TRIATHLON: A brilliant cycle gave the veteran Matt Molloy victory in the Gatorade Dublin City Triathlon held in perfect conditions at the Phoenix Park on Sunday August 28.
Last July, UK-based Molloy made his Ironman debut in Klagenfurt, Austria, clocking a time of just under 9 hours 3 minutes.
On a good day for Ironmen and women, Joyce Wolfe, who set a new Irish Ironwoman record in Klagenfurt, won the women’s race in Dublin.
Junior triathlete Russell White, on his Olympic distance debut, was first out of the water after the 1500m swim in the river Liffey. Closely following were Bjorn Ludick and Shane Scully, along with Molloy, the current world over 40 aquathlon champion.
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| Amy Wolfe |
Molloy took over in front on the 40km cycle and had a 45 second lead over Ludick heading into the tough 10km trail run.
With Ludick fading, Molloy had built on that lead to finish in 2 hours 3 minutes 42 seconds. Coming home second was Kevin Keane, who clocked the fastest cycle split of the day but picked up a two minute penalty point for a mount/dismount infringement; that dropped him to fifth place overall.
It meant Shane Scully was credited with second place in a time of 2:05:12, followed by Ludick in third place.
In the women’s race, it was a lot more clearcut – Amy Wolfe eas the winner in 2:19.14 with Aoife Lynch two minutes behind for second place and Katie Cooke third.
Newcomers and juniors competed in a shorter “supersprint” race, with Aaron O’Brien the winner in 50.46 and Emma Sharkey in 60.41 the first woman.
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| Neil Fleming |
CANOEING: A blistering finish gave Celbridge’s Neil Fleming victory in the men’s K1 class at the British Marathon Canoe Championships in Worchester, England. A day later, Fleming paired up with Peter Egan of Salmon Leap to win the men’s K2 title – a first ever double in this competition for Irish canoeing.
Fleming has had a brilliant season after finally shrugging off the injury problems that have plagued since his junior days. Earlier this season, he won the Irish sprint title and went on to compete at the World Championships. He also finished second and best local paddler at the Irish Marathon Championships. Next up in the World Marathon Championships in Singapore at the end of October.
CANOE POLO: Two cracking goals from Paddy Mooney gave Kilcock a narrow 2-1 victory over Wildwater Kayak Club in the men’s division 1 final at the Irish Canoe Polo Open, Galway. Vinnie Pierce was the scorer for Wildwater in a closely fought match that avenged Kilcock’s loss to Wildwater at the Galway Open last June. Members of the Irish senior and U21 squad heading for next week’s European Championships in Madrid turned out for both teams.
In division 2, local team Galway, who had won division 3 in 2006, defeated Limerick. A thrilling division 3 decider that required two periods of extra time saw Kilkenny beating Kilcock.
* The Phizzfest Canoe Polo Cup takes place on the Royal Canal Phibsboro, Dublin, on September 10-11.
PARALYMPICS: With less than a year to go until the London 2012 Paralympics, the Irish squad is already hoping to better their five-medal total from Beijing. Leading the athletics team is defending 100m and 200 champion sprinter Jason Smyth, who aims to become the first Irish athlete to compete at both Olympics and Paralympics and 800m champion Michael McKillip.
Irish cyclist have show huge improvements in recent years, with Mark Rohan taking gold at all four rounds of the 2011 HC1 Road World Cup Series and tandem pair Catherine Walsh and Francine Meehan third at the World Track Championships. Swimmers Bethany Firth was second at the 2010 Europeans, while Darragh McDonald took silver in Beijing.
MOUNTAIN BIKING: Dubliner mountain biker Niall Davis is Ireland’s newest world champion – and has the tattoo to prove it. Davis beat off 580 other crazies to win the Single Speed World Mountain Bike Championships, held over 40km on the Ballyhoura mountain bike trail in Co Limerick. Heather Holmes from Salt Lake City, Utah was first woman and like Davis was rewarded for her victories with a specially commissioned tattoo, executed straight after the race by Limerick tattoo artist Paul Bullman. Ouch!
SWIMMING: Close to 300 brave swimmers take to the murky waters of the Liffey today for the annual Liffey Swim, first held in 1920. Swimmers qualify by taking part in at least five of the 26 open sea swims on the open water calendar. From the start beside Watling Street Bridge to the finish and finish in Docklands, they will be cheered on by spectators leaning over the walls and bridges that contain the river. Fastest swimmers this year are expected to be Lucy Gaynor, Niamh McDonnell and Seamus Stacey.
* Update: A combination of cold weather and and extra 400m to the new finish at O’Casey Bridge took its toll at the Liffey Swim. Winning the men’s race was Declan Proctor of Eastern Bay, while first woman was Maria Quintanilla of Dublin Bay SC.
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