Hell the West - Trilogy Triathlon Club

P28 The Clare Champion
Friday, July 3 2009
Sport
Tullabrack Fair
Results from all the
show classes p27
Extra sport p26
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To hell or
to victory
David Graham and Elena Maslova top the mens’ and
womens’ categories in the Hell of the West triathlon
The 25th Hell of the West triathlon
attracted a huge crowd to Kilkee last
Saturday. While the crowd bathed
in the glorious sunshine, most of the
athletes cursed it.
The beaming sun was not accompanied by a wafting breeze, which
made the cycle especially taxing.
The absence of wind proved to have
a silver lining, however, as it actually
improved the times of the elite triathletes.
David Graham, of the Irish Development Squad, broke his own 2007
course record of 2.10.43 by more
than two minutes, to finish in a time
of 2.08.33.
In the women’s event, Elena
Maslova broke Katherina Baldinger’s 2008 record of 2.27.49 in a
time of 2.23.17.
Prominent young triathletes, Gra-
ham, David O’Toole and Eoin Cummins all exited the water around the
20-minute mark.
However with O’Toole puncturing four miles into the cycle and
Eoin Cummins just not as strong on
the bike as he is in the water, it was
Pulse’s James Davenport who provided the challenge to Graham.
Finishing his swim in 22.36, Davenport took back almost two minutes
at the turnaround point on the bike
and had reeled a further two minutes
in by the end of the bicycle race to
clock a superb bike time of 1.06.32
against Graham’s 1.10.26.
But, proving that it is not all about
the bike, David Graham got down to
business and booted home in a run
time of 36.33 to seal the win. Posting an equally spectacular run time
of 36.50 and showing that experience
counts as much as age, Trevor Woods
coming home third in 2.12.39.
Brian Jenkins got the Joey Hannan Cup, for the first Limerick man
home, finishing in a time of 2.13.14,
in fourth place.
Amy Wolfe was the first woman
out of the water, followed by Catherine Brown and Laoise Griffin.
However Elena Maslova, Trudy
Brown and Sineád Jennings made
their mark on the bicycle, with Jennings posting 1.11.35. The net result
was all four girls were within one
minute of each other following the
cycle. But Maslova eventually got
away and though Sinead Jennings
put in a sterling run of 40.40, Amy
Wolfe still had an advantage from
her early swim lead, which she held
to come in second in a time of 2.24.35
to Elena’s winning 2.23.17.
(1) n The second wave of competitors get in
the water as the first wave are already
beyond the pier (2) n Elena Maslova is exhausted as she wins the womens’ event.
(3) n david graham set a new course record
coming first in the mens’ competition.
(4) n A competitior gets a massage from Eilish
Connolly after completing the triathlon.
(5) n Sineád jennings about to drop off the
bike to begin the 10km to finish the triathlon.
(6) n William Fitzpatrick panned out after
the day’s exertions. (7) n Competitors
race to dismount from their bikes for
the turnabout before the final race.
Photographs by Mike Mulcaire
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