It was yet another busy but highly successful weekend of racing for the members of Letterkenny 24/7 with several events taking place right across Ireland and the UK.
Ironman Wales
Four of Letterkenny 24/7 club members made the return to Ironman Wales this year.
All four travelled to Tenby in 2017, but it wasn’t to be for Nick after he picked up a bad chest infection and was unable to compete.
2018 was a very different story and thankfully this year the weather Gods were on their side.
Nick Fowell was the first 24/7 member to cross the finish line. Fowell had a superb race. Despite suffering a sting on his face on the first lap of the swim course, he went onto complete the swim in a very impressive 1:01:08.
He also had a great bike split of 5:57:27. On the bike course Fowell lost some bottles which affected his hydration for the run, he suffered serious cramp and calf issues on the run but hung in there and crossed the finish line in a superb 11:25:42.
Damian McGoohan also had a great performance, he put in a brilliant swim and bike leg but most impressive was his ability to finish so strongly with a brilliant sub-four, hour marathon time of 3:56:23.
Damian completed his Ironman in a brilliant 12:24:33, some twenty minutes faster than his time in 2017.
Martin Donnelly also had a brilliant swim on the day. Exiting the water in 1:14:49, Martin went onto put in a very strong performance on the gruelling bike and run course to finish in an overall time of 12:53:23, almost 20minutes ahead of his 2017 finish time of 13:12:55.
Cathal Roarty also had an impressive race. Cathal put in very strong performances on all three legs and despite having some issues on the marathon with footwear, he crossed the partying finish line in a brilliant 13:49:43.
Cathal’s finish time was over 75minutes quicker than his 2017 time of 15:05:48.
Congratulations Nick, Damian, Martin and Cathal on your amazing achievements.
Well done also to the Donnelly boys who took part in the Ironman kids event in Wales.
Dublin City Triathlon – National Sprint Championships -Super Series Cat2
Christine Russell and Jonathan Martin travelled to Dublin to take part in the Super Series Dublin City Triathlon.
Christine Russell, who is having a fantastic return to racing in 2018 finished with an overall time of 1:15:23, a fourth-place finish in the Cat2 category.
Christine had a superb swim of 11:47 to set her up nicely, she went on to complete the bike course in 38-minutes before finishing strongly in the 5K with a time of 22:54
Jonathan Martin, now part of the University of Limerick high-performance triathlon team, was unable to complete the race.
Despite a scintillating swim time of 9:49 and exiting the water with the lead pack, Jonathan took unwell on the bike course and was unable to finish.
Dublin City Triathlon- National Sprint Championships
In the National Sprint Championships, the club had two of our ladies win silverware.
Bronagh O’Gara and Fin Begley are having excellent 2018 National Series campaigns and their hard work and brilliant performances were rewarded on Saturday when both ladies claimed bronze National Championship medals in their respective age categories.
Bronagh O’Gara had a superb race. Exiting the swim in 14:27, she put in a big performance on the bike course completing in 35:54 before finishing the 5k in a time of 23:59.
O’Gara crossed the line in 1:17:51, third in the F40-44, securing a Bronze National Championship medal.
Fin Begley was in similar form. Fin exited the water just 19seconds behind Bronagh.
After a brilliant 36:48 bike split, Fin ran well to cross the line in 1:19:29, third in the F45-49 securing a Bronze National Championship medal, agonizingly just 26 seconds behind the silver medalist.
Congratulations to both ladies on their brilliant performances.
Paul O’Gara was carrying a calf injury coming into Saturday’s triathlon but decided to take part in the swim and bike legs anyway.
He swam 13:43 and biked 38:33 before making his way to the finish line to cheer on the girls.
Let’s Tri Cavan
Four club members made their way to Cavan for the Let’s Tri sprint triathlon on Saturday.
Alastair Hetherington is showing no signs of taking it easy after his Ironman debut this year and was once again back in racing action. Alaistair was the first 24/7 member to cross the finish line in a brilliant 1:28:42.
