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 Triathletes Try Portlaoise in Triathlon
10 April 2010 (Report by Karl) |
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For the second year running, the national triathlon calendar opened for business in Portlaoise, with over 200 competitors coming from across Ireland to swim, cycle and run at 'Portlaoise Try-athlon', held in glorious sunshine on Saturday 10 April.
The day began early on Saturday morning in Portlaoise Leisure Centre with the committed entrants arriving from 7:00am to sign-on, before getting prepared and in position for the pre-race briefing by Race Director Patrick Marshall at 8:30am.
Embarking on multi-sport race, the athletes headed initially to the pool to begin their 30-lap (750m) swim before heading out to 'transition', to collect their bike and point it for the Dublin road, returning to complete the race on a 5km run course.
Following a new 19km cycle course, the bright sunshine dried out wet swimwear and moderate tail wind helped each competitor as they made their way out to the summit of Coolbanagher hill. With a sharp turn back towards Shane, rolling hills and the tailwind reversed had everyone digging deep on the return leg of the 19km bike leg. 
Arriving back at Portlaoise Leisure Centre, the athletes re-racked their bikes and completed the event with a 5km sprint race, out the ridge road and back to the finish line.
Among the finishers were some 30 local ladies, who had entered the race at New Year and committed themselves to three months of intense training in preparation for the big day. Completely new to the sport, these ladies had never taken part in triathlon before, and many could not even swim when they signed up.
From late January to the end of March, these ladies religiously attended three coached sessions per week - one swim, one run and one cycle - organized with the help of Laois Sports Partnership and the Women in Sport initiative. One of the coaches, Sinead Wearen, paid testimony to the group - "You never seen such commitment and determination, nobody dropped out or gave in and I am so proud of the 30 new triathletes that crossed the line today."
While the race was mainly aimed at beginners in the sport, it had been nominated as the 2010 Intervaristy Championships, and so attracted interest from the best of the under 23 talent across the country. Patrick Marshall, race director, was impressed with the calibre of the younger entrants: "17 out of the combined top 10 mens and ladies finishers today are under 23, and that has to be good for the sport of triathlon". 
Portlaoise local Michael Dalton was one of this impressive group. Finishing 14th and in a sub-1:10 time Dalton took over 14 minutes off his time from 2009. His outstanding achievement is all the more impressive given that he is in the youngest group represented - the 15-19 age group. Dalton hopes to continue building towards his place at both the 2010 European and World Championships where he will represent Ireland at Age Group level. Siobhan O'Toole, also from the local junior squad, secured the Junior Ladies prize on the day for Trilogy Triathlon with a consistent performance across all three disciplines.
The overall race result was a case of 'Sibling Rivalry' as two Dublin brothers Colin and Neil Bolger, both students, traded the lead through the three parts of the race, Neil eventually conceding defeat to Colin by just six seconds, both brothers taking 4 minutes off the previous years time (1:00:44 and 1:00:50). Another student, and last years Junior Winner in Portlaoise, Ailbhe Carroll (Nenagh), took the ladies prize in a time of 1:13:20.
Trilogy Triathlon would like to thank everyone involved for all the help and support needed to bring the prestigious event to Portlaoise, including the staff of Portlaoise Leisure Centre, the Gardai, and Laois Civil Defence, who provided vital back-up to the 70 volunteer marshals out on the course, and the corporate and local sponsors who made the event possible - Wheelworx, Amphibian King and Laois Sports Partnership.
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