long grass waiting for their opportunity to take top spot at Mullaghmore. Sligo’s Kevin O’Donnell was involved in a fiercely fought sprint finish with fellow Sligo Tri Club man, Eamon McAndrew in 2016. Kevin knows this course like the back of his hand and will be hard to beat, as does David Strain of Armagh Pikekickers who has taken top ten positions here in the past and would love to bring the title back for the Pikekickers.
The day promises to be a great spectacle of racing with competitors aged 8 to 15 years competing in the second annual Mullaghmore Junior Aquathlon.
One hundred children will race first in open water and then on to transition where they quickly put on their runners for the footrace consisting of laps of the green in the village centre.
The children’s race kicks off at 9:15 am at the Harbour in Mullaghmore.
While the adult race will consist of four waves, the first off at 11am. With competitors from 27 national clubs from Athenry to Armagh and Northwest to Naas, alongside nonclub competitors from all over Ireland and Great Britain, aged from 16 to 66 the day will see laughter and tears, grit and determination and at the finish, elation and fulfilment for both competitors and spectators alike.
The race organisers are delighted to be able to bring this race again in 2018, thanks in no small part to Race Sponsors, Martin Reilly Motors, the Pier Head Hotel and Spa, KBIGI, Call of the Wild, Cara Pharmacy, Offshore Watersports and SF Engineering.
An event of this size also requires the cooperation and assistance of An Garda Siochana, Order of Malta and RNLI to name but a few.
An extremely important part of the race organisation structure are the race marshals and the organisers would be delighted to hear from anyone available to volunteer as a race marshal.