Irish athletes put in a strong showing at the highly competitive Abu Dhabi International Triathlon over the weekend.
Matt Molloy in the 40-44yrs age group put in a fine performance to finish an impressive 20th overall and 1st in his age group. Molloy covered the 3km swim in 38mins 20secs, the 200km bike in 5hr 18min 54secs before running 1hr 23min 09secs for the final 20km run to finish in a time of 7hr 29min 03secs.
After seven and a half hours of racing Dundalk’s Liam Dolan was just over a minute off Molloy at the finish. His time of 7hr 30min 27secs brought him home in 21st position overall and 1st in the 30-34yrs age group. Dolan gave up some time during the swim element exiting the water in 48min 48secs however soon went about reeling in the leaders thanks to a powerful bike leg where he average a shade under 40kph for the 200km. Despite the savage bike pace Dolan was able to covered the 20km run in 1hr 31min 19secs.
Also in the mix was another Irishman, Owen Martin finishing 24th overall in 7hr 35min 11secs. His time was good enough for 2nd in the 40-44yrs age group. Martin was solid over the swim and bike before pulling out a lightning fast 1hr 21min 33secs run.
The results once again show the quality of Irish Age Group racing with Molloy, Dolan and Martin taking a number of PRO scalps on their way.
In the shorter distance of 1.5km swim, 100km bike, 10km run it was GB’s Olympic Champion Alistair Brownlee who won in a course record of 3hr 20mins 18secs. Brownlee’s splits were 16min 29secs swim, 2hr 26mins 55secs bike and 32min 17secs run.
Ireland’s former Age Group World Champion Deirdre Casey also put in an impressive performance finishing 2nd overall female and winning the 30-34yrs AG in a time of 3hr 58mins 56secs. On the men’s side the top Irishman was Barry Hughes, 29th overall in 3hr 56mins 29secs.
In domestic racing the Intervarsity Championships has been confirmed for the 1st of June and will run alongside the triAthy Sprint. Last year’s race was won by World Junior Bronze medallist Con Doherty while Formula 1 Superstar Jenson Button competed in the Olympic Distance event. UCD, Trinity and Queens University have all confirmed they will be sending a large contingent to the race which is expected to be the most competitive intervarsity championships yet.
