triAthlone
The Waterways Ireland triAthlone event took placeon Sunday the 7th of July in the picturesque riverside location ofAthlone. There are three races on offer to triathletes on the day; a supersprint race consisting of a 200 metre swim, a 7.5km cycle and a 2.5km run; asprint race consisting of a 750 metre swim, a 22km cycle and a 5km run; AnOlympic distance race consisting of a 1500 metre swim, a 40km cycle and a 10kmrun. In total nearly 500 triathletes took part on the day. Amongst them wasBlackwater Triathlon Club’s sole representative on the day, Ciara MacCallum.Ciara went up to do the Olympic distance event. The 1500m swim took place inthe majestic River Shannon, with a 400 metre upstream section, followed by100metres across the river and then 1000 metres downriver to the exit. Theconditions on the day were excellent and the water in the Shannon was a balmy17 degrees. The bike section was two laps of very flat, wide open traffic-freeroads, before 4 laps of the run route through the town itself, being cheered onby large numbers of enthusiastic spectators. Ciara finished the race in 2:57:28and really enjoyed her trip to the midlands. She would definitely recommend theevent to triathletes of all skill levels.