Duathlon
The Ballinrobe Duathlon took place in bright and breezy spring conditions last weekend and was a great event. Leading the fray from the start was Galway’s Hurt Locker supremo John Greaney, he held this lead from Killian Heery from Emyvale, with John Lyons from Longford in third leading the relay section. In the ladies’ section it was neck and neck among four women, Lorraine Carey from Ballina, Marie Boyle (Spiddal ), Siobhan Murtagh (Carrick on Shannon ), and Michelle Lannon (Boyle ) who were all stuck together.
On the bike leg the men’s race was blown wide open when Western Lakes CC man Sean O’Malley came from way back to lead, in doing so Killian Heery, Stephen Donnelly, and a few others tried to jump on the O’Malley train but his speed was so high only another relay cyclist from Longford could sustain the pace.
In the ladies’ section a clear battle had developed between Lorraine Carey and Marie Boyle with the others now falling off the pace. Boyle led into transition with only 3.5k to go with a lead of 20 odd seconds from Carey and it looked to be the evergreen Boyle’s day.
At the finish line relay runner Brendan Conway, Westport, led home the race after being passed the baton by cyclist Sean O’Malley.
In the individual race the fast running Killian Heery passed Donnelly on the last run with only a few hundred metres to go to take his first big win of the year.
Likewise in the ladies’ race Boyle had victory snapped from her grasp right at the death in the sprint to the line by Lorraine Carey, making for two very exciting finishes.
For two participants just to start was a monster achievement in itself, Oisin Gannon and Billy O’Toole are only 12 months out of the brain trauma unit of Dun Laoghaire rehab unit and both took to the start line, their aim was not a BP or to get in the prizes, they just wanted to be part of the buzz that surrounded this great event. When both crossed the line emotional on lookers gave them a rapturous round of applause and friends and family were eager to give their heroes a hug.
Results
Mens: (1 ) Killian Heery (Muckno, Emyvale, Co Monaghan ) (2 ) Stephen Donnelly (Fit Science, Ballina ) (3 ) John Greaney (Hurt Locker, Galway ). Over 40: TJ McHugh (Tri Lakes, Garrymore ). Over 50: Sean Lyons (Achill ). Junior: Ronan Dirrane (Spiddal ). Men’s Relay: Sean O’Malley/ Brendan Conway (Ballinrobe ).
Ladies: (1 ) Lorraine Carey (Liquid Motion, Ballina ), (2 ) Marie Boyle (Hurt Locker, Galway ), (3 ) Siobhan Murtagh (Carrick-on-Shannon ). Over 40: Michelle Lannon (Boyle ). Over 50: Ann Heaney (Castlebar ). Ladies Relay: Sinead Stagg and Sinead Keane (Hollymount/Ballinrobe ). Mixed Relay: John Hughes and Imelda Hughes (Western Lakes, Kilmaine )/
