Quite Man triathlon a huge success

The first ever triathlon hosted by Tri-Lakes Triathlon Club took place in extremely tough conditions last weekend. At 750m the swim looked daunting to say the least with a rising wind and increasingly difficult swim conditions which meant that many swimmers struggled to complete the swim course. However all braved the water when many might have balked even at the though of it!! Kevin Thornton from Belpark TC and Darragh Sharkey were neck and neck out of the water. Edel Tighe from TriLakes was the first female out of the water closely followed by club mate Celia Davin nine seconds later. Both Davin and Thornton made transition look easy. Thornton extending his lead and Davin taking almost a minute on Tighe ensuring a clear road ahead on the bike section. Just as the wind had whipped up some choppy waters for the swim, it would challenge the athletes on the bike and push them to the limit in order to cut losses on the bike section to athletes such a Donnelly and Beades in the overall men's category and both Tighe and Sinnead Oakes doing their best to gain on Davin in the female category. Thornton extended his lead on the 20km out and back bike route and had almost 2.30min at T2 over Donnelly. Edel Tighe limited Davin's lead on the bike to a further fifteen seconds putting only a minute between them heading out on the 5km run route. Both Kevin Thornton and Celia Davin proved far too strong for the chasing athletes over the run section, cruising home to take the overall male and female titles. It gave the organising committee great pleasure to congratulate these athletes on such a magificent performance and present them with their awards along with their finishers medals. However, just as much satisfaction was gained from giving each and every athlete their finishers medals and congratulating them on completing the very first Quiet Man Triathlon.