Letterkenny 24/7 club hosts top triathlon athletes at Gartan

Gartan was the place to be last weekend for the Letterkenny 24/7 club races where some of the top triathletes in the country took part. Conditions were wet but not unpleasant for racing. Two races took place, a sprint triathlon and an Olympic triathlon.

Olympic race
This was the fourth year of the Olympic race and it continues to grow in popularity.
Raymond Byrne a category one racer was first out of the water in a time of 25.30 closely followed by
local members Fergus Callaghan and Nick Fowell. Nick put in the best bike split in a time of 1.06.47
But Byrne answered him with the fastest run in a time of 39.04 finishing in a time of 2.13.42
In the Women’s event Emma Mc gee of the host club put her injury racked year of 2016 behind her and won well in a time of 2.35.48. Club mates , Bronagh O Gara and Fiona Mc daid were second and third respectively.
53 athletes started the course with 51 completing the course successfully.

Sprint race
The sprint race was dominated by the northern clubs in the men’s section with Gavin Corey of Omagh Triathlon club beating Sean Mclaughlin of Northwest and James Keenan of Culicagh third. First member home was Jonathan Martin in fifth place.
There was a close battle amongst the women Alison Rankin of Triangle holding off the challenge of
Kerry McGrillen and Ciara Largey.
The sprint race was the first venture into an open water swim race for a lot of members and they all acquitted themselves well and carried on their performance into arena seven and the brewery later on.
In all 92 competed and the club wishes to acknowledge Father Mc Keever for the use of the car park at Glendoan chapel.
The club are grateful to our sponsors Arena seven and Gartan outdoor pursuits centre for their continued involvement in the event. Gartan continues to develop as a facility with more onsite parking available this year and catering facilities in the main building.
Putting on a race involved a host of club volunteers ably marshaled by race directors Liam Tinney and Anne Robinson with Adrian Wasson as always looking after the technical details.
Also a special mention to Stephen Sweeney who acted as Mc for the day.
Other news
Ciaran Mc Gettigan continues to impress on the bike finishing sixth and third in the under fourteen time trial and road race championships,
In Sligo in the Metal man swim series Patrick Patton won his age category and Karen Crawford was third overall. Conditions were extremely tough with a lot of withdrawals because of the big swell and heavy chop.

Please note the quarterly swim fee for July to the end of August is now due for all participants.
Training
Training continues as follows
Monday: Gartan – Open Water Swim 6.30 pm (weather permitting)
Tuesday: Aura track – Track session 7.50 pm
Wednesday : Aura Pool – Swim session 8.00 pm
Thursday : Foxhall TT or Brick 6.30pm
Saturday : Aura club cycle 8.00 am
Sunday : Aura beginners cycle 9.00 am

Results
Olympic race Gartan
1st Raymond Byrne 2.13.42
2nd Fergus Callaghan 2.16.28
3rd Nicholas Fowell 2.17.25
4th Gary Crossan 2.20.48
9th Shane McNulty 2.28.21
15th Emma Mc Gee 2.35.48
17th Patrick Mc Nulty 2.37.39
20th Shane Collins 2.39.02
24th Ryan Doherty 2.43.15
26th Jarlath Duffy 2.43.56
31st Hugo Daly 2.48.26
32nd Gavin Harris 2.48.59
37th Bronagh O Gara 2.54.53
39th Alaistair Hetherington 2.56.15
41st Fiona Mc Daid 2.58.52
45th John Daly 3.06.12
48th Keith Fletcher 3.15.54
50th Sean Mc Auliffe 3.38.10
41st Brendan Meenan 2.40.06
42nd Bronagh Ogara 2.40.24
46th Clara Quigley 2.41.45
48th Paul Ogara 2.42.58
53rd Keith Fletcher 2.45.14
55th Patrick Patton 2.46.09
56th Seamus Morrison 2.47.36
59th Mairead Cullen 2.48.12
62nd Shane Collins 2.49.19
70th Paul Mc Nulty 3.17.53
Sprint race Gartan
1st Gavin Corey 1.03
2nd Sean Mc Laughlin 1.05.25
3rd James keenan 1.05.37
5th Jonathan Martin 1.09.24
6th Hugh Gallagher 1.09.37
17th Shaun Mc Devitt 1.15.34
24th Paul Doherty 1.17.13
25th Michael Russell 1.17.50
30th Jonathan Edwards
34th Natasha Kelly 1.19.45
35th Colm Corcoran 1.21.30
37th Sammy Bogan 1.21.39
38th Shaun Logue 1.21.57
39th Geoff McGiliian 1.22.15
41st Patrick Doherty 1.23.17
42nd Gerard Mc Gettigan 1.23.35
45th Phillip Browne 1.25.09
46th Eadoin Kelly 1.25.26
47th Michael Logue 1.25.32
48th Louise Alcorn 1.25.53
51st Niamh Mc daid 1.26.50
52nd Semus Ceallaigh 1.27.31
55th Martina McDaid 1.28.31
59th Desiree Casburn 1.30.48
63rd Trevor Gordon 1.32.34
64th Rachel Stilvern 1.33.07
65th Stephanie Dunleavy 1.34.03
68th Kate Black 1.34.16
73rd labhaoise Maguire 1.35.23
74th Christopher Callaghan 1.35.43
76th Terence Quinn 1.36.17
82nd Sinead Trearty 1.42.08
84th Fiona Temple 1.45.28
85th Denise Mc Bride 1.47.19
86th Raj Mehan 1.48.01
88th Carolinr Mc Cabe 1.55.23
90th Paul Kelly 2.03.06