Con Doherty from Westport put older and far more experienced athletes to the sword at the Harlequin Duathlon. Sixteen-year-old Con showed his running prowess when he obliterated the field with a blistering run up to the Booster station at Glenisland some 1,450 feet above sea level.
Anthony Murray, who won the Sea 2 Summit race in November, was the only one that could keep pace to Con, with David Sands from Ballina making it a clean sweep for Mayo athletes in third.
In the ladies’ event Marie Boyle from Spiddal had to work hard on the second bike leg to put daylight between herself and Helen Gibbs from Buckinghamshire; Rachael Maloney from Foxford took the final podium position to get third.
Ger Deere Major of Castlebar paid tribute to the organisers and said, “Outdoor activity is the way forward for Mayo tourism and events like the Harlequin AD will only enhance to outsiders what a beautiful and scenic place Mayo is by using the beauty hotspots we have.” He urged organisations to get behind outdoor events such as Adventure Races as they bring great business to the area.
Organiser Seb Locteau was extremely happy with the entry to date he said " after last year’s successful event its great to see that the 2011 event was even bigger an better, the course was not too severe and its easy to navigate around, this year we have made it a bit more challenging with longer runs and an off road bike section, the last few months have seen this route been used allot by fitness enthusiasts".
This event was the first round of the National Adventure Races Sports series, the next round will be held in Wicklow April 16 and the next round to be held in the west will be on June 4 in Letterfrack/Clifden, see www.connemararoughdiamond.com Details of the full series can be found on www.msai.ie
Coláiste Chomáin to host Duathlon
Adventure races have taken the west of Ireland by storm over the past few years and now the students at Coláiste Chomáin in Rossport are creating their own bit of history as the first secondary school in Mayo to host an arduous duathlon race.
The first ever Mayo duathlon race for secondary school pupils involves two disciplines; cycling and running. The event is set to take place on April 5 at Coláiste Chomáin in Rossport and students from all over the county are heading to the region for the challenge. The event will feature an initial 3km run, and a 16.5km cycle around the undulating topography of Rossport followed by another 3km run along the beautiful rugged landscape of the Rossport area. Entries for the race are still open so pupils or schools that would like to compete can contact Coláiste Chomáin at www.gcr.ie or 097 88940 or email the school at [email protected]
Salmon Run 2011 launched
Liquid Motion Triathlon Club is delighted to launch The Salmon Run Triathlon 2011" which will take place on Saturday July 9 2011 in Ballina. The Salmon Run Triathlon, now in its sixth year, has earned a reputation as being an excellent, well organised and memorable race in the triathlon race calendar in Ireland. Liquid Motion encourages all levels of athletes, local and afar, to participate in this fantastic race whether as an individual or part as a relay team.
The triathlon race is a sprint distance triathlon consisting of a 750 metre swim in the fast flowing River Moy, followed by a 20km cycle and finishing with a 5km run. The Salmon Run Triathlon online registration will open today (April 1 ) at 2pm sharp on www.liquidmotion.ie . Race entries are strictly limited to 150 individual entries and 10 relay team entries. A further release of the remaining entries will be made on the April 22.