Terence Quinn and Paul Kelly are another two who love to race. Quinn had another brilliant result finishing in 1:34:27. Terence is showing some big improvements this year and had a brilliant swim of 17:34 followed by a strong bike and run of 25:36.
Paul Kelly returned to racing with the club’s super sprint event back in April and hasn’t really stopped since. Kelly had another great race finishing in 1:37:54. Elaine Gallagher was back in action after last weekend’s Lough Key race. She put in another good performance and finished in 1:41:25. Elaine with a very impressive swim of 15:15.
Jim Sheils 10K
In Friday night’s Jim Sheils 10k in St. Johnston, 24/7 had some brilliant performances.
Gavin Crawford was the first 24/7 member to finish in a superb time of 34:29.
Liam Tinney and Pat Brady have both put in some very impressive run performances this year. Tinney ran a superb PB of 39:09 to finally get into the sub 40 numbers.
Pat Brady also ran a sub 40 time of 39:53. Paul Doherty, the comeback king, was very impressive keeping Brady company to finish in 39:53 – a brilliant time considering he is just returning to racing from surgery.
Niamh Gibbons, who is preparing for the upcoming Dublin Marathon also ran a PB crossing the finish line in 45:26.
Anne Robinson is in fine form ahead of her marathon debut, Anne was just 18-seconds behind Niamh finishing with a very impressive 45:42 PB.
24/7’s newest member, Paul McGettigan, had an excellent run of 47:23.
Rachael Stilvern also ran a PB on the night finishing in a brilliant 48:28.
Raj Mehan and Philip Browne, ran together both finishing in 52:30.
24/7 notes – Winter Training Update
-Coached Track sessions will resume next Monday 17th September at 6.45pm. Warm up to be completed and track session starts at 7pm SHARP. Coach- Ciaran O’Donnell. The session will be posted on Club Viber group for anyone unable to attend.
-Thursday night long runs resume this Thursday 13th September leaving from Aura at 6.30pm sharp. All groups catered for, route will also be posted on club Viber group for those running.
-Saturday swim sessions resume this Saturday 15th September at 6pm- Additional lane added for 14-16yr old club members- MUST be accompanied by a parent (please note prepayment does not cover Saturday swim).
-Saturday Club cycle will revert to 9am start time to coincide with the Winter months. In an effort to revive the Saturday sessions it has been decided to have a rotational cycle leader for each Saturday. More details to follow. All members must have front and rear lights as well as mudguards to take part in the club session.
Hi-Viz is compulsory for these sessions- Be safe, be seen!
AGM
The Club’s AGM will be held on Friday 12th of October in the Mulroy room at the Education centre in Saint Conal’s hospital at 7.30pm. All members welcome.
Nominations are invited for Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer, PRO and eight committee members.
Please email nominations to club secretary Anne Robinson (annerobinson81@yahoo.co.uk) by Wednesday 10th October. Any motions to be discussed at the AGM must also be sent in by this date.
The club are seeking new members for our 2019 Race Committees, please also email Anne if you are interested.
SAVE THE DATE
The 2018 24/7 Club Awards night will take place in Arena 7 on Friday 30th November.
Club Training
Club training continues as follows:
- Monday: Coached track session 6.45pm at Aura
- Wednesday: Swim session- Beginners 7-8pm, All others 8-9pm
- Thursday: Long run session leaves Aura at 6.30pm sharp- Hi-Viz is compulsory for these sessions- Be safe, be seen!
- Saturday: Club cycle from Aura at 9am- All members must have front and rear lights as well as mudguards to take part in the club session.
- Saturday: sessions resume this Saturday 15th September- Club swim session Saturday at 6pm Additional lane added for 14-16yr old club members- MUST be accompanied by a parent (please note prepayment does not cover Saturday swim)
Full results of these races’ can be found on Donegal Sport Hub here.
Photo Credit- Gordon Thomson, North West Newspix, Kieran Carlin, Damian Jackson.
