Lough Cutra Castle Triathlon
The annual LoughCutra Castle Triathlon event took place on the weekend of the 25thand 26th of May. This year three members of the Blackwater TriathlonClub travelled to Gort in Co. Galway to take part. This is a hugely popularevent, with large numbers of competitors travelling from all over Ireland andthe UK to participate in the 22 races that took place over the course of theweekend. These ranged from the Half Ironman distance Gauntlet with a 1900 Metreswim, a 96 km cycle and a 21 km run, to a race for 8-10 year olds with a 100kmswim, a 4km cycle and an 800 metre run, with a huge variety of relay and solooptions in between. The Blackwater contingent, Ciara MacCallum, Stephen Daltonand Justin Ryan, all competed in the Olympic distance event. The race startedwith a 1500 metre swim in the eponymous Lough Cutra, followed by a 40km cycleand a 10km run. Conditions on the day werepleasant, albeit a little breezy. The swim section was very pleasant, but seemsto have been a little longer than advertised, with most competitors estimatingthat the distance was closer to 2000 metres. There was a new bike route whichtook the cyclists out towards the Burren and back. The outward journey wastough with a blustery headwind to contend with. The race then finished with twolaps of a 5km loop on forest tracks and through fields around the Lough Cutraestate. Justin was the first BTC athlete home, finishing in 2:27:42, 9thoverall and 2nd in the 24-29 age category. Stephen crossed the finish line in 3:10.41 and Ciara came home in3:33.19. Good performances for an early season event for the the Blackwatercrew. As usualin Lough Cutra, the whole eventwas extremely well organised and very family friendly with bouncy castles, aband, loads of catering and merchandise. Definitely one for next year’scalendar.