Local knowledge pays dividends when local Castlebar man Peter Tuohy of the J2P Team took a comprehensive win at the fifth and last round of the hugely successful Ireland West Duathlon series. Tuohy laid the foundation for his success with a storming bike leg that gave him 60seconds advantage and some breathing space over the hard chasing Brendan Conway Westport Tri, who is a renowned runner. The final 5k run on the out and back new Turlough Greenway turned into a sprint between the two leaders with Tuohy holding Conway off for a brilliant win. Third on the day was the ever consistent Jonathon Rowland from Liquid motion Tri club Ballina.
In the ladies section Lorraine Carey Ballina pulled no punches with a knockout performance to place in the top 5 overall showing her versatility with fastest times on all three stages to take the win. Paula Prendergast Claremorris and of Mayo AC was second and the evergreen Colette Sweeney of Multisport Westport rounding of the podium.
There was fierce competition in the relay section especially on the bike leg where Irish Para cyclist Jerry Towey took his fourth fastest bike split of the series storming around the 30k course in 46:26, this time he had to contend with rising Hollymount cyclist John Gill who was only 11seconds slower in 46:37 these two were by far the fastest cyclists. The IWDS attracted more than 500 participants to the five event series; the IWDS Presentation will take place at Marrey Bikes Ballinrobe on Friday March 25 where Stephen Roche will perform the official opening of the shop.
The completely revamped Castlebar course was widely acclaimed as been one of the hardest of the series as every stage was longer than any of the others on the series. The Greenway to Turlough is a massive amenity to the area and runners really enjoyed themselves on the last run where they got to High 5 other participants on the out and back course. Springfield playground had plenty of young spectators clapping on all the finishers; hopefully we will see some of these in action in the years to come. A group from the UK took part under the club name Oasis ITLR, their charity In The Long Run are on tour around Ireland campaigning against human trafficking.
